Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris - 292 pages

Sookie Stackhouse -- a waitress in small town Bon Temps, Louisiana -- has a small disability.  She can read minds.  This has caused her problems her entire life as she must guard against the minds of everyone around her.  Until she meets Bill, a vampire.  Turns out she can't hear the minds of vampires.  Things would be perfect except for the vampire-related murders in town . . . .

This is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I picked it up while waiting for another book to come in. I thought it was a fun, quick read.  It was the easiest book to get into of the Charlaine Harris series that I've tried so far.  I'll definitely try the next book in the series.

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris - 352 pages

This book is the finale to the Sookie Stackhouse series and it seems like Harris may have checked out of caring about the series a couple of books ago.  This wasn't as bad as the last book but it was by no means stellar.  The characters were flat and the ending seemed to betray a whole lot of previous character development.  I stuck it out through loyalty to the franchise but have been severely disappointed in the last several books.

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris - 336 pages

The 12th book in the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood franchise isn't filled with major revelations.  We spend a lot of time with Sookie while she is running errands and dealing with everyday life in Bon Temps.  Sookie's relationship with Eric is in trouble but Sookie doesn't seem to want to put any real effort towards keeping him so there's not as much tension building as there should be.  There is also a ton of exposition in the book that isn't really necessary by book 12 of a series.  WE ALL KNOW SOOKIE CAN READ MINDS.  I don't know if maybe the book is loaded with backstory so that fans of True Blood won't get confused because the same characters are the in the books and the tv show but they have different plotlines and behaviors.  Regardless, I was entertained but not enthralled.