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Book Review By Gerri Mahn
Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris

All barmaid Sookie Stackhouse wants is a normal life in her small town home of Bon Temps Louisianna. However, being a telepath and dating the local vampire isn't going to help her reach that goal anytime soon. The problems really start when her boyfriend Bill's boss decides to 'loan' Sookie out to a nest of vampires in Dallas.

One of the Dallas vampire's has been abducted, but who could kidnapp an imortal? All the clues seem to indicate The Fellowship of the Dawn ("lets take the UN out of undead"); an extremist cult of KKK-esq proportions. But could the guilty party be someone within the Dallas nest itself? And what do the shapeshifters lurking around the city have to do with this?

Using her self proclaimed 'handicap' of mental telepathy, Sookie attempts to unravel the mystery without getting herself killed in the process. But vampires aren't her only problem. Back home, she has the murder of her eccentric coworker and a maenad who thinks Sookie's flesh makes for a decent billboard to contend with.

Sookie and Bill face these challenges together, but even if they survive the mystery, will their relationship survive each other?


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth
Romance Yes
Romance plotlets: - love forbidden by society
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - rescue mission/escape from confinement
Magical Beings/Mental/Magical/Powers Yes
magical powers:
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10 %
If enemy is a group... - cult
Human/magical couple? Yes
Type of couple: - She's a human, he's a magical being

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
If magical mental powers: - mind reading - can read emotions

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Profession/status:
Eccentric: Yes
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - licking - description of breasts
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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