Title: First Grave on the Right
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson, book 1
Age Category: Adult
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 310 p.
Genre: Urban fantasy
About First Grave on the Right
"This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice."
Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. 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 (like 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. He might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?
My thoughts on: First Grave on the Right
This book is so much fun, I am a big fan of urban fantasy settings. The book certainly falls in the urban fantasy category, as it is set in this world, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The main character of the book is Charley Davidson, she is the one and only Grim Reaper and is the funniest character I have ever encountered. She has such a good sense of humor, that part makes the book much lighter than it is.
When I first started reading, I thought it would be a light-hearted book, more a paranormal romance than an urban fantasy read. I could not have been more mistaken as this book has a lot of depth. It has an unexplainable mysterious sexy as hell entity, pun intended. The mystery around this character is only resolved at the end of the book.
In between figuring out this mystery, we are also figuring out the mystery of the dead lawyers. There is a lot of detective work, and murders to solve. I liked that it not only focussed on the supernatural aspects but also on the humans in the story, such as Cookie and Charley's uncle and the family dynamic. It all feels very well thought out.
The only thing that does not get explained, and I have been dying to know, is the following. If she is the only reaper in the world, shouldn't she be moving around a lot more to collect all the trapped souls that did not cross over? Are they left wandering the world, or do they eventually end up on Charley's doorstep, no matter where they came from?
Lots of times in books, these questions will be explained at some point in the story, however at least it is not explained in this book. The reason for this might just be that the whole reaper thing never really gets explained to Charley, so she doesn't know her purpose in the world. This considering what we have learned throughout the story might very well be the case.
By the end of the book, there were some 'aha' moments where parts of the mysteries got resolved, but I feel there will be lots of things to dive into for the next books. This book reminds me a bit of watching Ghost Whisperer, as this also has some more disturbing scenes, that might be nightmare-inducing for some people.
Then there is of course the sexual tension between Charley and Reyes that was great. I loved this part, and I loved that one scene where it put Charley in a very awkward position. I laughed a lot during reading this book, the humor is so good in this book.
The big conclusion at the end of the book came as a bit of a surprise to me, which is good, I like it when I can't figure out beforehand where the book is going. There are enough loose ends in the story, that we will have a lot more world to delve into in the next book. However it does not feel forced, it feels like this part of the journey is done and a new adventure will begin in the next book.
Rating First Grave On The Right
This book is very funny, it is like watching an episode of Supernatural on paper. There is so much humor woven into the story. In contrast to the humor, there is also a lot of darkness and almost horror elements. Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was very well-balanced and just fun. Sometimes you just want to read something lighthearted and quirky and this book delivers that in a supernatural manner. 4 cats for this one.
