Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, #2)

by Charlaine Harris

book data

11,319 ratings, 3.92 average rating, 1,068 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		27%
4		42%
3		25%
2		4%
1		0%

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published

April 26th 2002 by Ace

binding

Paperback, 291 pages

url

http://www.charlaineharris.com/

characters

Sookie Stackhouse, Bill Compton

setting

Dallas, TX

isbn

0441009239 (isbn13: 9780441009237)

description

When a vampire asks Sookie Stackhouse to use her telepathic skills to find another missing vampire, she agrees under one condition: the bloodsuckers m...more

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11/17/08

Beth(MN) rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: 2008, urban-fantasy, vampires

Read in December, 2008

Vampire Bill is a dud.

But otherwise I really enjoyed this book, it was better than the first. I was dying laughing during most of the orgy scene...who knew Eric was so funny?

Perfect vacation reading. Added bonus, I read this on the plane last night from Minneapolis to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Very appropriate. :)

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

9 comments

05/24/08

Shannon rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, mystery-suspense, shape-shifters, urban-fantasy, vampires

Read in July, 2008

Another wonderful Sookie Stackhouse outing, fast-paced and never flagging. This one sees Sookie and Bill sent by Eric to Dallas because he's "rented" her out to the nest leader there, Stan, so she can use her telepathic gift to find out what happened to a missing vampire. This leads to the Fellowship, a truly scary psuedo-Christian cult that's very anti-vampire. There's also a scary Maenad hanging around the woods at home, demanding tribute, and poor Lafayette, the flamboyantly gay coo...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

3 comments

12/16/07

Ana O. rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: 2008-read, english, traded

Read in January, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This will be a three in one review mostly because after reading three books in this series I was left feeling empty, totally indifferent and with not much to say about each one of them, so the best way to review them was to do it all at once.
In this volume, Sookie starts reading minds for the local vampires’ boss, Eric, in the attempt of locating one of theirs who has gone missing and in the process gets herself involved with a dangerous anti-vampires cult that tries to kill her.
Ap...more This will be a three in one review mostly because after reading three books in this series I was left feeling empty, totally indifferent and with not much to say about each one of them, so the best way to review them was to do it all at once.
In this volume, Sookie starts reading minds for the local vampires’ boss, Eric, in the attempt of locating one of theirs who has gone missing and in the process gets herself involved with a dangerous anti-vampires cult that tries to kill her.
Apart from that, one of her coworkers is murdered and although no one seems to care about the gay cook’s demise, Sookie wants to find out who wanted to kill him and why.
The first thing that annoyed me about this series was the heroine, Sookie is too perfect and too beautiful and that is a sure thing to make me dislike a story, everyone has flaws, that's what makes them interesting. Then she's oh so innocent and oh so in love with Bill that every time we look around she's in the arms of someone else, be it her werewolf boss Sam, the local vampire leader Eric or Alcide another hot werewolf she met on her last assignment, she can't seem to make up her mind. And give her time I only read till the third book! I also hated the way she handled her grandmother's death in the first book, the woman who raised her and her brother was gruesomely murdered and she didn't seem to be one bit shaken.
The vampires in this series are so bland, so lacking in emotions, most of them could easily be replaced by a blank wall and we would never realize the difference. Bill is the worst of them all, I'm not sure what made Sookie fall head over heels in love with him, and even Eric who is supposed to be so sexy and sarcastic comes out mostly as annoying.
The fact that I never warmed up to the characters made me struggle through the stories, the first book didn’t seem to have a point although there was a murder mystery to be uncovered, I started the second one just to see if the plot got any better (it didn't!) and I only read the third one because unfortunately I had bought it along with the second one in hopes of continuing the series. The last time I heard there was a TV series in the make and I hope somehow they'll be able to make it a little more interesting than the books, which I highly doubt but you never know!
I won't be reading any more Sookie Stackhouse books, that's for sure!

Grade: C-(less)

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

1 comment

09/17/08

Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Amanda by: Chad
recommends it for: Yes

This is a great read!!! Book #2 of the Sookie Stackhouse series is light years better than book #1 (see Dead Until Dark). Having already laid the groundwork in book 1, author Harris is able to pick up where she left off. The result is a fast-paced, suspenseful, action-packed plot sending Sookie to Dallas and smack-dab in the middle of (another) vampireunderworld where she's their best hope for finding one of their own and defeating an extremist religious cult trying to annihilate them. Some ...more

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02/20/09

JuliAnna rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: guilty-pleasures

Read in February, 2009

recommended to JuliAnna by: Next Best Book Club folks
recommends it for: paranormal romance fans only

This is not a great work of literature nor even a good fantasy novel; it is an entertaining paranormal romance novel. If you are up for a romance novel with supernatural creatures, this is a good bet. If you were only lukewarm on the first novel in the series, you should still give this one a try. If you like a little substance with your romance, I would stay away from these books.

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01/22/09

Catherine rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: ebook-owned, horror, mythology, paranormal, urban

Read in January, 2009

It was good. I like that Sookie isn't blasé about having a vampire boyfriend and the problems and occasional horrors that go with it. She's just trying to make the best of her situation, just like the rest of us; only her situation involves telepathy, supernatural creatures, murder and mayhem. Therefore the drama. Bill is still a bit boring to me, not as interesting as Sam or Eric. In real life, he'd be my guy (minus the dead part), but I like my story heroes more interesting. Looking forward t...more

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11/06/08

Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: fantasy, paranormal

Read in November, 2008

It was a fast, engaging read. Different, in details, from the series, but the feel is the same. It's an interesting world that Harris has created. She brings up some well thought out points about how a vampire would differ from a normal human. It's certainly not high literature, but an awful lot of fun.

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03/23/09

Greg rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: fiction-mystery-fantasy

Read in April, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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11/11/08

Alice rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in December, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who loves a good Southern vampire tale or watches "True Blood"

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I was glad to start "Living Dead in Dallas" as I was in the middle of "True Blood" on HBO since the series introduced many characters in Book 2 who will also become regulars in True Blood's Season 2. Creator Alan Ball has also mentioned that Season 2 will take a lot of inspiration from "Dead in Dallas," but I hope he improves on the novel.
The novel opens with Sookie finding the dead Lafayette in Andy Bellfleur's patrol car. She then has an encounter with the ...more I was glad to start "Living Dead in Dallas" as I was in the middle of "True Blood" on HBO since the series introduced many characters in Book 2 who will also become regulars in True Blood's Season 2. Creator Alan Ball has also mentioned that Season 2 will take a lot of inspiration from "Dead in Dallas," but I hope he improves on the novel.
The novel opens with Sookie finding the dead Lafayette in Andy Bellfleur's patrol car. She then has an encounter with the maenad (Marianne Forrester in the show) and then she and Bill head to Dallas to help Stan the Dallas vampire chief find his missing nestmate. Here in Dallas we meet the Fellowship of the Sun -- which I believe will be an important antagonist in Season 2. Sookie gets beat up a lot from beginning to end and after she and Bill survive two lovers' fights she helps Andy find who killed Lafayette. She kisses Eric the vampire and likes it and Bill doesn't seem to be all that jealous. This novel is full of plotholes (now, really, Bill doesn't know how he's related to the Bellefleurs and he hasn't looked at the family Bible since he's been living in Bon Temps?)and swift summaries -- like Harris knew she was going to go back and elaborate on her scenes, but never did. Perhaps she was bored with them and needed filler. Most of the cat and mouse scenes in Dallas reminded me of a Nancy Drew mystery and I couldn't finish this book long after I started it. But after Sookie and Bill leave Dallas the action picks up. In fact whenever Eric, Sookie and Bill are in a scene together (pick Eric/Sookie or Bill/Sookie) the writing is full of energy and is extremely enjoyable to read. Why can't all of the book be this way?
As some of the other reviewers have stated, I found Sookie very annoying in this book because she's written like a selfish bimbo. She is looking to pick a fight with Bill and seems to totally forget he's a vampire - Hello?!
I prefer everything about the show to the books, so far, but I like the books for the background information since the show throw's so much information at you to digest right away. All I can say, is Harris is a good writer, not a great writer, and she gave Alan Ball plenty to work with. (less)

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05/24/07

Inara rated it:

bookshelves: novels-vampires

recommends it for: vampire lovers

Title in German:
Untot in Dallas

This is the second very entertaining adventure of Sookie Stackhouse and her vampire boyfriend Bill. This time Sookie ends up in Dallas to find a missing vampire. Hardly arrived she is at once right in the middle of the events and meets vampires, shapeshifters, an other telepath and has to put up a fierce struggle at not being captured by the ominous "Fellowship of the Sun" an anti-vampire club. A second plot is the murder of Sookies coll...more

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10/12/08

Mahlet rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: audio, mystery-suspense, paranormal-romance

Read in March, 2009

I really enjoyed this, especially all the interaction with Sookie and Eric...I actually liked their scenes together a lot more than Sookie's scenes with Bill! With Eric, it was always hot, or hilarious, or a combination of both! I can't wait for Sookie & Eric to eventually get together *fingers crossed*

I also don't understand all the reviewer comments regarding too much sex - did I miss something? I didn't think there were many Sookie/Bill bedroom scenes, and I found the ones tha...more

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01/10/09

Alaine rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: 2009-read, fantasy-sci-fi

Read in February, 2009

Charlaine Harris did it again! Being fairly new to this sub genre of fantasy I am really enjoying it. This book is action packed with some more 'species' introduced. The vampires are fairly typical and in this book we learn a lot more about them. This book is probably not quite as funny as the first but it is still extremely entertaining. In this book we also find out more about Bill's family.
The author still has a lot of scope to develop the characters further in the following books, whic...more

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08/12/08

WiserblondCarolyn rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in August, 2008

This series is hilarious. Laugh out loud funny! If you have lived in a small town in the south, you will identify with Sookie's observations and the local characters that weave in and out of the storyline.

This is a fun series and great summer reading. Anne Rice without the guilt and melodrama!

My two favorite characters are Eric the Viking Vampire and Bubba (a formerly famous icon who didn't die, but "passed over" as a Vampire...but there are issues)

...more

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03/15/09

Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: mystery, romance, vampire

Read in March, 2009

(this is the second book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series. beware of spoilers for the first book, Dead Until Dark)

in a sentence or so: Sookie is back in action. between a dead body in the backseat of the local police officer's car in the parking lot of her bar, a maenad reeking havoc, and being sent out to find missing vampires in Dallas, she's a pretty busy telepathic barmaid.

Sookie, the local telepathic barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana, is dating Bill, a vampire. whe...more (this is the second book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series. beware of spoilers for the first book, Dead Until Dark)

in a sentence or so: Sookie is back in action. between a dead body in the backseat of the local police officer's car in the parking lot of her bar, a maenad reeking havoc, and being sent out to find missing vampires in Dallas, she's a pretty busy telepathic barmaid.

Sookie, the local telepathic barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana, is dating Bill, a vampire. when she arrives to work one morning to discover one of their short order cooks dead in the backseat of a police car, Sookie is a bit worried. murder isn't exactly an everyday occurrence in the little town, and disposing of bodies in the back of police cars isn't exactly the norm either. however, before she can dig too deep into that mystery, she and Bill are summoned to do some 'work' in Dallas. as a telepath, she is a huuuuuge help to other vampires, and is 'loaned out' to find information they need. not exactly her favorite thing to do, but at least she prevents the vampires from killing innocent people unnecessarily, right? there are vampires missing in Dallas, and Sookie soon learns that a group calling themselves the Fellowship of the Sun Center, may have some pretty sinister motives.

i liked the introduction of other supernatural characters to this mystery, and i thought they were weaved in pretty well. i think my biggest challenge was that the book felt a bit like a sandwich. it opened with the murder in Bon Temps, had the mystery in Dallas, and then closed with the murder in Bon Temps. it didn't feel as if the two stories meshed well together - and by the time she returned home from being in Dallas, i had almost forgotten the opening of the story all together.

overall, i still really dig Sookie's voice and her personality. not over the top, but confident. i can tell that Harris is setting up some love-triangle-drama for the rest of the series, which should compliment the mystery well. while i did not enjoy this one as much as Dead Until Dark, i still plowed through the book in a matter of days. it deals with more serious issues than Dead Until Dark, and did so well. the furthering of the vampire and supernatural mythology was laid out for future books too - and i can't wait to read them!

fave quote: "Though I was a human-albeit a weird one-I knew better. I'd been a lot happier when I believed Bill had some classifiable illness. Now, I knew that creatures we'd shoved off into the realm of myth and legend had a nasty habit of proving themselves real. Take the maenad. Who'd have believed an ancient Greek legend would be strolling through the woods of northern Louisiana?" (63)
fix er up: the clunky-ness of the two mysteries. if they had meshed or overlapped more, that would have been nice.
(less)

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02/28/09

Angela rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in February, 2009

After finishing the first book, I immediately got to reading Living Dead in Dallas. Sadly, this book was somewhat of a disappointment. The beginning was strong, showing signs of a good murder mystery, but it just went down after that. The trip to Dallas was dull for the most part, with little to no background on some of the characters and their motives. Others appeared to be of some importance only to never be seen again. Despite that, there was a lot of action going on and that definitely kept ...more

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02/06/09

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: mass-market-fiction

Read in January, 2009

The plot thickens...
Like the first Sookie book (Dead Until Dark) the novel is narrated in a chummy way by Sookie Stackhouse, a self-described telepathic barmaid. This book didn't fly quite as quickly as the first. Sookie's relationships get more complicated - with her vampire boyfriend and all the folks - human and vampire - that the two of them have to negotiate in order to stay together. There are also more supernatural creatures introduced, including some that aren't as familiar as v...more

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01/17/09

Nymphsin rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Nymphsin by: Friends off of Hunter's Haven!
recommends it for: Everyone who likes fiction, vampires, bad guys, and sexy good guys.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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11/24/08

Tony duncan rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

bookshelves: audio, humor, literature, sci-fi--fantasy

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Tony by: emusic audiobooks
recommends it for: fantasy vampire afficionados

I almost gave this four stars. i really enjoyed it, even if it isn't profound literature. This is the second novel in a series, and I will likely want o read more. There is something about her wriitng style that is intriguing. She sometimes seems overly descriptive, but since the maion character is doing the describing, it gives you a sense of her personality as much as a picture of the scene

The main character is Sookie Stackhouse. A blond blue eyed, bar waitress with big tits and a ...more I almost gave this four stars. i really enjoyed it, even if it isn't profound literature. This is the second novel in a series, and I will likely want o read more. There is something about her wriitng style that is intriguing. She sometimes seems overly descriptive, but since the maion character is doing the describing, it gives you a sense of her personality as much as a picture of the scene

The main character is Sookie Stackhouse. A blond blue eyed, bar waitress with big tits and a great body, and she knows it. She lives in Louisiana, and has a sharp temperment.
Of yeah, she happens to be a telepath (my friend Leah doesn't know what a telepath is. I had to explain it to her).

But that is the rather mundane surprise. The big deal about the book is that her bopyfriend is a vampire. And they live in a United States that has recently recognized vampires as having certain rights of citizenship( Not allowed to be doctors for some reason however). Vamps have come out of the coffin so to speak. Most of the legends surrouding vampires survive intact in this telling. the thing that makes this case interesting is that a Japanese company has come out with a form of synthetic blood for vampires, and they no longer need to feed on humans. There is an uneasy and evolving relationship between vampires and the rest of society, and the series explores various aspects of this state of affairs. Sex plays no small role in the book, and whle explicit it is not graphic. But just because vamps no longer NEED to imbibe from victimized humans, it doesn't mean that consenting adults aren;t allowed to heighten a vampires sexual pleasure by taking leave of a few ounces of hemoglobin cocktail to heighten Vampire sexual passion. Fortunately fang marks are less noticable than hickeys.

So the plot of this story is that the "nest' that Bill, Sookie's boyfriend belongs to hires Sookie to use her mental powers to help solve a crime in Dallas vampire enclave. She and Bill, ,who is a bit of a vampire detective, go to Dallas and get embroiled in a situation much larger and more dangerous than they ever expected. OOOOOOOOOO. Seems kind of hokey, and it is , but the characters are mostly interesting, if somewhat stereotyped sometimes, and there are a host of twists and surprises that are quite fun and exciting.

The other thing I liked about the book, is that there is a little subplot near the beginning of the book, that gets lost in the main plot, but after all the excitement there is a return to that subplot, and a resolution that solves another mystery. I also like that the relationship between the characters changes and gets more complicated as the story progresses. Sukie can be alternately scared shitless and foolishly courageous. She is very human, and the vampires are very vampiry, with interesting personality quirks.

Some might not like the writing or the story, but I think it is worth reading the first 100 pages to see if it is something that gets your blood going (heh heh)(less)

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06/23/09

Louise Yang rated it:

(review of other edition)

The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris moves right along, as evident by how quickly I finished the second book, Living Dead in Dallas. This time, Sookie Stackhouse takes on a small job in Dallas for the the vampires, or more specifically, Eric the sheriff of Area 5. But that’s not all. There has also been a murder in her own town which she has to get to the bottom of.

Living Dead in Dallas builds more on the handful of main characters than the previous book. I fou...more

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05/14/09

JBradford rated it:

(review of isbn 1841493007)

Read in May, 2009

Something that has intrigued me about the spate of different vampire series lately is the tendency of the authors to create whole different rationals of how vampires came to be, what kind of lives they live when they are not sucking blood, and the complex governing structure they follow--none of which occurred in the original.

This second in the series of the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, mind-reading barmaid in a small Southern town, explores the vampire governing structure more...more

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