Book Review - Living Dead in Dallas

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

The second in the Sookie Stackhouse series of vampire mystery novels, Living Dead in Dallas serves up another enjoyable outing for the telepathic heroine.

After the previous book in the series Dead Until Dark: A True Blood Novel set up the characters and the mythology of the stories nicely, this book gets into the action right off the bat. Unlike the previous book, this time there are two plots (or mysteries) running throughout. The main being the missing vampire in Dallas, the second set in Bon Temps where Sookie's friend and co-worker Lafayette has been murdered.

We are introduced to a whole cast of new characters, as well as some returning ones. Harris this time also includes more of the supernatural element in the story, and some new beings are made aware to Sookie throughout the story. Remembering however, that at the core, this is a mystery novel, and like all good mysteries, Living Dead in Dallas has plenty of twists and turns along the way, as well as a nice surprise regarding Bill at the end of the novel.

Harris serves up another adventure, packed with fun characters, original takes on some already established myths and legends and also manages to weave two very different, and unpredictable mysteries around the action as well. Her writing style is very simple most of the time, and makes for an easy read. In fact, you will find yourself whizzing through these stories, I read it in about three days, so you really do get sucked into this world.

The story is told in first person, from Sookie herself, so we learn a lot about Sookie's own personality as well as her views and opinions on certain things. She continues to be a fun, no-nonsense protagonist and despite being surrounded by powerful supernatural beings, always seems to get the job done. It can often be a bad idea to use a first person narrative, especially with a protagonist as outspoken as Sookie, as the audience sometimes can't connect, but Harris has masterfully crafted a main character that the reader can root for and most importantly like.

The supporting characters range from likeable to un-likeable to just there to serve a purpose. There is a lot more from Eric in this book than the previous, and as a fan favourite, many readers welcome him. He is actually very much the character you love to hate. Also, for viewers of the television show who missed Tara in the first book, she does make her first appearance towards the end of this book. She is somewhat different to her television counterpart, but she is still a good friend of Sookie's, so no doubt she'll pop up again in future books.

One thing which I felt was slightly off in the first book, was the core relationship between Sookie and Bill. It seemed very forced and boring in Dead Until Dark almost as if neither of them felt very strongly about the other. In this book however, Harris has sorted the relationship out and there is much more chemistry between the two. Perhaps this is because of the inclusion of Eric, and the threat he poses to them as a couple - I don't know, but as a couple, they definitely seem a lot more "realistic" (if that word applies when talking about human/vampire relationships) than in book one.

If you haven't already read Dead Until Dark, then I suggest you start there, just to get into the series properly, however, this book shouldn't prove too complicated for newcomers to the series.