Living Dead in Dallas

No. Just no.

The only reason I give this two stars, versus the one I was considering, is that it is an improvement on the first book. The action here is actually decently paced until the end, when things seem to become a bit rushed.

I very much dislike Sookie. She's mildly entertaining at best, a very few times throughout the book. I hate her relationship with Bill. She's dependent on his opinions, and he is much to cold and bossy. At least she doesn't have to cling to him 24/7 like other vampire girlfriends I've read. I understand that it is the nature of these characters, but it doesn't have to make me like it. Being a huge fan of True Blood the HBO tv show, and having a tendency to finish what I start, is the only reason I'm continuing on with the Southern Vampire mysteries. While the secondary characters like Eric, Jessica, Sam, and Lafayette are what make the show for me, I find the secondary characters in the novels to just not be strong enough to get over my dislike of Bill/Sookie. The two of them, especially towards the end of the novel, when Sookie separates from Bill, are just plain childish. They act like young teens, with high and mighty attitudes and who are stubbornly sticking their tongues out at each other going "haha, you apologize first because you are totally wrong and I'm always right". Then, to top off that drama, Bill practically becomes violent and forces Sookie into giving in and forgiving him. Seriously? I'm going to quote Clem from Buffy the Vampire Slayer here, and just simply say "Issues."

All in all, I'm not impressed, and if I have to see one more mention of Sookie's "Word of the Day" calendar, I might throw something. ( )

Sookie has to do double investigation duty with the death of a co-worker and a missing vampire in Dallas. To top it all off, Sookie has a run in with a creature that even vampires fear (for those who've seen True Blood, it's pretty obvious what that is). Overall, it's a pretty good book, but the ending feels very rushed. ( )

Sookie has to go to Dallas on vampire business, finds a cult who are bringing the fires of dawn to vampires and their supporters. Sookie's abilities continue to grow. Back at home, Sookie faces the Maenad and works to discover who murdered Lafayette.
( )

Things in Sookie’s life had never been easy, what with her unwelcome gift/curse/whatever of telepathy, but they had definitely taken a turn for the stranger and more complicated once she started dating Bill, a vampire. Although the reprieve his presence gave her mind, what with being unable to read his, well . . . it certainly hadn’t been all bad, not by far. But Sookie’s life shows an extreme run of bad luck as she finds a coworker dead in the parking lot, gets summoned to Dallas to conduct telepathic interrogations, gets kidnapped, is attacked by a maenad, and fights with Bill. Not that she’s about to let all that stop her from investigating her friend’s murder and seeing justice done.

I found Living Dead in Dallas to be a solid follow-up to the first volume in the series, Dead Until Dark. It builds well upon the groundwork that was laid in the first book, developing Sookie and Bill’s relationship, getting Sookie further embroiled in vampire Eric’s schemes, and bringing some new mysteries and dangerous elements to add to the overall intensity of the story. The author does well keeping that small-town Southern girl vibe going, even when Sookie is dumped in the big city of Dallas and expected to manage. We get some solid character development in this volume as well–you’ve got a self-educated, smart woman who is very brave and has strong convictions . . . yet who is also remarkably brittle at times. She’s an interesting character. The story itself is kind of all over the place, but in a way that actually ties together eventually. There’s enough going on to keep things engaging, and the pacing is good. Other than a fair warning that this is definitely an adult book, I would generally recommend Living Dead in Dallas, especially to paranormal romance and mystery lovers. ( )

I liked the first book in this series, but with this book did I rally start to love the series. The Sookie Stackhouse series is such a fantastic series, at least until the last book that ruined it all.

Living Dead in Dallas is a terrific book. I love the humor, the action and of course, Eric Northman. Yup, not a Bill fan at all! ;)

I do recommend this series, however, the last book is very, very bad. But until that one is the books great! ( )