Dead Until Dark is the first book in Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for over twenty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children...

's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries

The Southern Vampire Mysteries

The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris that were first published in 2001 and now serve as the source material for the HBO television series True Blood...

novels.

Setting

Dead Until Dark, like the rest of the series to which it belongs, is narrated by Sookie Stackhouse

Sookie Stackhouse

Sookie Stackhouse is the fictional protagonist and narrating voice of Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries and the television adaptation, HBO's True Blood.-Biography:...

, a telepathic waitress from the small fictional Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 town of Bon Temps, which is described as being located not far from the non-fictional town of Shreveport. It is set at approximately the same time as the book's publication, however, in the world of the novel, vampires (and other supernatural

Supernatural

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 creatures) are a reality.

At some point in the recent past, Sookie tells us, the invention of synthetic blood (the most popular mass-marketed brand of which is "TruBlood") has made it unnecessary for vampires to feed on humans for sustenance, allowing the world's previously underground vampire community to reveal its existence to humans. This "Great Revelation" was an internationally televised event in which vampires expressed the desire for peaceful coexistence with humans. Also relevant to plot development is the fact that vampire blood is an addictive and illegal drug which, amongst other effects, accelerates healing.

Plot summary

Sookie lives with her grandmother, Adele, and has an older brother, Jason. Early in the book, Sookie falls in love with a vampire, a Civil War veteran named Bill Compton. After first meeting Bill, Sookie saves him from some "drainers", people who steal blood from vampires. Bill returns the favor the next day when the drainers attack Sookie.

Several murders occur in Bon Temps, and Bill becomes a suspect because many of the bodies have fang marks. Sookie's brother Jason is romantically linked to two of the victims, prompting the Bon Temps police to arrest him. Wanting to help her brother, Sookie asks Bill to take her to a vampire bar called Fangtasia, which is owned by Eric Northman, a vampire sheriff much older and more powerful than Bill.

Eric realizes that Sookie's telepathy

Telepathy

Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

 can be useful and commands Bill to direct Sookie to use her ability to determine the identity of the one embezzling from Fangtasia. Once Sookie identifies Long Shadow, who is Eric's partner and also a vampire, a confrontation ensues that nearly kills Sookie. Eric saves Sookie's life by staking Long Shadow when he attacks her. Meanwhile in Bon Temps, Adele is murdered within the family kitchen.

Bill, concerned with Eric's power over him and Sookie, decides to improve his own position within the vampire hierarchy. He asks Bubba, a dim-witted vampire, to protect Sookie while he is gone. Sookie discovers that her boss, Sam, is a shape-shifter when she lets a stray dog sleep on her bed and finds a naked Sam in the morning.

While Bill is gone, Sookie discovers that the murderer is her brother's friend Rene Lenier. He almost kills her, but she fights back. Badly injured, Sookie wakes up in the hospital and finds Bill by her side. Bill tells Sookie that he has become his area's investigator, working under Eric.

Body Count

Total Deaths: 20

• Human Deaths: 12
• Vampire Deaths: 5
• Cat Deaths: 2

Human:

• Denise and Mack Rattray
  • Both were killed by Bill and an Unknown Male after they had attacked, and nearly killed, Sookie Stackhouse. Official cause of death is Death by Tornado.
• Jerry
  • Presumably killed by Liam, Malcolm, and Diane after Sookie told them that he had Sino-Aids and was trying to kill them.
• Bartlett Hale
  • Bill had him killed after he learned what he did to Sookie as a child. Official cause of death is a burglar broke into his house, broke his neck, and dropped him down the stairs.
• Maudette Pickens
  • The first death in Bon Temps by Rene Lenier. Official cause of death is strangulation in her apartment.
• Dawn Green
  • The second death in Bon Temps by Rene Lenier. Official cause of death is strangulation after being beaten in her apartment.
• Adele Hale Stackhouse
  • The third death in Bon Temps by Rene Lenier. She was beaten, cut, and then strangled to death, and her body was found by Sookie in their kitchen. Sookie was supposed to die instead of Adele.
• Amy Burley
  • The fourth death in Bon Temps by Rene Lenier. Strangled to death, but no word if she was beaten as well.
• Cindy Lenier
  • The first victim of Rene Lenier. She was strangled with her own work outfit before Rene decided that if she would be with a vampire, she wouldn't mind being with her own bother. Afterwards he buried her body.
• Unknown Woman
  • Died along with Malcolm, Liam and Diane when the house burned down
• Two Unsolved Cases
  • Found in Shreveport, same MO as the deaths by Rene.

Vampire:

• Malcolm, Liam and Diane
  • Died when a mob from Bon Temps, enticed by Rene Lenier, burned down their house just after dawn.
• Harlen Ives
  • Died along with Malcolm, Liam and Diane, but was only visiting for the night.
• Long Shadow
  • Was staked by Eric Northman after he had attacked Sookie when she was about to tell Eric that he was the one that had embezzled $60,000 from Fangtasia.

Cat:

• Tina
  • Sookie's cat that was strangled by Rene and thrown at her door one night.
• Random Cat
  • Killed by Bubba, and was used as a delivery system by Rene to put the vampire out of commission while he went on to try to kill Sookie.

See also

• Characters of The Southern Vampire Mysteries
  Characters of The Southern Vampire Mysteries
  This is a listing of significant characters in Charlaine Harris's The Southern Vampire Mysteries / Sookie Stackhouse novels only. HBO created a television series called True Blood based on this series.-Sookie Stackhouse:...
  
  
• Characters of True Blood
  Characters of True Blood
  True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.This article includes main characters True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The...
  
  
• True Blood
  True Blood
  True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...