I discovered Charlaine Harris’s books years ago, and they quickly became my go-to for guilty-pleasure reading. Dead Until Dark is the first book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, which was later adapted into the HBO television show True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is the lead character and first-person narrator of the series.
Sookie is the heart of these books, so much so that I think of them as the Sookie Stackhouse series. She lives in the small town of Bon Temps in northwestern Louisiana, and works as a waitress at the local bar and grill, Merlotte’s. When characters “go into town,” the closest “big city” is Shreveport. Sookie is clever, no-nonsense, funny, and worldly. She’s devoted to her “word of the day” calendar and lives with her grandmother in a farmhouse outside of town. Sookie is also telepathic.
Sookie can hear the thoughts of everyone around her; she is constantly bombarded with people’s unfiltered opinions, judgements, and emotions, keeping her distracted and on guard at all times, she struggles at work, had a hard time in school, and dating is out of the question—knowing a date’s exact thoughts ruins the romance. Sookie’s life is upended when a vampire moves to Bon Temps. Bill Compton—known as “Vampire Bill” in the books—returns to the home where he lived when he was alive and human, during the American Civil War. Sookie meets Vampire Bill when he comes to Merlotte’s one evening. In the world of Charlaine Harris, vampires have recently “come out of the coffin” thanks to the invention of True Blood, a synthetic bottled blood that allows vampires to rejoin society without the need to feed on or kill humans.
When she meets Bill, Sookie discovers that she cannot hear the thoughts of vampires—an unimaginable relief. Sookie is drawn to Vampire Bill, and eventually finds herself entangled in the world of the supernatural. Each book in the series is a self-contained mystery, and along the way, Sookie meets shapeshifters, mythological creatures, fairies, and more.
One of the things I enjoy most about Dead Until Dark is the fantastical world that Charlaine Harris has set in small-town America. Sookie struggles to pay her bills on her waitressing pay, she takes care of her friends and family, and she needs to add gravel to her driveway. The series shines in its blend of the supernatural with the ordinary—the magical layered over the mundane.
There are thirteen books in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. I’ve recently re-read the first four. These books are perfect when I need a satisfying escape. They make excellent beach reading, and they work well as a lighthearted palate cleanser after reading something heavier. I especially enjoy listening to these books as audiobooks. If you haven’t downloaded the Cloud Library app through the library, it’s a great resource. Get the app, add the Dead Until Dark audiobooks or ebooks to your holds list, and start listening, but leave book five for me; it's next on my reading list.
