Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1)

I want to apologize to Harris's fans for being so blunt. This book, with deep respect for Anne Rice, could have been titled "Intercourse with the Vampire".
Way too much talking about sex acts with the vampire that didn't need to be in a mystery.
The book has potential, but, it is just not for me.
After reading just over 3/4 of the book, it made Twilight look good.

I love HBO for introducing me to the world of Sookie Stackhouse. I find the book series very entertaining with the same dark humor. The HBO series has done great staying with the original story line & its portrayal of the characters, and although the book series in only from Sookie's point of view, I'm finding that I enjoy the books much better than the show (and I'm a huge fan of the show!).

If you are considering getting "sucked" into the book series after becoming addicted to the HBO series, I recommended it, you won't be let down.

I cannot for the life of me understand why this book has so many positive reviews. Admittedly, I only got about half way through the book before I decided to stop wasting my time, but unless Charlaine used a ghostwriter for the second half I don't see how it would have gotten any better. The characters were very poorly developed and as far as I could tell the only reason Sookie was attracted to Bill was because she couldn't read his mind.

The characters reactions to some of the events were very unbelievable (SPOILER ALERT) for example Sookie, Jason & Grandma are all having lunch and gossiping about the goings on in town then all of a sudden Jason remembers that Maudette Pickins was murdered that morning, they talk about it for a minute then continue eating their lunch and chatting about other stuff. Now I'm no small town girl but I would imagine that if you live in a small town and someone you know is murdered that it 1)Is the first topic of conversation 2) is the ONLY topic of conversation.

It's easy to see why Alan Ball chose this book to turn into a TV series. The characters were underdeveloped so he had plenty of room to flesh them out and make them his own. Also all the little plot lines (and there are TONS of them in the book) that the author dreamed up but was too lazy to actually go in depth with were easy to embellish upon and make each into a separate episode.

All in all I think the author had some great ideas but was too unfocused or just plain lazy to actually turn them into anything. Most times when you watch a film translation of a book there is so much detail missing butin this case it was the opposite watching the HBO version first and then reading the book I felt almost as if I was reading an outline for the script of the show. The basic plot lines are there but all of the details and emotions are missing.

I love the show so much I had to get the books! The only "problem" with the first book is I already knew most of what was to happen! While Sookie falls in love with Bill, I found myself falling for the elusive Eric, though I'm sure the actor who played him had something to do with that as well! Eric is definitely my favorite character, Lafayette a close second. The only bummer is that while you get swept away with the characters, some of the characters get swept away all too soon! Just shows the making of a great writer to make you care that much about losing characters you just met, though! A great series, I highly recommend it!

Awesome book, it started out a little dry, but as soon as I got through the first chapter or so I couldn't put it down. The main character (Sookie) is so easy to relate to... The writing is just wonderful, I definitely suggest it to those who have read the Twilight series and are looking for something more adult.