Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

The Chick Manifesto write a review of 'Dead until Dark'. Yes, there still are people trying to decide whether to read the Sookie books.

Sookie Stackhouse was born with a peculiar disability: she can read minds. Her family never talks about it and everyone in town knows there's something strange about her. When she meets the handsome Bill Compton she's thrilled to finally be able to let her guard down around someone, as his is the only mind she can't hear. One slight problem, however: Bill is a vampire, who, thanks to the advent of synthetic blood, has finally been able to "come out of the coffin" along with the rest of his kind. Soon after his arrival in her small Louisiana town (he's Bon Temps' first vampire) several mysterious and incredibly violent murders start happening. As Sookie and Bill begin to fall in love, Bill is accused of committing the murders and Sookie is dragged into the affairs of some seriously scary vampires who aren't quite as adept at mainstreaming (i.e. not drinking human blood) as Bill. This is the first book in the Southern Vampire series.

If this book sounds familiar to you it's probably because the series is the basis for the HBO series True Blood, which will start its second season in mid June.

Read on