Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.
He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.
Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her targets like a natural born Killer.
Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?
I loved the premise behind this storyline because I’m so tired of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Exploring the new and fascinating world of the grim reapers was a new take on the gothic revolution. The central character, Lexi, is a Brat. She is a bully and a delinquent…but she doesn’t know why. She recognizes that she is angry and the least little thing sets her off but she can’t seem to stop it. After several “last chances” from her principal, her parents draw the line and tell her she is going to stay with her uncle at his farm for the summer. This is the summer before her senior year and the first time that she will be separated from her twin sister, Cordy.
Once Lexi arrives in the town of Croak, she realizes that things are not what she thought. Her uncle is not a farmer, and Croak is not a sleepy little cow-town. Uncle Mort is the mayor of this death portal and begins her apprenticeship as a Grim Reaper, which actually calms her down and gives her structure and purpose. For the first time in years, Lexi has friends and a love interest. Although she misses her family, she accepts her new world with ease and enjoyment, pondering what she will do when the summer ends.
She and the other junior reapers begin to notice strange, unexplainable murders that can only be the work of a reaper. They set out in Nancy Drew fashion to discover who is behind these crimes on their own. Lexi doesn’t stop to think about being the only reaper with a family on the outside of town…and how vulnerable that makes them!
So here it is:
The good: Nice approach to a so-far under explored group of goth. The story is fast paced and easy to fall into. The characters are have realistic angst and dialogue.
The bad: I personally hate books that are obviously setting me up for a sequel. If you are a good writer, you shouldn’t have to trick readers into purchasing your next book. Not only did I feel deceived by not knowing that I was jumping into a series, the ending felt rushed. There was so much build up to a quick and unresolved climax.
2 Bards but I would have loved this as a resolved stand-alone novel OR a less obvious sequel ploy at the end.
Moving! 