Club Dead

I am completely hooked with Charlaine Harris's novels about Sookie Stackhouse. Having recently finished Dead Until Dark, and Living Dead in Dallas, I started reading Club Dead. It is the third in the Sookie series, also called the Southern Vampire Mysteries.

This book introduces us to many new characters, and takes place in Mississipi. Bill, Sookie's vampire boyfriend, is kidnapped, and Eric demands for her to go to Mississipi to learn what she can about his disappearance. Eric arranges for a local werewolf to accompany her, named Alcede, who helps her circumnavigate the supernatural underworld to help find Bill and save his life. As Sookie investigates Bill's wherabouts, she learns that he had left of his own free will, and she realizes there is more to Bill and his history than she knew about, and she learns new things about him that shake their relationship to it's foundation.

I really love the Sookie books, if it isn't obvious with how quickly I'm reading the series. I am almost done with the fourth, Dead to the World. As I said with Living Dead in Dallas, Harris doesn't waste copy giving more backstory than what's needed, and only fills you in on the past stories enough to follow along with the new information. The characters are starting to become more and more involved, and people are starting to show their true colors.

I give this book a 5/5. Once I'm done with the series I'll give an overall score.

Living Dead in Dallas

The second book I finished this week was the sequel to Charliane Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, Living Dead in Dallas. I had read the first book, Dead Until Dark, a few books past and really fell in love with the series. I managed to pick up the rest of the books at Barnes & Noble, so I have a feeling I will be sweeping through the series before reading anything else.

Living Dead in Dallas tells the story of Sookie's travel to Dallas, after she is loaned out by Eric the vampire. Sookie is supposed to use her telepathy to find a vampire, Farrel, who has gone missing.

I really enjoyed the lengthened character development of Living Dead in Dallas. Eric is much more involved in the second story, and there is an interesting and complex love trial forming between Eric, Sookie and Bill. Harris also doesn't waste half the book explaining things from the previous novel, and only does gentle reminders.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. I am very excited to read the next in the series, Club Dead.

Dead Until Dark

I was a big fan of the HBO show True Blood, and I knew they were based on a series by Charlaine Harris. I picked the first book up on a whim, and I am really glad I did. The first in the series is Dead Until Dark.

Dead Until Dark follows the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress in Louisiana. The vampires in the world have recently "come out of the coffin" and are starting to mainstream into society. Sookie meets Bill, one of the mainstreaming vampires, and after finding her vampire, strange things start happening. There are multiple murders in the town of Bon Temps, and Sookie needs to find out who is behind it so she can clear Bill's name, and the name of her brother Jason. Jason, a local lethario, is implicated because of his relationships with most of the murdered women.

I really enjoyed reading Dead Until Dark. I had watched the season of True Blood before reading it, and I was unsure as to how they'd be translated. The show is so close to the book, down to the dialogue. The biggest discrepency is the addition of a character in the show that is not in the book, but that's not a big issue for me.

I know there are a few other books in this series, and I'm very tempted to pick the rest of them up. I enjoyed Harris' storytelling, and her character development is amazing.

I give this book a 5 out of 5.