Here’s the blurb:
While investigating the brutal murders committed by a mysterious serial killer known only as “Raithe,” bookish LAPD Detective Sarah Milton is unprepared to have her entire world turned upside down. Innate powers to see the dead, lying dormant since her mother’s murder, have reawakened in her after a near-fatal shooting. Along for the ride is Sarah’s irrepressible thirteen-year-old childhood “imaginary friend,” Anna Nigma, a most atypical poltergeist. Amid fears for her sanity, Sarah must come to grips with the realization that her reality is now a mix of the natural and supernatural, where powerful, ancient mystic symbols can grant amazing powers over life and death, and paranormal influence extends even into her current murder investigation. Forced to hide her abilities from everyone, Sarah, aided by her spectral friend, has no choice but to bring Raithe to justice on her own, before the sinister forces behind his murder spree claim yet another victim.
Wow is what I thought. I was given a copy to read and review, so since I didn’t go out and get this from a best seller list I was open to the possibility that I might not like this book.
Wrong. I loved it. About the only complaint I had was a minor thing about possibly too much telling rather than showing at the start, and the motivation for the murders seeming obvious to me, but I think those are my quirks. I’m the sort that can tell a twist is coming a mile away, and that in no way stopped me from enjoying it. I’m also an author in the middle of taking an editing class, so I see holes in everything.
Saying that, this book had very few holes. I loved the relationship between Sarah and Anna, and was on the edge of my seat when I knew Anna was about to make her appearance. It was a nice mystery story-line, decent amount of twists, nice action, good thread of romance that didn’t take away from the main plot, and most of all great humor. I definitely saw the influence of Joss Wheldon in play, but again the humor was played right, not taking away from tension when it needed to be tense.
The descriptions were very vivid. I found myself halfway through thinking this would make a great movie because I could see it so clearly in my head. Not sure if that will happen since movies out lately seem to pick the most angst ridden books, but we can hope. Maybe a tv series. It has that sort of vibe.
Anyway. The major problem I had with this book I noticed a third of the way through (but I’m sure I just didn’t notice it earlier), I couldn’t put it down. I had work to do. I had sleep to do, but no, I wanted to see what happened next. What funny thing would Anna do next? Would Sarah’s coworkers find out? What trouble is Sarah going to land herself into next time?
Then it was over, gone, but unlike other books I wasn’t overwhelmed with sadness because the author was nice enough to give a satisfying conclusion. That said, I do want to read the next one and I will be looking out for what the author writes next.
Seriously, check this one out. It’s by an indie author and only has 36 ratings on goodreads. That’s a tragedy for such an great thriller / humor novel. More people need to read this book and spread the word! It’s just so funny and awesome, and everything I could wish a book to be.
Here’s the link to other reviews on this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17450007-reading-the-dead
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