Review: Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Plot: Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger. (Summary from goodreads.com)

Cover: I prefer this cover over its predecessor, but still for me it's not a very eye-catching cover although there's nothing wrong with it either.

First sentence: "Violet leaned forward on her hands and knees over the frozen landscape."

My own opinion: While I was immediately hooked by The Body Finder, I liked Desires of the Dead but wasn't obsessed about it the same way. The question that I myself find hard to answer is why?

The crime story aspect of this novel appealed to me more than in the last one. I found it thrilling and really like the take from the last novel where were are presented with the perpetrator's thoughts and actions from their point of view.

Jay and Violet, who in the first installment were best friends since forever but found that their relationship had grown into something else, are still together in this second novel. They were still very much in love and sweet, but you know, happy couples are boring. Not in real life, but it fiction. In books, movies, tv-series, you name it. Happy couples are boring. That's why they have to fight some before they can go back to their happy couple life. I thought that both of them acted rather irrationally in these little fights, and that bored me somewhat with this novel.

Overall though, Desires of the Dead was a good read. It's a thrilling crime story and a innocent and sweet love story intertwined into one unique premise, as with the first novel. I definitely recommend it.