Living Dead In Dallas
by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas is the second in the hugely successful Sookie Stackhouse series of vampire novels by Charlaine Harris. If by any chance you’ve not encountered them before, either as books or in their TV incarnation True Blood, I suggest you start here with the first.
In this second novel, Sookie is developing and deepening her relationship with her vampire boyfriend Bill – at the start she’s still not sure whether it’s true love or still lust (as sex with a vampire is something else). Then a series of events happen to test them to the limit…
Lafayette, the outrageously gay short-order cook at Merlotte’s where Sookie works is cruelly murdered and Sookie vows to find out who killed her friend. Then another supernatural being turns up in the woods outside town – the Maenad wild woman (yes, of Greek myth), half kills Sookie and demands tribute from the local undead. Then Bill’s vampire chief Eric wants to loan Sookie out to help another group of vamps in Dallas (Sookie is a telepath, remember) – one of the group has disappeared and they need Sookie to read some minds to find out where he is. Sookie agrees as long as the vampires don’t hurt the humans involved, and off they go to Dallas and into a whole mess of crime, vampire hunters, shape-shifters and more.
Once again, I found Sookie and Bill to be great fun, the only bit I wasn’t sure about was the Maenad, otherwise it was more of the same and I loved it. I liked how Sookie is developing her skills as a telepath and how she is able to stand up to anything or anyone, whereas Bill is as cool as ever. Again there is an underlying crime element which adds to the plot too.
I know these books aren’t to everyone’s taste, but for me they’re great, racy, gory fun! (8.5/10).
This post was republished into its original place in my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive
Source: Own copy
Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas, Gollancz paperback, 279 pages.
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