Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
 Buy on Amazon | The Body FinderBy: Kimberly Derting Published by: HarperCollins ISBN: 0061779814 Genre: YA, Mystery, Paranormal Author’s Website: Author’s Twitter: Author’s Facebook: Recommendable for people who: who like ghost stories and/or mysteries |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability.
While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers. Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him. Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.
My Thoughts:
The storyline of this book sounded a lot like the Harper Connelly mysteries
According to my reading updates, I enjoyed this book. It looks like it only took me a couple of days to get through it. That’s the kind of books I really like. The ones you can get “into” and through in a few days. =D I do think I was a little “under” wowed, because I kept comparing it in my mind to the Harper Connelly books, which are adult fiction. This book was like the YA version of Harper, and instead of seeing Violet, I kept seeing “young” Harper. lol…
I loved the relationship between Violet and Jay. It felt, real. The best relationships start out as friends and BUILD. I thought it was really refreshing to see that kind of relationship in a book for Teens, as opposed to the seeing seeing the guy and then instantly being madly in love, like some of the more popular teen books portray.
This book has a good “mystery” going, in that they need to find this serial killer. I might add, I was totally WRONG about who it was too. That means it was really good, right? But, as far as mysteries go – the story doesn’t really give us a lot of options as to who it is. And then there are the things Violet does, to find the killer. Uhmmm… I think her parents should have *whipped her tale* a few times, for the non-minding. But, realistically I suppose that’s how teens are, right?
There were a few things that happen in the book, that I totally don’t “get” but, seriously, they weren’t so bad as to make me want to quit reading the book. And really, I think if I hadn’t already read that other series and had high expectations… I think I would have been totally satisfied with this one instead of just ho-hum.
I did enjoy it enough that I want to read the sequel Desires of the Dead (Body Finder). I have total faith that with book two, the author (who was a debut author with this book, BTW) will be able to stretch the characters a little more and be more comfortable with her writing – enough to weave in a few more characters and details to help “build” the mystery for us!
So there ya go- I say READ IT. Just keep in mind its written for a TEEN audience. =D