Bill breaks a vampire taboo in protecting Sookie--and must pay a steep price as a result. Jason and Amy break their own taboo by kidnapping a vampire named Eddie in order to harvest his blood. With Lettie Mae apparently cured, a skeptical Tara consults with Miss Jeanette about exorcising her own inner demon. Sookie returns home to yet another horrific tragedy, prompting Bill to enlist an unlikely bodyguard--Sam--to protect her while he's away.

Sam and the dog are the same thing?

She said that a lot of the characters are more fleshed out in the series than they are in book 1. She specifically cited Jason, Lafayette, and Tara.

She also said that "V" is not mentioned in the book in the context of an illegal substance. It's talked about, etc. but not necessarily in the context of "street drugs".

She said that there's a more sex in the show and in a more gratuitous way.

I haven't pressed for details beyond that.

In the books, Eric kills Longshadow, and he's less of a jerk. That's important to me because I'm a huge Sookie/Eric fan. Looks like the series is taking Eric's good qualities (sense of humor and general badassness) and giving them to Bill. The whole tribunal thing is not in the book. If I remember correctly, Eric had to pay a fee to Longshadow's sire.

I'm loving this show, but I can see the writing on the wall--Bill is going to stay the main guy, whereas in the books, he ends up in more of a supporting role.

Almost all the side stories are not in the books at all, mostly since it's written in first person. I do like how AB took things from the book and fleshed them out into secondary story lines that fit the world, especially the kidnapping of that vampire who watches Heroes.