Thursday 10 November 2011

In Da Club

Club Dead (2003) is the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, on which the television series True Blood is based.

In this novel, Sookie’s vampire boyfriend Bill leaves their hometown of Bon Temps, on a secret assignment for the Queen of Louisiana. Bill tells Sookie to seek protection from Eric Northman if he does not return in eight weeks. Bill does not return so Sookie decides to track him down. With the assistance of Eric, an Elvis impersonator vampire named Bubba, and Alcide Herveaux, a gorgeous werewolf, Sookie heads to Jackson, Mississippi.

Once in Jackson Sookie goes undercover at the underworld club Josephine’s, nicknamed Club Dead – where werewolves, vampires, shifters, goblins and other supernaturals hang out. Here Sookie meets Russell Edgington, the vampire King of Mississippi. Although she is putting herself in danger, Sookie uses her detective skills and quick wit to locate Bill.

Club Dead provides the outline for the third season of True Blood but it is not a direct adaptation. As the TV show is notably different, I was able to enjoy the novel without spoilers. However I cannot read the books without imagining the characters as distinct from the actors who portray them (but they are so brilliantly cast that this is not a problem).

The book is a frivolous confection - not a deep, literary read by any means. But Charlaine Harris engages the reader with her humour. For me these novels are a delightful diversion.  

I look forward to returning to Bon Temps in the fourth novel, Dead to the World (2004). My review of the first two novels is available on this blog: Dead Until Dark (2001) and Living Dead in Dallas (2002)