Living Dead in Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 2) by Charlaine Harris Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Living Dead in Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 2)
Book Review: Typical Times in the Neighborhood?
Summary: 5 Stars
Living Dead in Dallas (2002) is the second Rural Fantasy in the Southern Vampire series, following Dead Until Dark. In the previous volume, Jason Stackhouse was released on bail and then was ashamed to face his sister Sookie. Later, Sookie was cornered by the murderer, but proved to be stronger than he thought. This thoroughly irritated him and he wrestled her to the ground. While he reached for his strangle cords, Sookie slipped his knife out of the belt sheath and gouged his wrist.
Jason visited her in the hospital and he seemed more angry with himself than ashamed of his sex life. His sister shouldn't have to do the fighting for him; he should have been there to fight for himself. Brothers!
In this novel, Andy Bellefleur is three sheets to the wind at Merlotte's Bar and Grill. Since he doesn't often get drunk, Sookie listens to his thoughts and regrets it. Andy had to arrest a man for assaulting a ten year old neighbor; now the girl is in the hospital, the man in jail, and Andy is drowning his memories. Sookie gives him a free drink and calls his sister Portia.
Andy leaves his car in the parking lot and the next morning Sookie discovers a body in it when she comes to work. Lafayette Reynold, the bar's late shift cook, is sprawled dead in the back seat. Since the seat is not soaked in blood, the county police assume that he had been killed elsewhere and then placed in the car.
That night, Bill Compton informs Sookie that they have been summoned to the Fangtasia bar for an assignment. Sookie has agreed to work for the Vampire Area 5 Sheriff, Eric Northman, and he has temporarily traded their services to the Area 6 Sheriff. Sookie and Bill are to fly to Dallas so that she can read the minds of some humans; Bill is going along as her manager and bodyguard.
Sookie takes her first airplane ride on a commercial jet to Dallas and Bill is shipped in his coffin on Anubis Air. While Bill's coffin is being unloaded, a priest comes up to Sookie and talks to her. She responds politely, but something makes her suspicious. Then he grabs her and tries to drag her through a door, but Bill rescues her.
After Sookie and Bill reach their hotel, Sookie notices that the bellboy is telepathic, at about the same level of development that she had reached as a teenager. She doesn't mention her discovery to Bill, for Barry is obviously uncomfortable around vampires. Sookie wonders why he is working in a vampire hotel.
Later, Sookie meets the Area 6 Sheriff, a nerdy-looking vampire with very cold eyes. She investigates the disappearance of a nestmate and learns that an unknown vampire had been involved in the incident. Bill uses a spare computer to access his database and finds the identity of the strange vampire.
In this story, Sookie encounters a group of anti-vampire fanatics -- the Fellowship of the Sun -- and is imprisoned on their property. She escapes with the assistance of a shapeshifter, is provided with medical care, and then is transported back to the hotel. Meanwhile, the vampires are raiding the Fellowship building looking for her.
Sookie also encounters Callisto, a maenad, in the woods near Bon Temps and is used to send a message in blood to Eric. The vampires provide a healer to treat her wounds, but her back will retain the scars for the rest of her life. Callisto wants tribute from the vampires, for her powers are overwhelming, particularly to overly proud individuals such as the typical vampire.
This story is full of sex, violence and sheer excitement. Sookie has several moments when she questions her involvement with vampires, shapeshifters, maenads and other such supernaturals. She wonders whether she should be loving Bill, especially when he starts hanging out with Portia Bellefleur, but he always convinces her to resume their relationship.
Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of preternatural creatures, anti-vampire fanatics and a gutsy waitress.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Book Review: Vampires, Telepaths, Shape Shifters, OH MY
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the second book in the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse series.
Right from Chapter one this book will keep you enthralled. Sookie Stackhouse, the telepath waitress and her vampire boyfriend, Bill, have a lot going on in this story. Sookie first discovers a dead body, she is attacked, saved, and then she travels to Dallas where she finds more danger. The book summary pretty much tells you all you need to know any more and you'd have zero surprises. After coming home from Dallas there are some surprisingly real and heartfelt emotions and issues between Sookie and Bill. Ms. Harris does such an excellent job of writing what Sookie is feeling, that you feel it, too. While there is a lot going on in this story, it is woven together, seamlessly, and flows beautifully.
Eric the vampire makes another appearance and all I can say is... yum! He is an excellent character and adds a lot of chemistry and humor to this story. There is also an introduction of another Vampire leader, while his character was important to this story I didn't get the feeling he'd be a major player in future stories. Sookie meets another Shape shifter in Dallas and I have the feeling I will be reading more about her in coming books, I am looking forward to that.
Living Dead in Dallas is an outstanding follow-up to the first book, Dead Until Dark. The story moves fast and has a little bit of everything in it; love, sex, action, sadness, life, death, laughs and drama. I loved it and would highly recommend it, but if you haven't read the first book, I suggest you start there and read this series in order.
Book Review: living dead in dallas
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is actually one of my favorites in the series because it's a little different. There is a lot of action, and the story seems chaotic at times. But it all combines to make a great story. This book might actually hit a nerve with some people because it delves into fanatical Christian views of vampires (I would also add the supernatural, in general). I'm so glad that Mrs. Harris has stayed true to the South and brought up this point of view. The story revolves around The Fellowship of the Sun, which is an organization aimed at "killing" vampires to save their souls, but the story is told with such a tone that there never seems to be any judgement, which is nice. I was really impressed that Mrs. Harris chose to write a book on this topic because, being from the South, I always knew it had to come up to be a genuine series.Book Review: Literary junk food
Summary: 1 Stars
I have two good points on these books: One, they're a quick read, and two, a friend lent me a couple, so I didn't waste any money.
The first and second ones were kind of fun reads, but I would have enjoyed these more when I was 15, when I didn't have any mileage on me.
As for the mysteries, the killers weren't totally obvious, but I can't say I'd give credit to Harris' ability to craft a mystery. For me, I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters; I just found them sort of disposable.
The lead character, Sookie Stackhouse (yeah, she's got a big rack and vampires and other supernatural beasties, just like most mortal men, can't resist a good pair of melons), has a "disability," which is basically the ability to read minds -- not always a good thing, if you've got all that static to tune out and haven't developed a filter. Sookie isn't that well educated, as in going to college, because she was only good at homework, so she works as a bar maid and prides herself on being book learned and loves to use words from her word-a-day calendar. To her great relief she meets a vampire, Bill, whose mind she can't read, and they begin to date.
In her world, vampires are now legal, with clubs and "fang-bangers" who sleep with vampires, and the Japanese have developed a synthetic blood, making it unneccessary for vamps to feed on humans (not that it's totally stopped them).
But Sookie starts to date Bill, loses her virginity to him (setting up for sex scenes, a big part of the series, which probably are exciting for a virgin to read -- there's no titilation or intriguing detail or seduction here).
In the meantime, Sookie meets more vampires and other supernatural creatures, and ends up using her power to try and solve assorted murders and missing-beings cases. She also gets recruited by vampire Eric (someone who has more power than Bill, and who wants Sookie for more than her telepathy) to help solve various mysteries, and Sookie gets into scrapes along the way. This description, by the way is not plot specific to Book 2, or even Book 1, but that's kind of the pattern that's emerging in the series. It's basically the misadventures of a busty telepath among the supernatural world.
These books are the literary equivalent of potato chips: A couple taste good, but the whole bag isn't going to do much for you except give you fat and empty calories and a stomach ache. At best they are a guilty pleasure, though I give Harris credit for injecting a bit of humor in the books; there are a couple of good laughs (intended ones).
Book Review: The Southern Vampire Series...
Summary: 5 Stars
... are a fun Vampire romp, just what you need when you want a pick-me-up on a cold winter day/night. Something to make you LOL and smile a while. Read and enjoy the whole series. These are real keepers.