I'm not even sure how I stumbled across this book, but the previous reviews convinced me to buy it - and now I'm totally hooked. I was actually so into it by the end that I was trying to read faster so I could turn the page and find out what happened next. I bought book 2 immediately after finishing this, and am on to #3. This is a great series to just get lost in. Buy it, you won't be sorry.

... so this is the perspective my review comes from. I'd recommend that anyone who likes True Blood to read the story. It's pretty simply written, and the story is actually somewhat sweet. If you're expecting the detail of the series, you'll be disappointed. True Blood is pretty faithful to DBD, but Alan Ball took his own creative liberties. Tara is not a character in DBD, so there's no root worker, no histrionics. Lafayette is a bit player (if that), and there's no V-dealing going on. And, Bill doesn't kill Long Shadow, so there's no trial. The book also ends before the series ended, and is taken up again in the 2nd in the series. The book is also written in 1st person, so the only perspective we have is Sookie's, which simplifies the story. We don't see Jason with the dead girls, for example, but only know of it from what Sookie hears. I think it's worthwhile to read books & see their adaptations, to make comparisons.

A number of reviews on DBD compare it to the Anita Blake series and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. This is unfair. I've read the entire Vampire Chronicles, plus half of the Anita Blake books ... and I've read Twilight & a few other vampire sagas. The writers' voices are so different, as are their approaches. I just don't think you can compare a hard-boiled zombie-raiser in St Louis (Anita Blake) to the innocent voice of Sookie Stackhouse, a small-town Louisiana girl. (Sookie's voice is quite authentic; some readers are annoyed by the metaphors used by Harris, but they are very much in line with how Sookie would see things.) And, of course, Rice's vampires are totally in another league to be compared to anything!

I'd recommend to take a read -- while Sookie might not compare to other writers' protaganists, that's what makes reading fun. Who wants to read cookie cutter books, with just the names replaced? When I decided to read DBD, I figured if I didn't like it, I could go back to Anita Blake and all her adoring & scheming vampires, lycanthropes, zombies, voodoo queens, etc., etc.

Honestly, I am only half way through this book and already I can review it. This book is just okay for me..Snookie is very immature for being in her 20's..Bill is boring and what is up with all the Gosh, and Golly Gee's? what is this, Leave it to Beaver? I'm not trying to say that I need curse words every sentence but at the same time, She's making her sound like a 10 year old from 1950. I'm not sure if I'll keep going with this series or not. Are the other ones this immaturely written?

I guess the story of the book is entertaining enough. Im a pretty bog fan of the hbo show Tre Blood and decided to read the 1st book after wtaching a good chunk of the season. Although the show is enetertaing but definitly has its cheesy parts, the books is just as bad. I think the thing that really gets me is this author really is an extremely horrible writer.

I love the southern vampire mysteries. Charlaine Harris has created a wonderful cast of characters.