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Dead until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
Southern USA single woman meets eligible bachelor - who happens to be a vampire.
A waitress in a small restaurant in a small town in Louisiana, Sookie Stackhouse, seems to live a quiet life. The only feature that seems to be of interest to her friends and relatives is her unwillingness or inability to enter into a romantic relationship. However, that situation changes when she meets the mysterious Bill, who seems like a perfect catch for her – apart from the fact that he is a vampire.
In this world, vampires have re-entered normal society, although their status in quasi-legal and uncertain – indeed. There seem to be numerous people out to exploit them, either by draining and stealing their blood or else using their supernatural powers for their own ends. These problems afflict Bill too and he must spend his time fighting against these exploiters and more dangerous foes. The vulnerability he faces in trying to integrate into society means he must keep a number of his practices secret: in this sense then, we may read the novel as a partly allegorical treatment of intercultural relationships, although this idea is only very slightly explored. The ability of Sookie to endure a series of grueling physical and mental adventures is also a little difficult to accept, but we are at least spared from Anne Rice-style agonizing and angst.
One of the pleasures of a vampire novel is in the extent to which the author will claim that well-known people are really vampires – here we are tantalized by the thought that, on his death-bed (or death-toilet), a man, known as The King, has been restored to life by the dark embrace. This novel is set in the southern states of the USA and there is a nice sense of time and place, with relationships among the major characters defined according to (or at least influenced by) this context. On the whole, the book is well-enough written and represents a pleasant read for those whose imagination can extend to accepting vampires and other creatures of the night entering albeit somewhat diffidently into modern human society.
Title: Dead until Dark
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books, New York
ISBN: 0441008534
Review written by: John Walsh
Reviewer's Rating:7.5
Reader's Rating: 9.79
Reader's Votes: 9
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