Living Dead in Dallas

Title: Living Dead In Dallas
Author: Charlaine Harris
Subtitles” “A Sookie Stackhouse Novel” or “Southern Vampire Mysteries”
AKA: HBO’s True Blood: Season 2
Pages: 291

Confession time: I read this AFTER I had already seen HBO’s True Blood Season 2, so it may be nearly impossible for me to separate the two.

SPOILERS!!!!
Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse knew falling in love with vampire Bill Compton, would be dangerous. But what she couldn’t have known was that by loving Bill a whole door of the supernatural would be opened and her life would never be the same. So when a dead body turns up in the back of detective Andy Bellefleur’s car in the parking lot of Merlotte’s, it’s just the beginning for Sookie. Who is then called upon to by Eric Northman to investigate the case of missing vampire in Dallas Texas. But in route Sookie is attacked by a maenad who has message for Eric. Upon arrival in Dallas, Bill and Sookie turn their attention to The Fellowship of the Sun, a religious organization of anti-vampire politics. So Sookie and Hugo (the human lover of a Dallas vampire) decide to go undercover at the Dallas church in an attempt to find vampires Godfrey and Farrell for Eric. But upon arrival at the church, Sookie is discovered as a spy and locked in the church basement, where she discovers Godfrey and Farrell are also being kept. When her jailer attempts to rape her, Sookie escapes the basement and then with the help of a werewolf/shapeshifter named Luna, escapes the church. The next day Sookie travels back to the church where she stays with Godfrey as he “meets the sun”. That night The Fellowship of the Sun attack the vampires Dallas lair and many humans are killed. In the explosion Eric is hit by a bullet which he convinces Sookie must be sucked out. Sookie agrees and accidentally ingests some of Eric’s blood, which will forge a connection between the two. Sookie, angered travels back to her home to try and help Andy Bellefleur solve the murder case there. Only to discover there may be a sex ring in town. Since she is still mad at Bill during this time, she invites Eric to go to the sex party with her to try and fish out the killer. During the party, the maenad arrives and kills all the responsible humans and then disappears into the woods. Eric and Bill burn the house to cover the evidence and glamour the remaining humans so that they have no memory of the sex party. And Bill and Sookie are reunited.

TV VS. BOOOK
Some differences: Where’s Jessica? Tara is just introduced in this book, whereas on tv she has been Sookie’s best friend for years. Jason is hardly mentioned in the book. Where’s Luna in the tv show? Godfrey’s name is changed to Godric and the tv show does not let us know that he is a child molester. Unlike the show, Godric is not mentioned as Eric’s maker, nor does it seem that the two have any prior relationship. In the book, Lafayette dies. Unlike the television show, there is no mention of the drug V. Unlike the show, we have yet to meet Bill’s maker. The Queen of Louisiana makes the show, but not the novel. The book features way less maenad story line and gives the maenad a different name. In the book Sam is having a sexual relationship with the maenad, in the show the maenad wants to kill Sam and Sam is having a relationship with another shapeshifter.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I think I still enjoy the HBO version better. But it’s a solid and entertaining book. 3 out of 5 stars.