Dead Until Dark

I started watching True Blood last month and got hooked quickly.  After picking up the hints that there was something going on with Sam, Sookie's boss, I couldn't wait until his secret was revealed in the show and started reading the books.

The first  book was actually better than I thought it was going to be.  There's less gratuitous sex in the book than the series so it does drag here and there.  The book is told from Sookies pov and Sookie is very enamored with herself so there's a lot of description of how she looks, what she's wearing, and how big her bust size...all of that can  be forgiven however.

Sookie is telepathic so she's pretty much a reject in her little town.  Her parents are killed while she's still young leaving her and her brother Jason to be raised by their grandmother.  Sookie grows up to work at the local bar.  One day Vampire Bill walks into the bar and her world gets shaken up.  

I'd have to admit that the Bill/Sookie romance is pretty ok.  I actually liked Bill in this first book and was rooting for him for several books afterwards.  Some of the locals don't take kindly to Sookie dating a vampire and Bill has a few close calls.  I thought that part was the more interesting plot point of the book - how normal people would react to supernaturals coming out.  Some burned down a house and another went on a killing spree.  Wee.

You do get a taste of the vampire community with Eric and Pam at Fangtasia and there are other supernatural beings in this world namely Sam.  I really love Pam in her sweater sets and Eric is just perfection.

I was really happy the ending.  I didn't pick up on who was the real killer until the last moments and was thrilled that Sookie didn't need Vampire Bill to save her.