Truly enjoyable vampire mystery/romance
Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire novels (Dead Until Dark and LIving Dead in Dallas)are reminiscent of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series,(a series I thoroughly enjoy reading over and over) but Sookie, the heroine of Ms. Harris's novels is less like Anita Blake and more like Stephanie Plum, Janet Evanovich's bounty Hunter ( another thoroughly enjoyable and re-readable series) Anita Blake is more polished and experienced, more at ease with her supernatural abilities than Sookie. Sookie is more human and fallible, kind of a Calamity Jane, but very likable. Her budding romance with a newly arrived vampire is fraught with misunderstandings between species, but they manage to communicate very well anyway. The vampires in this series make no excuses for what they are, predators, but still have a not so nasty side, especially since they are trying to "mainstream" and live with humans. Ms Harris throws in a few shapeshifters, colorful local residents, and reprehensible villains, both human and supernatural. Prepare to sit yourself down for a wonderful read. The plots were well thought out and equally well written. I am eagerly looking forward to her the next book in this series.

It seems that Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill have agreed for Sookie to help the vampires when they need help. The leader of the local nest of vampires, Eric is sending Sookie to Dallas to look for a missing vampire. For those of you who have read the first book in this series, take heart, the gorgeous Eric plays a larger role. Now take a backwater gal out of her little hometown and send her by plane to Dallas with her boyfriend traveling in a coffin and see what happens! Sookie ends up way over her head dealing with vampires, werewolves, and fanatics who want to end the existence of all supernatural beings. There is also a subplot with Sookie dealing with the death of one of her friends who just happened to be a member of a sex club. Use your imagination and you can pretty well guess what happens with this plot!

Charlaine Harris has taken Sookie to another level. While she is still the ditsy waitress we were first introduced to in Dead Until Dark, she has managed to develop into a likeable heroine, who while still unconventional, captivates our attention and makes us root for her throughout the book. Like everyone else, I can't wait until the next book to see what new mess Sookie manages to get into.

It's great. Sookie gets loaned out to Dallas vamps to find a member of a vampire nest that's gone missing. She goes with her boyfriend dull vamp Bill and Bill's boss Eric who's incognito.

She uses her telepathy to find out the missing vamp has been taken by a cult out to kill all vampires.

She and a fellow human-in-love-with-a-vamp try to spring him and it gets messy. They meet a suicidal pedophilic vampire, a huge shapeshifter community, and honest-to-goodness werewolves.

It's really similar to Anita Blake, minus the Dirty Harry atitude. In this novel Sookie is so much more real than the first story. Sadly, Bill is once again dull (what does she see in him? he so irritates me) and he's ALWAYS missing when there's action going on. Once again as I read this I have to wonder what makes vamps better lovers than humans? We get no real explanation at it, so be ready to suspend your disbelief.

This one made me laugh and had some sad parts. Not nearly as erotic as the first, but we see Sookie growing more to understand her own sexuality by bits and pieces.

I think this is a big improvement over the first and it shows not only Sookie growing but Ms. Harris as well. I've read the next one and the series just gets better with every book.

I'm recommending this to all my friends and I would to anybody who's ever enjoyed a vampire book or movie in their life. It's great!

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