People who know me long enough will know that I still mourn the death of Anne Rice vampire seris. She was one of my most favorite if not my favorite writer of all time. Yet when she went back to God she stopped writing the vampire stories and we fans were left with getting our vampire fix another way.
I will just be honest, I hate Twilight, and Bella. It saddens me that people actually buy that cheap crap. It infuriates me that teenage girls everywhere say they can relate to Bella on her issues. If that’s what American role models have been reduced to, I fear for this great nation.
A friend had read Sookie Sackhouse books first, and knowing that I was craving something along the Anne Rice spectrum of vampire stories. She bought me the first two book in the series just to show me how good they are. I was not disappointed. It is almost like having Anne Rice back again. Granted this author does not go into heavy mythology (well at least not in the first book) or religious issues but the rest is still wonderful.
And Charlaine Harris effortlessly combines mystery with the paranormal and even some romance thrown in. The characters development is such that you become attached to Sookie. This is where readers like me has a problem. Since I know that there are nine (soon to be 10) more books after this one so you KNOW Sookie is not going to be killed. Yet the writing is so good that just for a minute you are worried that perhaps in your book she might meet a different fate.
Sookie can hear peoples thoughts. She has spent her whole life trying to block out other people. It is this reason that she could not go to school and is in a low paying job. When a vampire rolls into town Sookie discovers that his mind is blessedly silent. They develop a relationship. Woman turn up dead and Sookie attempts to use her powers to solve the mystery.
One big difference between this book and other vampire books is that the vampires in the Sookie Stackhouse books are “out”. They are part of mainstream human society. This puts a different spin on events.
I loved this book and will be reading all the books in the series.
