Sookie Stackhouse is a simple waitress, with a special ability. She’s a telepath, she can read minds. It’s an ability with few advantages and has managed to isolate her from much of the town leaving her generally with few friends and less relationships haunted by irritations.And then a vampire comes into her bar. A vampire whose mind doesn’t encroach into hers, with whom she can sink into the blessed silence of his mind. A man she can actually spend time with without having to hear things she doesn’t want to hear, a man with whom she can actually find peace. And a man she can have an actual relationship with.But women are dying – women who are known to associate with vampires. The authorities are casting their eyes close to Bill Crompton – and then the murderer targets far too close to home, her own loved ones and at her herself. With her telepathy she is driven to try and find the killer to protect herself and Bill Crompton.And, of course, there is the major cultural change of the vampires in the town. The locals are hostile to encroaching vampires and the vampires themselves are split over whether to mainstream and fit in with the humans or not.The first time I read the book, I didn’t guess who did it. Oh the clues were there but I didn’t follow them at all, didn’t come close to guessing who was actually responsible. While Sookie tried to grasp exactly what was happening, you had a strong sense of the culture change with the revelation of vampires and how this small town can deal with such a massive change. I don’t actually think this was a story based on the actual investigation – though the need to investigate continues to pull her further into the world, perhaps out of her dept. This story is of Sookie’s life changing dramatically – growing from a very naïve and sheltered woman suddenly having to adapt to so many changes. Loss and mourning, her first real relationship as well as actual vampires, murders and someone hunting her. This is Sookie’s story as she tries to keep up with how much the world has changed.And she does it well. She doesn’t leap in – she does have to back off, she does have to adapt, she does have to take a breath, take a break, just not be around this hectic world for a little while. She deals and learns and adapts – and even takes joy in the changes and revelations – but she also cries and worries and frets as she is taken so far outside of her comfort zone.Read More
