Book Review - Desires of the Dead

Howdy chaps tis a fine time for another review methinks! Y'all might remember I reviewed The Body Finder back in February... well I'm finally getting around to reviewing the second book. Be advised that I have rambled a bit and it could be slightly spoilery and a tad whiney (I'm blaming PABD)

Title: Desires of the Dead
Author: Kimberly Derting
Date: 5/3/2011 PM
Source: Gifted by Jess who received it from Headline
Description: The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life. As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

After how seriously freaking awesome The Body Finder was I had rather high expectations going into this second book despite the fore-warning I'd gotten from the few reviews I read that it didn't quite live upto its hype. I think it was a case of "should have waited a while after book 1 before reading book 2" With my feelings about the Body Finder so fresh in my mind it made the differences in Desires of the Dead glaringly obvious.

I'm not saying that I didn't like it - heck no I think Violet's gift is hella cool, Jay is a fabulous hunk of lovely and the story was gripping enough that I did actually put it down at a very tense moment out of fear. My main problem was with the alternate POV chapters since they lacked the scary amounts of tension and creepiness that they had in TBF. When you actually know who the POV character is from half-way through it kinda spoils the mysterious quality of those chapters.

The interest of the FBI in Violet in this book wass kinda a strange twist and I'm actually really wanting to know how it'll progress in the third book as Rafe is vair mysterious fellow and his presence may shake things up a bit (although admittedly some kinda triangle ought to be avoided). What bugged me though was Violet's almost extreme avoidance of their approaches - it is not a good idea to sidestep a federal agency whether or not you've done something wrong or because you have some freaky-deaky powers cos they do have the power to find you and if necessary spirit you away to some bunker in the middle of nowhere (or so I presume). Dude just go speak to the nice, if somewhat stern-looking folk in suits and save yourself the hassle of a summons.

Compared to the Body Finder this was more focused on the normal life of Violet rather than the effect of the serial killer on the community so there was perhaps an imbalance of angst on Violet's part. I understand that the switch in her relationship with Jay from best friend to boyfriend does present a massive ruck of issues that you never consider before but I did think she was a tad nutty in her jealousy of Mike's friendship with Jay.

Also the whole secret-keeping issue seemed odd when Violet's family all know about her gift so that the FBI are interested in her should be something they should know about cos they would support her so Violet's determination to keep a lot of pertinent info to herself was kinda foolish I thought as it put loads of pressure on her which she could have avoided.

Overall I enjoyed the story although with my current bent towards the scary, murder mystery side of the tracks I didn't adore this quite as much as I did the Body Finder. I am still super excited for the third book whenever its coming out so I'm hoping for a move back towards the even keel of swoony romance co-existing with a shiver-inducing mystery plot.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

So does anyone know if and when the third book is coming out as I'd really like to know? kthxbai

LadyV