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Summary: An Excellent Southern Small-town Mystery with Vampires
Review: The novel reads likes a mixture of Harris' understatedly excellent "Lily Bard" mysteries and Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" novels. The setting is a small Southern town, several years after the undead came out of the closet, and received recognition as citizens. Not that the prejudice against them has disappeared. Harris' heroine is less macho than Hamilton's Anita, and the narrative is calmer, for the most part, than LKH's typically breathless race; although there are several terror and rage-filled scenes. In many ways this is also a coming-of-age novel, as Sookie, the heroine, turns from a naive, intentionally simple waitress into an unwilling participant in supernatural politics and an ugly crime investigation, discovering and using hidden resources.Some of the elements are extremely similar to Anitaverse, even more striking considering the trailing advertisements for the AB:VH novels. However, Harris' style is all her own, and this novel is a welcome addition to the most entertaining vampire novels, a class which for me includes, in addition to Anita Blake novels, Collins' Sonja Blue trilogy and Wm. Mark Simmons' _One Foot in the Grave_.
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Summary: Derivative but still a great read
Review: While "Dead Before Dark" is a welcome addition to the horror --vampire/mystery/romance/girl power genre that Laurel K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff do so well, I found the basic premise of the story derivative of the two authors. It seems to follow the Laurel K. Hamilton pattern in particular. Girl with 'superpowers' falls for and has problems deciding between a vampire and shape shifter and or werewolf. That being said, Charlaine Harris tells a fantastic a fun story with interesting characters and with a premise that I'd like to follow into an indefinite amount of sequels. The mystery is engaging, and any book that has the main character named Sookie is just too much fun. Sookie reads peoples thoughts whether she wants to or not. Everyone thinks she's crazy because she spends so much time trying not to read other people's thoughts that it makes her dingy. So, she never has boyfriends, because really, who wants to be able to read their lover's mind in the middle of an intimate moment? Then Sookie's dream man, the one-man whose mind she can't read walks into her bar. The fact that he's a Vampire just makes dating a bit more complicated. Oh, and the fact that a killer is on the loose biting women's inner thighs and then strangling them to death, and her Vampire boyfriend Bill and her brother (who likes kinky sex) are at the top of the list of suspects. Harris is definitely a new author worth watching and if you like your horror mixed with romance / laughter and a kick ... heroine then "Dead Until Dark" is the book for you.
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Summary: Southern Gothic with a Twist of Wry
Review: I notice several reviews have gone over the plot, etc. of this book, so i won't particularly talk about that aspect; what i'm going to look at is what either does or doesn't make it unique. I have some familiarity with Louisiana (mostly New Orleans, but i have ranged out into the countryside), and i have to say that the setting rings true, both as Southern-in-general and Louisiana-version Southern in particular. The jokes about New Orleans being like a Promised Land for vampires, now that they're "out of the coffin", because of Anne Rice are dead on their target of Rice's overwrought novels. The concept that there would be "vampire groupies", while i hadn't thought about it, makes pefect sense. Certainly, such being the case, there would be vampire bars and vampire-cruise bars, where groupies could make contact with vamps. The concept of vampires having full civil rights under law, but sometimes finding it rather difficult to get those rights supported has resonances that are reinforced by the Southern setting. And every book set in the South involving working-class characters has to have a character named Bubba. I *liked* Bubba. Structurally, this is a more-or-less standard Southern Gothic mystery -- the kind where the killer turns out not to be the mysterious stranger who arrived just before the killings started, but rather the third cousin twice removed of every important character in the book, whose twisted sexual urges as a result of generations of inbreeding drive him to... Well, you know what i mean -- it's one of Those with neet added dimensions in narrator Sookie's special ability and the admixture of vampires as suspects and victims. The mystery is reasonably logically resolved, and the author doesn't cheat. I rather hope for more books in the same setting by Charlaine Harris -- and the ending of this one is certainly open for some ... "interesting" ... sequels. ((Structurally, this book is rather reminiscent of "Who Censored Roger Rabbit", the book on which the Disney film was (very) loosely based -- it's a straight mystery played out in a world with one wild-card fantasy element added that could change everything...))
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Summary: Dead Love
Review: I thought this was an excellent vampire book. If you like Christine Feehan books or Laura K. Hamilton than you will love this one. Go ahead give it a bit.
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Summary: Similiar to LKH but not the same
Review: I have to agree with some of the other reviewers regarding the many similarities to Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books. However, Dead until Dark is written in a different, lighter voice. I found Bill the vampire boyfriend, Sookie, Sam, all distinct from those in the Anita books. The books stands on it's own as fresh and fun with infinite potential. How can you not love a book with a vampire named Bubba? I truly hope that there will be more.
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Summary: Bitey!
Review: A surprisingly well-written comic thriller. Couldn't have enjoyed it more.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I had high hopes for this book - I love the mysteries that Ms. Harris writes. Unfortunately, the main characters are suspiciously familiar (anybody read LKH?) and the story is entirely too predictable. If you haven't read Laurell K. Hamilton's 'Anita Blake' series, now would be a great time to start. Her voice is darker and much more absorbing.
Rating:
Summary: Bought on a lark
Review: I bought this with low expectations but thought a mystery and Vampires, could be fun. I couldn't put this book down. You have to suspend disbelief a whole lot but once you do and buy into the set up, you are hooked. I read this during a convention and got to the point where I resented having to attend functions and stop reading. I am looking forward to the next one and really can't wait. In a very strange set up you have believable characters that you come to care about and a good mystery. It may sound silly but it's a lot of fun and well written. If you like Vampires, or mysteries or both, give it a try.
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Summary: A much better than average vampire mystery novel
Review: Sookie Stackhouse lives in a world like ours - except for one difference, 4 years ago Vampires "came out of the coffin" and are now a legal part of USA society. In this way it's somewhat like the situation in the Anita Blake (author Laurel Hamilton) novels, but in someways I think better written in this book. Sookie herself is unusual with a disability that makes dating a virtual impossiblity until a vampire comes to town and she discovers he's her (almost) perfect man. Unfortunatley, at the same time people start getting killed, which most of the locals see as an unlikely co-incidence, and in a small town that can almost be deadly itself. The author has written a very readable book here. I'm not sure if it's the start of a series or not - if it's not - then it's still an enjoyable stand alone novel. Her characters are believable and likeable, and I don't remember any slow patches that make your attention wander. In fact, I read this in a day - the sign of a very good book for me. For those people who like fiction that covers, vampires, PSI, alternative realities or mystery fiction, this book pretty well covers all those areas. Enjoy:)
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Summary: Send us more!!
Review: I had such a good time reading this book, I hope Ms. Harris plans on writing more--I would love to explore Sam and Eric and Bill. Not to mention Sookie--what an excellent combination of beauty, vulnerability and toughness!! I definitely plan to pick up more of Charlaine Harris' books!! She is a definite winner.......
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