Sunday, August 13, 2017

Darynda Jones: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet



As the title of the book suggests this is the fourth book in this series, so You will need to read the previous books (First Grave on the Right, Second Grave on the Left  and Third Grave Dead Ahead) to understand what is happening in this book, so with that said there will be spoilers below from the previous three books...you have been warned.

Charley Davidson, aka The Grim Reaper, is in a grim mood after her last case, so she has taken some time off but The Reaper's work is never done. When a young woman seeks Charley's help, convinced that someone is trying to kill her, Charley knows her time off has come to an end. Everyone close to woman refutes the story or thinks that she is insane, but the more push back that Charley receives the more she is convinced there is something wrong. Life will never be normal for Charley not only because she is the Grim Reaper but Reyes is out of prison, on the run and always looking for trouble where Charley is concerned

Alright, this is not my typical read, I will admit that, but I have this thing for series that I started awhile ago and revisiting them every now and again to see how the story progresses. I feel like I cannot leave a series behind especially when I remember enjoying it. So this is my return to Jones' series and her Grim Reaper. There were some high and low points to this book which made it an okay read for me.

Charlie was not as annoying in this book as the last one, I think she had to grow up a bit more with what happened to her in the previous book and really look at her life. She still had some snarky comebacks but I felt that they were more well placed in this book and not as childish as in book 3. I also appreciated that there was also less sex scenes in this book compared to the last. The scene was was a little bit drawn out for me, but I think that readers who like this in their novel will appreciate it. These scenes are something Jones has had in all the books of this series so regular readers would probably miss it if she took the sex scenes out.

This book was pretty predictable in my opinion. I was able to figure out all of the mystery aspects within the book way before the end of the story; who was harming Piper, who the bank robbers were and who was moving in to the apartment next to Charlie. So this was basically I knew it all as soon as all the mystery aspects were introduced. This is not where Jones excels it would be nice for her to have an unexpected twist and turn here or there. This makes the mystery aspects secondary to what appears to be happening in Hell (which we do not get a lot of) and Charlie and Reyes' relationship.

Speaking of their relationship I did get sick of Reyes continually threatening Charlie. I mean it has not worked in the previous three books, I highly doubt that it is going to work now. Why doesn't he grow up, change his tactics and just accept Charley for who she is, I mean isn't that what attracted him to her in the first place.

One thing that I was disappointed about between the third and fourth book was I thought that Swopes was dead, I was surprised that he was reintroduced all of a sudden in this book. Kind of made me like the third book a little less and I'm disappointed that Jones could not let one of her secondary characters die. I thought that was a big turning and maturing point for Charley as well as this series.

I do not know why I keep reading this series at times. It has so many elements that I do not like in  the books I read now, now being the key word. As stated above the only thing I can think of is this is like my guilty pleasure or something and just not being able to let go of series that I have already started. It's like my once a year return to what I used to read, lol.  That said I'm sure fans of this series will enjoy this book, as Jones has found a formula that works.

Enjoy!!!
If You Like This,
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http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2010/10/julie-kenner-tainted.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2012/02/amanda-bonilla-shaedes-of-gray.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2013/02/cassie-alexander-nightshifted.html

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