This is the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries series. So, fair warning, there will be spoilers from the first book. If you haven’t read it, intend to read it and dislike spoilers, you may want to come back a bit later.
In the first book, we met Sookie and many of her family, friends and acquaintances. Of course, I say ‘acquaintances’ because, Sookie feels like such an outcast due to what she refers to as her disability, her ability to read minds. She believes, and she seems to have enough proof, that most of the residence of Bon Temp the she’s strange. Considering some of the characters who inhabit Bon Temps that could be taken as a compliment. For example, Andy Bellefleur, the only detective on the Bon Temps Police force. Andy doesn’t admit to believing in Sookie’s ability and then asks her to use it to help in police matters. There’s also Holly Cleary, one of Sookie’s co-workers who also keeps a polite distance from her. These and a few others help illustrate the rift between the normal people and the supernatural folks of the area.
Sookie is not on her own, though. She has her friend, Arlene Fowler, her boss Sam Merlotte, her brother Jason and of course, her grandmother, Adele Stackhouse, before her passing, more or less wind up in her corner. They all give varying degrees of support for her relationship with Bill Compton (AKA Vampire Bill).
The second book starts out with the discovery of the body of another of her acquaintances, Lafayette. Having watched the TV show, I was completely surprised when that happened. This starts one path of this bifurcated story in which, another murder mystery is investigated and of course, Sookie is asked to help. The other path comes in the form of Eric Northman requesting Sookie’s help in another matter. This makes for quite a bit going on during one book but, it does lend the story a bit a credibility. In reality, the world doesn’t stop to figure out one mystery, life tends to go on.
Living Dead in Dallas does a very good job introducing newer characters, developing characters from the first book and telling two unrelated stories. I’ve also noted what seems to be the use of supernatural characters as an analog for differences in people in the real world. In that way, it reminds me of the Wild Cards series. The social commentary isn’t heavy handed and may only be in my mind so, it doesn’t get in the way of an entertaining story.
Living Dead in Dallas does very well in keeping my interest in the happenings of Bon Temps and of Sookie Stackhouse. Just like the first book, I would recommend this for mature audiences only due to sexual content and violence. It definitely falls deep in the R rated territory.
I loved this series...to a point. I never read the last book because it was spoiled for me, and I only saw one episode of the HBO series because it didn't stay true to the book. I hope you keep reading through the series.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy, I probably will continue with the series. I watched the whole TV series before I read any of the books. Some of it has been spoiled for me but, the divergence was so early and thorough, they really do seem to be separate stories. I'm sure the Big Secret will be the same but, I still look forward to the unveiling.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this series but it started to go downhill towards the end, I wanted to finish it to see it out. This book was still when it really was awesome, such a shame it didn't last.
ReplyDeleteI've read the first 8 books and I love them.
ReplyDeleteJust recently, Brandon Sanderson announced the 3rd and final book in the Reckoners series was nearing completion. As much as I love the series, I was so happy to see that he was able to end the series when he thought the story was as complete as he could make it. It takes guts and integrity to do that with a successful series.
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