Darynda Jones Follow

There isn’t another current heroine that I love as much as Sunshine! With each book, I feel like I’m spending time with an old friend and I dread the end as it comes closer with each turn of the page.

Sunny continues to amaze me with her deductive reasoning, her people skills, and most of all, her offbeat wit and sense of humor. I love the way she deals with both victims and perpetrators. Especially the band of hooligans she arrests this time around. My face hurt from grinning so much.

We get a lot of quality time with Levi in this book and even more of him with Sunny. I would love to have some of his perspective so I could connect to him on a deeper level. However, there are a lot of reveals in this book and that went a long way to helping me get to know him better.

Along with all the laugh out loud moments, this is also laced with danger and drama including scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. When you add in the whole cast of characters, each with their own passions or quirky natures, it makes for a well rounded mystery that will definitely be a reread in the future.

When a book starts out with a wet dream, I always get leery of reading further. Fortunately, this book didn’t go entirely downhill. It was a bumpy ride, but at the end of the day, it’s a decent story, but Charley’s attitude annoyed me.

The premise is very intriguing as the dead are drawn to her, which leads to plenty of work for her PI and police consultation business. I like that she is well-established and does not fall prey to the trope of not being able to pay her bills. She never complains about money and has a long client list.

Charley has two projects currently in the works: three homicides that woke her up at 4:34 in the morning and figuring out who the mystery man is that is invading her dreams every night. These plot elements work well and are what kept me reading. Just what the mystery man is was a unique concept, and continuing that plotline might be enough to make me pick up the second book.

Charley, herself, is the worst part of the book. She cops an attitude with everyone, and it’s no surprise that her stepmom and sister are not on good terms with her. She is unprofessional with her uncle’s colleagues on the police force, and I have to wonder how much flack he takes for continuing to bring her around. Her inner monologuing is also an issue. Depending on your personality/mood, it is either entertaining or annoying.

I don’t think I would have as much of an issue with her attitude if she didn’t show that she can be caring and compassionate…when it comes to the dead. She is far kinder to the dead than the living people that surround her. She will pass messages on to those left behind, and she has more patience with a ghost that she just bumped into than someone she has worked with for years.

I can see the potential with the series that starts with this book. But, Charley’s attitude keeps this series from being at the top of my pile to complete. It’s not awful, but it’s not great, and so it gets three stars.