Outside A Dog

I felt like some sort of bandwagon-jumper or groupie or something when I requested it from the library, but Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris was pretty good. I figured it would be, though, after my boss told me he polished off the first six books over a three-day weekend. So after waiting at least a couple of months for a copy to make its way to me via interlibrary loan, I did the same thing as my boss: I polished it off.

The main character, Sookie Stackhouse, works as a waitress in a bar in northern Louisiana. Her life gets upended when she meets and falls for Bill, who happens to be a vampire. See, in Sookie’s Louisiana, vampires have attained legal citizen status — they claim to be the victims of a virus that makes them pale and allergic to silver, garlic, and sunlight. The thing is, though, that young women have been getting killed and Bill and a couple of other vampires, along with Sookie’s brother, Jason, are considered suspects. So Sookie does her best to try and clear both her brother and Bill of suspiscion, using — wait for it — her telepathic abilities. Everything is very nicely done, though, and you don’t need to suspend much more belief than you normally would while reading any other vampire-type story.

As I mentioned, I really enjoyed this book — Charlaine Harris has found just the right balance of humor, romance and mystery, all with that paranormal-type twist. It’s not as heavy and dark as Anne Rice can be, and it’s certainly not as fluffy as Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Parts of Sookie and Bill’s courtship are a little adult, but there’s nothing explicit. Also? I love that Sookie is such a strong female character. I can’t say too much without giving away a couple of the plot twists, but let’s just say she kicks ass. I’m hoping the second book in this Southern Vampire series continues in the same vein, because I’ve requested that one via ILL, too.

(It should be noted that I’ve never seen True Blood, the cable television show based on this series, so I can’t comment on any similarities or differences.)

So while I’m waiting for Living Dead in Dallas to show up at my library, I think I’ll go back to Mrs. Dalloway, Les Liasons Dangereuses, and Don Quixote… provided I don’t get distracted by something else in the meantime.