Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest
beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they
want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her
lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. So there’s that. But Charley has
more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has
disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he
was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning
everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting
her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a
drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity,
and Charley is not having the best week of her life.
A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.
We’re doomed.
A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.
We’re doomed.
Excerpt:
I set Cookie to finding out everything she could on
the missing suicide-note victims. There had to be a connection between them
somewhere in their pasts. In the meantime, I would go talk to their closests,
but first I needed to know if the victims were still alive. If they’d been
abducted, this would quickly become a much different case. We would probably
have to get the FBI involved, if they weren’t on to it already.
Reyes was still working, so I decided to cut out
alone. I knew he’d freak. He wasn’t about to leave me alone for long, and
neither would he put up with my running off without him, so I decided to pick
up a passenger. Well, another passenger. The one I had at the moment would be
of no help in a fight against hounds from hell, should they spot me in a crowd.
Jessica was harping again, this time about how her
friends were at the restaurant, fawning over Reyes as though she had never
died. She’d called dibs the moment she saw him, and they seemed almost relieved
she was out of the way. I refrained from reminding her that (1) I’d had dibs
long before that, and (2) she was as dead as the Twizzler I was gnawing on in an
attempt to forget about my extreme caffeine depletion. Poor little Twizzler.
“She said that!” Jessica shouted. “Like, she said it.
Right to Reyes’s face.”
“Wait, what?” I almost slammed on the brakes, then
realized my foot was already on the brake, as we were idling at a stoplight.
“Who said what to Reyes’s face?”
“Oh . . . my god. Have you heard a word I’ve said?”
“Not especially. Who said what?”
“She said she’d do anything, any . . . thing, for an interview.”
I turned to her. “Are you telling me you heard what
Reyes and Jolene—I mean, that hooch—were talking about?”
“Duh. I was so upset with Joanie and the girls that I
started to walk out when that—that ho practically assaulted our man.”
My Review
Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper, Private Investigator, affianced
to Reyes Farrow (aka, the Son of Satan) and soon to be mother to…well, we don’t
quite know yet. For now, Charley is calling her “Beep” (Black Eyed Pea, because
that’s about her size right now). She knows she’s carrying the one thing that may save the world.
She should be protecting the future of the universe, but, of course, she’s still getting herself tangled in a mess of other stuff. She’s assisting Agent Carson investigate the deaths up at a cabin, only to discover the real reason for the massacre. She's also helping Ubie (Uncle Bob) investigate the disappearances of people who have left behind suicide notes, but not bodies. Oh, and she's also digging up grave-sites to confirm that the bodies of young girls are missing. As if that’s not enough, she’s also trying to escape The Twelve – a band of rabid hellhounds that are out to kill her and anyone else in their path. Charley is off doing her usual and Reyes isn't happy about it. He's pissed that she's running off on her own, and has decided to become her personal bodyguard. Poor Reyes. He has to put up with her nonsense.
Reyes isn’t free from the drama either. A reporter is all up in his business, and you find there’s more to her than just her on-air persona. The readers also (finally) find out what’s going on with Charley’s father. Garrett finds out some info about his son, and the dealer, whom she is calling Osh, is around and I expect to see more of him in future books. Seems like Charley is building her posse for the upcoming war.
The typical hijinks are included, as is the sharp dialogue and laugh out loud scenes that only Jones can deliver.
"There must be a special, less volcanic portion of hell that was partitioned off and set aside for people who weren't all bad, just a little vindictive. They could call it the drama queen ward. It would be a huge hit."
While this book doesn’t move the story line forward as much as I had hoped with respect to the baby, Charley’s full range of powers, and her true identity, it’s enough to keep me reading until the next book. The 8th Grave book comes out in May 2015.
What's the same: Reyes. He's still hotter than hell. LOL! See what I did there? Son of Satan, Hotter Than Hell? yah...okay. Anyhoo. He has more than his share of women lusting after him in this book, prompting Charley to become jealous!
"Dozens of pairs of shadowed and mascaraed gazes fitted shyly toward him while others stared openly. Unapologetically. Brazen hussies. I needed to get a wedding band on this man, and fast!"
Ubie and Cookie are finally out of the closet and Amber has a couple of really good one-liners!
"You know how you have a bun in the oven?"
"Yes. Yes, I do"
"Okay, and you know how Reyes calls you Dutch?"
The comedic factor is still fresh and gives a couple of laugh out loud scenes. The evil ex-BFF Jessica, Special Agent Carson, Rocket, and a few other dead friends make appearances. Charley is still behaving irresponsibly, and sooner or later, this is going to have to change.
I’ve said this before – the characters run a bit close to the Stephanie Plum series, and I’m defending this one again. There’s progress with the characters and story-lines, and for that I’m thankful. I'm waiting for the next book to see what happens with Charley - hopefully by book 8 her super-powers, her real name, and the real reason for her child will be revealed. Somehow, I doubt it'll all wrap up in the next book, but if the series continues to be moving and doesn't make me go all wire hangers on it, I'll still keep reading.
Meet Darynda Jones:
Go get your copy! Start with the first, and read through the entire series. 
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