Pam Baddeley's Reviews > Living Dead in Dallas

This second volume of the series is rather a mixed bag. Sookie is still in a relationship with vampire Bill, and still involved in the affairs of the wider vampire community, through Eric to whom Bill owes allegiance. This leads to her having to go to Dallas and assist the chief vampire there to investigate the disappearance of one of their members: an activity that puts Sookie into multiple perils given the presence of an anti-vampire cult in the city. She also comes into contact with the shapeshifter community there. That part of the story was interesting, although the presence of a vampire who has been a lifelong serial abuser and killer of children was disturbing. However, the story is topped and tailed by another, disconnected, subplot which gives the book a rather messy ending, and it is unfortunate that one of the more interesting minor characters is killed off as a result.

There are fewer graphic sex scenes thankfully, but one unfortunately is rather a trigger (view spoiler)[ - after an absence, Bill wants rough sex and won't take no for an answer (hide spoiler)] which was rather a turn off than the opposite. The continuing fixation with the minutiae of what Sookie is wearing is also noticeable, and helps to make the character seem rather shallow. Considering that her grandmother was murdered in their house a few months previously in book 1, she is remarkably unchanged by that experience and doesn't seem to have suffered any grief for the woman who raised Sookie and her brother after their parents were killed when they were young children. Her 'love' for Bill seems mainly based upon his prowess between the sheets. I continue to feel sorry for Sam, her employer, who for reasons unexplained kept his attraction to her a secret until she became involved with Bill - although he is a shapeshifter, adding to the continuing need to suspend disbelief in these books, he does seem to be rather a better prospect on a number of counts, including the fact that he is considerate and a decent man (when not in the form of a collie dog).

This story was a bit better than book 1, hence the 3-star rating, but considering that I have quite a few of these books in hand, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bought so many. Luckily quite a few of them were cheap second-hand purchases!