Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

My Rating: 4 stars Published: May 2001 Pages: 292 I waited with bated breath for the True Blood series to come to Showcase in Australia & bought the boxed set of Sookie Stackhouse novels in preparation. Thank goodness both the book & the series lived up to the hype in my humble opinion. Take one kooky waitress, one hot vampire, one cute shapeshifter, one endearing grandma, throw in some murder, mayhem, blood sucking, tears & laughter and what do you get...a damn good story. Sookie Stackhouse is anything but sooky, she's a strong, straight talking, kick-butt telepath with her innocence intact thanks to her mind reading 'disability' (who would want to pursue a relationship when you can hear your date's thoughts... a running commentary on the pros and cons of your butt & boobs would be a little off-putting!) Things heat up for Sookie when Bill Compton comes to Bon Temps, Louisianna. Vampires have recently "come out of the coffin" & Bill is one such vampire attempting to mainstream in 'normal' society with the benefits of synthetic blood. I love Bill's sexy, dark, bad-boy image & Sookie loves the fact that she can't hear his thoughts, (I'm sure she loves Bill's sexy bad-boy image too.) I love Sooky's mind chatter, her somewhat left-field take on life, her profound insights and her moments of vulnerability. Charlaine Harris tells a wickedly good story and there wasn't much I didn't like. I enjoyed the vampire politics & heirarchy, the corny humour tickled my fancy but there was a phrase Bill used in an intimate encounter with Sookie that had me cringing & shuddering...I know Bill is kind of old fashioned but "I want to enter you again" was just Ewww! A complete & utter turn-off! Oh & Sookie should definitely ditch the banana clips. So how does the series "True Blood" stack up? Well I've watched the first three episodes and I'm hooked. It's a lot bloodier, gorier & raunchier than the book, which I for one don't have a problem with. Jason, Sookie's brother who I didn't particular like in this book was even more slimy & detestable in the first few episodes of the TV series. Tara & Lafayette who have a more prominent role in True Blood are missing from Dead Until Dark but I guess I'll have to keep reading to see whether they play a part in the book series at all. True Blood seems to follow the book closely, one isn't better than the other & neither detracts from the other. Great entertainment, I recommend both.