Review: SECOND GRAVE ON THE LEFT

Second Grave On The Left by Darynda Jones
Read by Lorelei King
Book 2 of Charley Davidson series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback & audiobook

About Second Grave On The Left:

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper Extraordinaire, is back in this sexy, suspenseful novel of supernatural shenanigans.

When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.

Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?

Here is your signpost for the most hilarious read of the summer: Second Grave On The Left.

Source: Info in the About Second Grave On The Left was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9732734-second-grave-on-the-left on 23/01/12.

Review:

I know from Book 1 that Charley can be a little bit too stupid to live but I was kinda hoping that it would disappear in subsequent books because I really, really like the premise of this series. Unfortunately it got worse instead. So much worse... So much so that this is the book which finally made me stop following this series... You do not need enemies if you got stupid friends like Charley. You can't even blame her because she does not even mean to harm you. She just fumbles around into getting everybody around her tortured and killed. What a sweet friend! Ah, no, I don't want to identify with a heroine like that. The story telling quality is not that bad so I finished this book, else, I would never get through even halfway through, never mind finish it. And the world building is beautiful. Like I said, I really, really like the premise of this book. But at the end of it, I can no longer put up with the stupid factor.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 1
Story itself = 2
Ending = 2
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 3
Pace = N/A (9.5 hours listening time)
Plot = 1
Narrator =4.5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries


Other Books In Charley Davidson Series:

Review: FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT

First Grave On The Right by Darynda Jones
Read by Lorelei King
Book 1 of Charley Davidson series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, audiobook

About First Grave On The Right:

A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper.

Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Source: Info in the About First Grave On The Right was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8788554-first-grave-on-the-right on 22/12/12.

[IMAGE CREDIT: pickyme]

My Thoughts:

I love this fan-made digital art of the character in the book, Reyes. The artist took a bit of artistic license, but still befitting! Speaking of Reyes.... I wondered in my review of Grave Witch by Kalayna Price, if reaper or Death is the new vampire? And again, I wondered in this book... It seems to me that the reaper idea is gaining momentum and popularity in the current market... what do you think?

When I first started reading/listening to this book I wondered that if Charley is a portal... no, THE portal... then where do the souls from the other countries go? Does that mean that China or Timbukto is chuck full of souls? So, she is so very bright that she is like a worldwide beacon, does that mean that souls stream towards her to cross to the other side every minute of every day? Because people die every day and if you count the dead all over the world that is a lot of dead people. I like the way Darynda Jones answered my questions as the plot unfolded and make things sound all reasonable. Kudos to the logical world building in this book! Plus, I do like the thought of a grim reaper helping the cops catch bad guys. I think that is why I like the Grimm TV series despite it's pitfalls. It's those fantasy elements which pulls at my interest and pulls hard!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = N/A (9.5 hours listening time)
Plot = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Other Books In Charley Davidson Series: