Review: AN ICE COLD GRAVE

An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
Book 3 of the Harper Connelly series
Read by Alyssa Bresnahan
Format: audiobook

Genre: urban fantasy

About An Ice Cold Grave:

Hired to find a boy gone missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there - only to discover that the boy was only one of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways. All calling for Harper. Harper soon finds them - eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterwards, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville - knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.

Source: Info in the About An Ice Cold Grave was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140097.An_Ice_Cold_Grave on 03/02/2012.

Review:

The most prominent feature I can say about An Ice Cold Grave is the change of this series' classification. With this book, this series can no longer be classified as Young Adult as I would have said of Books 1 & 2. This series has now taken on an adult theme similar to the Sookie Stackhouse series and True Blood. Thus the PA sticker above.

I was slightly disappointed with this book with the return of Harper's too stupid to live (TSTL) trait. I find it really annoying! Having said that, I also have to acknowledge that Harper's TSTL is not as bad as it was in Book 1. So there is an improvement in Ms. Harris's writing style in the TSTL department. The plot. I find it rather weak and depended on Harper acting stupid to round up the story. Which also brought the suspension of disbelief down a notch. However, it is also undeniable that this book, like the other books in this series and in the Sookie Stackhouse series, has masterful story telling quality with vivid world building. You gotta give kudos for that!! But because I already have Book 4 in this series, I would still continue listening to Grave Secret even though this one was a slight disappointment.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development =3.5
Story itself = 3.5
Ending = 3
World building = 5
Cover art = 1
Pace = N/A (8-hour playing time)
Plot = 3
Narrator = 4.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries

Thank you to Audiobook Collection (EBSCOhost) and RCT Library for letting me borrow this digital audiobook!!

FTC Disclosure:
This audiobook was borrowed from the library. No money received for this review.