Living Dead in Dallas

Living Dead in Dallas is an entertaining book but poorly constructed story-wise, essentially telling two stories, one after the other, but the first being far superior. The plot involving Sookie aiding the Dallas vampires is very dramatic and interesting, but as soon as it ends you might as well put the book down. There are a few good moments in the last third - such as Eric in Lycra pants - but for the most part there isn't much to be gained from it even from just an entertainment standpoint.

I'm not sure really what to say about this book. My thoughts about it are no doubt tainted by the fact that I read the first book, then watched the first season on HBO and then read this book. The show and the book is just different enough that everything kind of blurs together and it's hard to remember what happened where.

The book just seemed like the same characters, but not a continuation of the first book like I expected. I mean Sookie went through so much in the first book that I thought that there would be more referrals back to those situations, but there were not. Also, how many times does Sookie have to get beat up? We get the point...

I guess I was just disappointed by this book, but I had high hopes for it. It wasn't a bad book by any means, just a disappointment to me.

I read the first few books in this series years ago but never finished it, so I'm rereading the first few volumes to finally finish the series. I watched the HBO show too, but I know it's very different from the books.

In this volume, the dialogue is really cheesy, and the pacing is super off. It had two completely separate plots, one shoved in the middle of the other, that didn't have anything to do with each other. The beginning and the end are about a murder and mythological creature, but the middle is about a trip to Dallas and a missing vampire. It's like pausing in the middle of one novella, reading a different novella, then returning to the first. I don't think I like any of the characters yet, except maybe Eric and Pam (though who knows if that's just cause I liked their characters the most on the show), and I find the way certain things are addressed to be problematic at best. Bill is so boring, and Sookie is fairly obnoxiously written.

But it's a fast and easy read. I remember liking one of the later books a lot more than this, so hopefully I get to that book soon.

Continuing from my last review, Sookie's telepathic abilities are out for hire when one of Bill's vampire friends contracts her out to a vampire nest in Dallas, so she can determine who kidnapped one of their members from a local bar. In addition, Sookie's friend and coworker Lafayette is murdered and stuffed into the car of Bon Temps' private investigator. Can Sookie figure out who the killer is and save the kidnapped vampire without winding up dead herself? (You already know the answer: yes, because there are a lot of books in this series. But it's entertaining nonetheless.)