Ash’s review of The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
Young Adult Paranormal published by HarperCollins 15 Feb 11
With me, a book doesn’t have to have the best writing, it doesn’t have to be deep and thought provoking. In fact, I don’t like those books much. I want to be happy when I turn that last page, and The Body Finder left me very happy and wanting more.
The big thing is that I like Violet throughout the whole book, even when she is doing stupid things. Or ignoring the obviousness of her best friend’s feelings for her. Violet’s relationship with Jay is a big part of the story, and, of course, that makes me happy. I always worry that young adult books won’t give me the amount of romance I like in a book, since they are for teens, but it’s just right in this one. The scene where things change between them is perfect in its own innocent way. Plus, I am a sucker for friends-to-lovers plotlines.
Violet’s ability to find bodies is not an easy one and she could have been a whining teenage girl, but she handles it surprisingly well. The premise of what she does works because it is so simple to understand, but the way it works for Violet keeps it interesting. For example, each body has its own scent, sound, or sight that only Violet can sense. Violet doesn’t get any more information, so there is plenty of mystery. Kimberly Derting doesn’t shove a ton of stuff down your throat. Violet just happens to be a girl who can find where bodies, human or animal, are.
With me, young adult books seem to either have too much story or not enough. I took a chance and bought The Body Finder and I’m glad I did. It’s the newest addition to my keeper shelf and I am ready to start the second book.
Grade: A
Summary:
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 that 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 the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping 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.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
