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Dec152010
GUEST REVIEW: ‘Grave Surprise’ by Charlaine Harris
by Carolyn • Posted in 3.5 Star Reviews, Authors E-H, Book Reviews, Charlaine Harris, Guest Review, Supernatural Mystery
Title: Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly #2)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Gollancz (UK) | Berkley Prime Crime (US)
Publication Date: September 2006
Paperback: 295 pages
Genre: Supernatural Mystery
Source: Own Copy
Guest Review by Zosia
RATING: 7/10 – Very good, would definitely recommend
BOOK COVER SUMMARY:
Grave Sight’s Harper Connelly is back, and her ability to find the dead and see their last moments is in higher demand than ever…
A college class gets more than it bargained for when Harper gives a demonstration of her uncanny talent. Instead of just finding one body in an old grave, she finds two: the original occupant and a recently deceased girl whom Harper had tried, and failed, to find two years previously. To dispel suspicions about her own innocence, Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver undertake their own hunt to find the killer-only to find yet another body in the same grave.
REVIEW:
“If there were an emergency room for psychological shocks, we could go there,” he said.
Harper Connelly – struck by lightning and now able to find dead bodies and see the details of their deaths – is back for a second book. This was another solid, quirky and fun mystery, with a lot of suspicion thrown Harper and Tolliver’s way this time. They’re caught up in so many coincidences that it definitely looks to outsiders like they’ve been playing a part in the murders.
“She was suffocated,” I said, not knowing any other way to say it. Severely deprived of air? Terminally oxygenless?
Again, it’s the confused, close relationship between Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver that steals the show. One can’t be without the other, and no matter what they find themselves caught up in or how angry they might make each other, they always put each other first. They grew up in a trailer park, their drug addicted parents marrying and leaving them to raise the smaller children who lived with them.
Tolliver hadn’t been struck by lightning, and his mom hadn’t tried to sell him to one of her drug buddies for sexual use, it’s true, but Tolliver has his own scars, and he’s not any more fond of talking about them than I am.
Charlaine Harris really captures how normal all these people are – well, apart from all the crazy things they get up to! But nobody’s gorgeous or particularly talented. They do mundane things and live average lives, and it’s really easy to imagine these people really exist.
The mystery in this one – Harper finds two recently killed people in an already occupied grave – was plotted out well, and there were plenty of players to keep you guessing. I really like the Harper Connelly series – it’s a little darker and more twisted than a lot of the author’s other writing.
VERDICT:
This is another good entry to the series. With a solid mystery, some crazy characters and a touch of the supernatural, these are enjoyable books.
6 Comments
love her books! thank you for posting a review about this series. wasn't sure to read it or not, but after reading this review, will surely read it.
thanks again!
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Hm the library has bought the series, I do wonder..
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I love the sound of this series – definitely one to buy!
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I have a couple of her Harper series on my tbr. Might have to push it up a bit. Thanks for the review!
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I agree, I really did enjoy these books I've read the first three. I must pick up the fourth. You're reminding me what I liked about them
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Finding two bodies in one grave would just bee creepy. LOL. LOVE Charlaine Harris' work. I own her first seven books.
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