Plot
The protagonist of the novel is Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who works at a bar, of which she has recently become part owner.
At the end of the previous novel, Deadlocked, Sookie used (and used up) a magical artifact called a cluviel dor to save the life of Sam Merlotte, who had been killed by his girlfriend, Jannalynn.
The situation as the novel begins is that Sookie's relationship with Eric Northman, a vampire who is her lover and, in vampire terms, her husband, has cooled suddenly. Meanwhile, Eric's maker had negotiated a marriage between Eric and another vampire, without Eric's consent. However, due to vampire practices, Eric was obliged to go through with the marriage. He had been hoping Sookie would use the cluviel dor to get him out of the marriage, and was upset at Sookie (and jealous) that she used it in the heat of the moment to save Sam instead. During the novel, Eric progresses with his marriage, while Sookie feels endangered by Eric's fiancée, whose jealousy could mean trouble for Sookie. Meanwhile, Sam, who is Sookie's friend and co-owns the bar with her, and for a long time was Sookie's boss, is having a hard time dealing with having been suddenly brought back to life.
Soon Sookie has additional problems. Arlene, who used to be a co-worker and friend of Sookie's, and who once tried to lure Sookie to a painful death as part of a human-supremacist organization that opposed all supernaturals and people like Sookie who consorted with them, has been freed from prison by a mysterious group who it appears has it in for Sookie. At their instigation, Arlene visits Merlotte's bar and asks Sookie for her job at the bar back. Then Arlene's body is found, and Sookie is arrested for her murder.
To help her with these issues, Sookie is visited by her demon godfather, Desmond Cataliades; his niece Diantha; his great-great-grandson, the telepath Barry Horowitz; and the witches Amelia Broadway and Bob.
One day, Sookie stops by Merlotte's and runs into Sam. The two end up having sex for the first time. While both Sookie and Sam are delighted at the prospect of this relationship, Sookie tells Sam they must take it slow. She wants to be sure he's not a rebound relationship. He agrees.
Later that week, Sookie, Sam, Jason and Michele go to Stomping Sally's to dance. Sookie is kidnapped by Johan Glassport and Steve Newlin, then thrown into the back of a van being driven by Claude Crane. While they're driving through the countryside, she manipulates them into a fight and Claude swerves off the road into a corn field. She runs from her kidnappers into the safety of a large group of people from Stomping Sally's, who have chased behind the van in an effort to save Sookie. Johan and Claude are shot dead, but not before Claude smashes the skull of Steve Newlin. He dies hours later, after confessing that he and Johan killed Arlene.
Sookie is the (one and only) bridesmaid at Jason and Michele's wedding. After the ceremony, she finds her seat next to Sam, who tells her how pretty she looks. Later that night, when he drops her off at her home, he suggests he spend the night and she declines. After Sam is gone, she admits to herself that they will probably be together by Christmas, though she won't be destroyed if their relationship doesn't work out.
Sookie Stackhouse is a fictional character and protagonist of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by Charlaine Harris. In HBO's television adaptation, True Blood, Sookie is portrayed by Anna Paquin.
Eric Northman is a fictional character in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, written by Charlaine Harris. The character is introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, as vampire living to be about a thousand years and is included in all subsequent novels.
Sam Merlotte is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by author Charlaine Harris. He is introduced in the first novel of the series, Dead Until Dark. In True Blood, the HBO television adaptation, Sam is portrayed by actor Sam Trammell.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The True Blood Novels and The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, Dead Until Dark (2001), won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001 and later served as the source material for the HBO drama series True Blood (2008–2014). The book series has been retronymed the True Blood Series upon reprinting, to capitalize on the television adaptation.
True Blood is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by Charlaine Harris.
"Strange Love" is the pilot episode of True Blood. The episode was written and directed by Alan Ball and originally aired in the United States on HBO on September 7, 2008. In the episode, Sookie Stackhouse meets vampire Bill Compton and saves him from vicious vampire drainers, while her best friend Tara becomes the new bartender at Sam Merlotte's bar and Sookie's brother Jason finds himself accused of murder. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. It was rated TV-MA for Adult Content, Adult Language, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, and Violence.
Tara Mae Thornton is a fictional character in Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries and its television adaptation, HBO's True Blood.
Dead Until Dark, published in 2001, is the first novel in Charlaine Harris' series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. It was adapted into True Blood's first season.
Living Dead in Dallas is the second book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This second novel follows the adventures of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse of Bon Temps, Louisiana, as she is employed by Dallas vampires to use her telepathy to help find their lost companion. Sookie agrees to help investigate the whereabouts of the missing vampire on one condition: any humans found to be involved must be turned over to human law enforcement rather than subjected to vampire justice. In Dallas Sookie Stackhouse has her first encounter with the anti-vampire organization "The Fellowship of the Sun," as well as meeting and learning of the existence of werewolves.
Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Jason is Sookie Stackhouse's older brother and a road crew supervisor for Bon Temps, Louisiana.
Dead as a Doornail is the fifth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries.
From Dead to Worse is the eighth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries.
Dead and Gone is the ninth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This title was released on May 5, 2009.
The first season of the American television drama series True Blood premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on November 23, 2008. It consists of 12 episodes, each running approximately 55 minutes in length and was, for the most part, based on the novel Dead Until Dark, the first entry in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The story takes place in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, two years after vampires have made their presence known to mankind, and follows telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she attempts to solve a series of murders that seem to be motivated by a hatred of vampires.
A Touch of Dead is a collection of short stories from Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This title was released on October 6, 2009. This book only contains the short stories Harris has published in which Sookie Stackhouse is present.
The second season of the television series True Blood commenced airing in the United States on June 14, 2009, concluded on September 13, 2009, and contains 12 episodes. It is loosely based on the second novel of The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Living Dead in Dallas.
Dead in the Family is a 2010 New York Times Bestselling Gothic mystery novel by Charlaine Harris and the tenth book in her The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. The novel was released on May 4, 2010 by Ace Books and follows Sookie as she deals with her increasingly more complicated romantic and personal relationships with the supernatural creatures around her.
Dead Reckoning is a 2011 New York Times Bestselling gothic romance novel by Charlaine Harris and is the eleventh book in her Southern Vampire Mysteries series. The book was released on May 3, 2011 by Ace Books and deals with Sookie discovering more about her heritage and dealing with more supernatural difficulties.
"Hopeless" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of HBO's original series True Blood and the 54th episode overall. It was first shown on TV on July 15, 2012 and was directed by Dan Attias and written by Alan Ball, creator of the series. The episodes of the series are based on the Charlaine Harris books, The Sookie Stackhouse novels whereas the episodes of the season are based on the fifth book in the series Dead As a Doornail (book) which follows the Shifters being murdered whereas in the season fang bangers and shifters are being hunted. Even so, the plot of the book is only one of the minor subplots. The episode primarily follows Bill and Eric who must now face Russell again after Roman is killed by him; Sookie and Jason go to a faery club where their family's dark history and greatest secrets are revealed to them. Meanwhile, Sam volunteers to assist Andy with a case. The episode was preceded by Let's Boot and Rally and was followed by In the Beginning, which picks up the events of Hopeless. The episode received fair reviews from critics. The episode ended several minutes earlier than the timeslot filled, as it was about 50 minutes or so, which notably also happened in Let's Boot and Rally. Stephen Moyer will pick up the events of In the Beginning. As of 2012 the episode has received the most ratings only behind by the season premiere episode Turn, Turn, Turn!
