Review - Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Gollancz)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Published by Gollancz
Paperback - 336 pages
Published June 2009
Personal copy of book

Well, here we are. After the slew of success given to Twilight, along comes another adaptation in the genre of 'paranormal romance' (I shudder at the prospect, this is not a genre that I enjoy, mainly because they seem to have exploded into the scene following the success of Twilight). The novels by Charlaine Harris have been adapted into the now popular True Blood series made by HBO. I decided to give the novels a go, hoping against hope that amidst the barrage of sex that has made the TV series so popular there was a good story to be told. This is what I found (be warned, there are spoilers in this review):

Dead Until Dark is the first novel of the Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie, a waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana (near New Orleans, made popular among vampire fans with the Anne Rice books) who is also a psychic. A newcomer to the town, Bill, reveals that he is a vampire and the two of them begin a passionate relationship, much to the suppressed suspicion amongst the townsfolk. Though he tries to make it otherwise, Sookie is quickly pulled into his world, and his arrival coincides with a string of grisly murders in the town. Now Sookie is in danger of losing everyone she cares for, and her own life may be at risk.

I really liked the initial premise of this novel. The novel is written in the first person, something I was uncomfortable with at first but soon got into. Having Sookie as a telepath is a nice touch and adds a new element to the story. This is enhanced in that her power isn't straight mind reading; occasionally she just gets emotions or flashes of mental energy, so it's up to her to interpret what it is she sensed. Another great addition to the story is that the existence of vampires is not a secret - they've 'come out of the coffin' as she puts it, and it adds a whole new depth to the vampires in terms of power and social interactions.

Despite having a solid premise, however, Dead Until Dawn fails to deliver. The overt sexuality of the vampires in this novel is one that I feel is much overused because it pulls in the readers. The relationship between Bill and Sookie can be easily compared to Buffy and Angel or Edward and Bella and seems very formulaic. Vampire lusts after human girl because there's something different about her, human girl falls in love with vampire, vampire becomes overly protective of human girl but must still be cruel in part because, hey, he's a vampire. Though their relationship doesn't match the flatness of the protagonists of Twilight, there's a certain lack of depth that seems to have been glossed over with the sexual content.

The pace of the plot, while a little slow at times, put me in mind of a good murder mystery/whodunnit novel, where there are a number of factors that point to an easy conclusion, but one that feels too easy and convenient. The problem with this is that, when the mystery is finally solved you feel no sense of triumph at having been able to figure it out since there was no indication whatsoever that the guilty party is anyone other than what you would be led to expect. Nor is there a sense of shock or joy that you've been thrown a red herring in a 'twist' ending. All that is there is confusion and a little bit of annoyance, since there is nothing in the story prior to the revealing of the murderer's identity that would  indicate such.

I think that the story itself would have worked much better without the vampires and without the sexual content (at least to such a degree) and it would have made a perfectly fine thriller - so long as the ending was justified. The plot and the vampire myth here don't seem to belong together, and the novel seems to include gimmicks (the inclusion of a vampiric Elvis Presley and - surprise surprise - a shapeshifter who doesn't much like vampires) to attempt to link the two together.

In conclusion, Dead Until Dawn could have worked if it had ditched the vampire angle and became a solid thriller. As it is, it doesn't seem to work well and looks to be preying on the success of the paranormal romance genre. If this kind of fiction floats your boat then go for it. Otherwise, definitely give it a miss (just watch the show on TV, at least that way it's shorter).