Stars: 3

Author: Charlaine Harris

Title: Dead until Dark

Publisher: Ace

Year: 2001

ISBN: 0-441-00853-4

Distribution: MMPB

Pages: 260

Vampires have been openly mingling with humans for four years, and the one who shows up in the Louisiana backwater Bon Temps turns out to be the man of Sookie Stackhouse's dreams. It's not that Sookie aspires to be a "fang banger" (as vampire hangers-on are called): she has an almost uncontrollable ability to read minds, and Bill the vampire is the first person she has encountered whose thoughts are a golden silence to her.

The course of true love is, however, not destined to run smooth: Sookie's grandmother firmly approves of the relationship (it helps that Bill is a Civil War veteran who agreed to address Gran's Descendants of the Glorious Dead group), but nobody else in town has much regard for vampires. The locals' biases get a boost from an obnoxious vampire trio who make a point of visiting bars and stirring up trouble: the freedom of being out of the coffin has gone to their heads. On top of that, women with a history of vampire connections keep getting murdered. The lack of evidence pointing directly to Bill isn't enough to ward off suspicions among the community at large.

Sookie isn't one to stand around and see injustice perpetrated, especially when it involves the first man she's found a relationship with. Her investigative trip to a vampire bar (with Bill as escort), however, only leads her deeper into the dangerous territory of the vampire subculture. Even Bill can do only so much to mitigate the appeal she has for one of the area's most powerful vampires. Between a stalking serial killer and a fascinated godfather equivalent, Sookie finds herself hemmed into a tighter corner than even Bill may be able to pull her out of.

Can you say derivative? Any fairly well-read vampire fan who delves into this horror-comedy-mystery-romance will be saying that no later than the end of the first chapter. Granted, so much vampire fiction has been written that it's practically impossible to create a vampire story that can't be called derivative, but Harris has taken exceptionally recognizable elements from Laurell K. Hamilton and Anne Rice and added in a generous dollop of downright Mary Sue-ish wish fulfillment, not only making Sookie well-nigh fearless of vampires but granting her invulnerability to their mind control. Some of the bits added for humor (the cat-loving vampire "Bubba" and the outcome of Sookie's adopting a stray dog) fall flat. Harris's breezy approach to the whole proceedings gives the impression that Dead until Dark was written chiefly to capitalize on vampires' current trendiness rather than because the characters or situation presented a story the author wanted to explore; that this book is the first in a series does nothing to detract from that impression.

Its derivative and exploitational qualities, however, don't prevent Dead until Dark from being a good read. The romantic bits are still romantic -- how can you not like a guy who enjoys brushing his lover's hair? And the mysterious and suspenseful bits are still mysterious and suspenseful as the murders mount up and the evidence that doesn't point to Bill points in a direction Sookie finds not much more cheering -- her good ol' boy brother, who has some incriminating habits of his own. To someone who hasn't read much vampire fiction, it may even seem bright and fresh, with its spunky protagonist, her gallant (if pale) beau, and an assortment of colorful small-town characters and the quietly menacing vampire subculture. But long-time vampire aficionados may find too much of the familiar -- not to mention the facile -- in this book where a few too many things go right.

Reviewed by Catherine B. Krusberg