So Rene's not dead in the books ?

Why no- no he isn't dead.
Of course, the whole ending in Dead until Dark is quite different that the True Blood version - in the books Rene is in the hospital and then in jail.

Bk 1
Rene, in his work clothes, was still wearing his knife on his belt. I yanked the snap open and pulled the knife from its sheath, and while he was still thinking, "I should have taken that off,"

I sank the knife into the soft flesh of his waist, angling up. And I pulled it out.He screamed, then. He staggered to his feet, twisting his upper torso sideways, trying with both hands to stanch the blood that was pouring from the wound.

I scuttered backward, getting up, trying to put distance between myself and man who was a monster just as surely as Bill was.
Rene screamed. "Aw, Jesus, woman! What you done tome? Oh, God, it hurts!"
That was rich. He was scared now, frightened of discovery, of an end to his games, of an end to his vengeance.
"Girls like you deserve to die," he snarled. "I can feel you in my head, you freak!"
"Who's the freak around here?" I hissed. "Die, you bastard."
I didn't know I had it in me. I stood by the headstone in a crouch, the bloody knife still clutched in my hand, waiting for him to charge me again.

He staggered in circles, and I watched, my face stony. I closed my mind to him, to his feeling his death crawl up behind him. I stood ready to knife him a second time when he fell to the ground. When I was sure he couldn't move, I went to Bill's house, but I didn't run. I told myself it was because I couldn't: but I'm not sure. I kept seeing I gestured to Bill to draw close. He did, his face resting on the bed next to mine. "Don't kill Rene," I
whispered. He looked cold, colder, coldest.
"I may have already done the job. He's in intensive care. But even if he lives, there's been enough murder. Let the law do it. I don't want any more witch hunts coming after you. I want us to have peace."

Bk 4
"You know who did those killings. He's in jail, unless something's happened that I don't know about. And he confessed." Catfish met my eyes, and his were very uneasy. This line of questioning had my brother's boss all twitchy. Granted, my brother was a little kinky in the sex department (though none of the women he'd kinked with seemed to mind), but the idea of him keeping a sex slave that I had to deal with when he vanished? Oh, come on!"He did confess, and he's still in jail," Andy