I found Charlaine Harris‘ Dead until Dark at one of Second Story Books’ sidewalk sales in Dupont Circle. I was elated. A few days prior, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and check out Trueblood, the vampire show on HBO. So far I’ve watched three episodes of season one and have yet to decide if I like it or not. I found those episodes filled with too much meaningless sex and blood. I wanted to know if it was the same in the book. As soon as I purchased it, I began to read. The few episodes that I watched matched the book despite its additions—Sookie’s best friend and a larger role for her brother, Jason.
Quick summary:
Dead until Dark is centered in a town on the outskirts of New Orleans called Bon Temps at a time when vampires have come out in the open—”out of the coffin”—and co-exist publicly alongside humans. However, not all humans are okay with this. The story begins when Sookie Stackhouse, an innocent young woman, sees a vampire at the bar where she works as a waitress. He is the first vampire she has ever seen so she finds him fascinating. Being a telepath, Sookie becomes intrigued when she discovers that she cannot hear the vampire’s thoughts. Her intrigue leads her to save the vampire’s, named Bill, life when the Rattrays, a horrid couple, trap him with some well-placed silver to drain him of his blood. Vampire blood has become a sort of aphrodisiac. It increases humans’ sexual prowess and heightens their abilities (strength, senses, etc.). The Rattrays later try to retaliate by attacking Sookie but are killed by Bill.
