Product Description

'I'd been waiting for a vampire for years when he walked into the bar.

Ever since vampires came out of the coffin (as they laughingly put it) four years ago, I'd hoped one would come to Bon Temps. We had all the other minorities in our little town - why not the newest, the legally recognised undead? But rural northern Louisiana wasn't too tempting to vampires apparently; on the other hand, New Orleans was a real centre for them - the whole Anne Rice thing, right?

It's not that long a drive from Bon Temps to New Orleans, and everyone who came into the bar said that if you threw a rock on a street corner you'd hit one. Though you'd better not.

But I was waiting for my own vampire...'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19704 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

SFX
'Bridget Jones with fangs … this is the best tongue-in-cheek vampire story I have ever read'

Synopsis
Small town Louisiana has a big problem - or rather a number of big problems. And now some of them have come knocking on Sookie's door ...Sookie is an unassuming cocktail waitress in an (outwardly) unremarkable town. She's quiet, keeps to herself and doesn't get out much. Attractive as she is, her hidden 'talents' send men running. For some reason her mindreading skills are just a bit threatening ...Then the unreadable Bill appears on the scene. Tall, dark and handsome, Bill seems to be the man of her dreams. Except he's not technically human. Bill is a vampire and a vampire who keeps seriously bad company, some suspected - unsurprisingly - of murder. Things get a bit close to home when a co-worker is murdered and Sookie starts wondering whether she will be next ...

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!! Vampire fiction at it's best
First book I have read from Charlaine, and I will be reading more!

I thought it was funny and well written, the charactors likeable.

Buy it you won't be disappointed

Disappointed!
A classic example of what happens when a mediocre writer happens to have a very good idea. The central conceit - vampires "out" themselves and live among us - is a great one, but not taken anywhere really interesting. For example, what actually happens when somebody is made a vampire? What thought processes would lead them to shun other vampires and live among humans? What are the philosophical and theological implications - are the vampires trying to recover lost humanity, or redeem themselves? And the book conspicuously backs away from some really interesting possibilities in exploring the parallels between the newly-outed vampires and the post-slavery southern states.

I think someone on here uttered the dreaded words "Bridget Jones" in conjunction with this book, and to be fair, that should have warned me that this is really just chick-lit with a gothic gloss. It's lightweight, insubstantial, frustrating, and the characters are poorly drawn. Sookie's not a very sympathetic heroine - her constant reference to her mind-reading abilities as a "disability" is pretty offensive - yep, you can hear other people in your head, but are you confined to a wheelchair, or a hospital bed? Nope.

Bill's a total enigma - the reader has no idea why she finds him attractive (other than he's "shiny", in which case he might need a mattifier) - he's totally devoid of any kind of charm other than the ability to uproot trees, which I guess would make him handy round the garden.

Like I said- nice idea, poorly executed.

Funny, Sexy and Completely Heartfelt!
This book was bought to me by mistake and after 1 year of it collecting dust in my bedroom i decided to give it a read before donating it to my local library. I have to say that i have red this book 4 times now and bought another set for my library so that others can enjoy it as much as i did. I related to the death in sookies family so much i cried a little.

I loved the funny moments between eric and bill!