I have just finished Charlaine Harris‘, “Dead Until Dark“. I know I am extremely late to the party but a friend gifted me with the first nine installments to the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. They also came highly recommended from my friend Kelli Staples over at Clothes and Clutches. I have never watched the tv series True Blood (I know, I know) with which the books are based. I may go on a viewing binge over the Christmas holiday though.

I am a total mystery/thriller/suspense buff although I am not one to keep up with the many different writers. I tend to stay with who and what I know, a few of my favorites being Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Patricia Cornwell and Dan Brown. So I made a semi jump on over to what I considered to be paranormal mystery, if that is even a genre.

I thought “Dead Until Dark” was pretty good. I’m not a huge vampire buff but I did like how the other supernatural aspects of the characters came into play such as Sookie’s self-proclaimed “disability”. I liked Sookie, she is kind (a bit too kind to folks if you ask me), very naive, and inquisitive. Which of course that last one makes for a great mystery. For some quick bask story, Sookie is a waitress at Merlotte’s in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She lived with her Grandmother until her death since the death of her parents when she was a child. She has one sibling, Jason who seems to be the cream of the male crop in Bon Temps (where looks are concerned). In a nutshell, Sookie has flaky friends, a caring Grandmother, an odd boss, an out there brother, dead boyfriend, some unpleasant customers, and a very creepy vampire stalker.

I enjoyed the story of Sookie and Bill. The book certainly covered the difficulties of dating outside of your, I don’t know…species I guess? It good great insight into what it must be like to date a Night-walker. Several scenes in the book were giving me all Jackie Collins (also a fav) meets Twilight if you know what I mean. I also appreciated Bill’s wanting to assimilate into “the real world” and Sookie taking charge to help make that happen. I was looking for Bill to be a bit more lively but what can you expect of a dead person. However for all of the comprehensive story of this couple, I sat wondering when in the world will the mystery come in. The book certainly kept me in suspense but not in the best way. Besides poor Sookie finding trouble at just about every turn, I wanted more detective work into the murders. At one point, I actually grew frustrated because we didn’t get to the real detective work until maybe the last quarter of the book. The book read very simply but I guess since is was narrated by Sookie, it would read that way.

In conclusion, I think that “Dead Until Dark” is a good story about two “people” learning to be with one another but a true suspenseful mystery it is not. I would categorize it as a very slow mystery. She did get me for a moment as I am very good at finding the killer before it is announced but this book certainly had me confused until the very end. I felt there wasn’t a true connection to the killer weaved throughout the book so maybe that is were I lost my thunder. However, I am going to give Ms. Harris another try. Next up, “Living Dead In Dallas” the next installment in the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I’m sure there is much more trouble for Sookie to get into so I’m looking forward to seeing what goes on in Dallas, what could the mystery be and if creepy vampire dude shows up again.

Live and love in positivity,

Featured Image {my own}, Book {Source}