I attempted reading Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1) on vacation last summer, but I began feeling nauseous after the first 10 pages. And it wasn’t because of airplane turbulence. Sookie just seemed so in love with herself and, after reading about how attractive the bar owner, Sam, was and how irresistible her brother, Jason, was to women, I almost needed a barf bag. I tossed the book aside, figuring I’d rather listen to someone clipping their fingernails than read another page.

But I’ve really been into fun chick mystery novels lately and I saw, over and over again, people recommending Sookie, and I needed a vampire book for January’s paranormal reading challenge. Not being a huge fan of vampires and not wanting a serious book, I figured this would be an opportunity to see what I was (or was not) missing.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I went into it thinking reading this book was going to be about as enjoyable as snowshoeing through the Alaskan tundra without chapstick, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I’d say it really tried to be good. Except there was one thing sort of major thing holding it back: the writing.

I try not to nag on authors for their writing skills, because, guess what, Charlaine Harris has an extremely successful book franchise that’s even inspired an HBO series. I have a blog and I doubt I could publish anything worthy of inspiring as much as a SlapChop commercial.

But...

It was almost like Harris wrote Dead Until Dark as a homework assignment. It didn’t feel like she had any passion for her characters – they were so cookie cutter, one-dimensional, and void of any kind of emotional depth, that it seemed like they were made up to tell the story rather than being the story.

For example, there was Sookie, who I liked (or at least liked the concept of). She’s a waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana with the ability (or, as she sees it, disability) to hear peoples’ thoughts. Having to hear the mundane and TMI details of everyone’s lives hasn’t been easy on Sookie, which she makes clear through the frequent mentions of how it’s kept her from doing well in school or having relationships.

Then, in walks Bill the Vampire (it’s okay to LOL at that. As Sookie points out, what kind of vampire is named Bill). Sookie is enthralled that a real live (er, dead) vampire has come to Bon Temps and is sitting in her section of the bar. Sure, she thinks he’s cute and giggles like a schoolgirl when she serves him his red wine (since they didn’t have any synthetic blood), but what would you do if you were a small-town girl serving your first supernatural being? I’ve read books where female characters throw themselves at the Bad Boy Love Interest against all sense and logic. Hell, in some of the books I’ve read, she’d be humping him in the walk-in freezer as soon as they locked eyes. I hate those books. For having a crush, Sookie actually handled herself pretty well. She was in awe of Bill, but she didn’t go over the top.

As I said, I liked the concept of Sookie, I just couldn't understand her because there wasn't really anything to understand. She told you how she felt or what was going on as if she were an observer in her how life. Throughout the book, she experiences several emotional situations, but she fails to react to them.

This is a mild spoiler, but I figured I’d hide it nonetheless

[spoiler title="Click to read a few details about the plot" open="0" style="1"]When her grandmother dies, Sookie exhibits the emotional range of a tuna. She says she’s sad, but she doesn’t act like it. This is the woman who raised her and her brother since they were kids. But when her cat dies later in the book, she’s more distraught. And I say that because she tells us she’s more distraught. She still doesn’t act any different. When it becomes apparent someone is murdering women fitting her description and it is likely her grandmother was murdered because the killer expected Sookie to be home, she doesn’t seem to react. It’s like she put “worry about being murdered” on her to-do list, but she just hadn’t got around to it yet.[/spoiler]
I would have liked to hear more about growing up in a small town with the ability to read minds. She says everyone refers to her as “crazy” (If I had a dollar for every time she used that word...) because of her telepathy, but it doesn’t seem like anyone really treats her all that different (unless she listens in and reacts to what they’re saying).

It’s a fair criticism that Sookie is so hot and cold when it comes to Bill – one minute it is “I love you” and the next minute it’s “We need to break up” – but they do have some serious issues to deal with in their relationship. For examples, The residents of Bon Temps don’t trust vampires. Bill’s friends are vampires (and not all should be trusted). There is a killer murdering women who have been clearly bitten by a vampire (so, of course, he’s a suspect). Sookie has to deal with the fact that Bill needs to occasionally feed on willing humans (fangbangers), which is a fairly intimate experience... just to name a few. That's why I didn’t have a problem with Sookie’s flip flopping so much; it was the fact that she did it without reason. I mean, she would literally be “I love you” and, without anything serious happening or a though popping into her head, tell him she needed space. And that is the author’s fault.

I didn’t mind Bill. I’d even go as far as to say I liked him. Like Sookie, he was one-dimensional and lacked emotion, but that kind of works for a vampire. He even had some great deadpan comedic moments (it can’t be easy being a 140 years old vampire trying to date in the 21st century). I had that urge to protect Sookie, but I never felt like he was pulling the "I must leave you because I know what's best for you" crap (like a certain other famous book-to-picture vampire we all know and love hate).

I loved the idea of vampires “coming out of the closet” and trying to live among humans (while balancing the rules and hierarchy they’ve practiced for centuries). I liked how Harris even managed to touch on topics such as AIDS and its effect on blood-drinking beings. I found the whole “virus” explanation of vampirism interesting and I wonder if it is a strategic move by vampires to gain power over the humans.

The murder/mystery plot in Dead Until Dark was barely present – and that was probably a good thing since the best way to describe it was like the Barney Fife version of CSI. It was one of those situations where you knew the only way for the killer to be caught was by the main character, which was a little strange because Sookie, in no way, was trying to catch him (or her).

Of course, I can’t do this review without mentioning HBO’s True Blood. It seemed a lot of reviews I read, right off the bat, wanted to compare the book and the show, and I think most of those people were True Blood fans first, and then decided to read the book.

Big mistake. It's not really fair to compare the book and the show. Dead Until Dark had barely 300 pages to fit in a plot and True Blood had an entire season. The show had time to integrate some new characters (Tara, Sookie’s best friend) and expand on others (Lafayette, the gay black cook at Merllote’s) and wasn’t limited to Sookie’s perspective. With that said, I do like the show much better.

Reading the book then starting True Blood (which is what I did) is actually a pretty good idea. It’s helped me to have some understanding of the characters to go on, so I feel like I notice little things that the show is expanding on or see foreshadowing to future events better than I would’ve had I not read the book.

I'm continuing on to Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2), not so much because I felt compelled to find out what happens next (it really isn't that much of a cliffhanger), but the writing seemed to improve as the book went on and I'd like to see if, as readers have said, the books get better. So far, I'm not totally sold on the series and don't feel the burning desire to read all the books in a row (1. There's a lot of them and 2. I have other books I need to read...and 3. I really really really am trying to break my habit of only reading series books).