The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris
Book 46
Even though I am in the middle of two other books, I ran across Grave Surprise – the second book in the Harper Connelly series – at the library and checked it out on a whim. Then today, a tornado siren interrupted what promised to be a fine Sunday nap, so I read the entire thing.
While on a goofy assignment in Memphis, Harper unexpectedly finds the body of an 11-year old girl from a cold case. Nice opening. And much too crazy to be a coincidence. So we have established the formula – Harper does her job, the police don’t believe her explanation (as it involves a supernatural gift) and Harper and her step-brother/partner Tolliver are forced to stay in town while the cops try to work it out. And of course, Harper and Tolliver work it out for them. Along the way, one or the other attracts a member or two of the opposite sex and may or may not have a fling that may or may not end up causing trouble later while dancing around the reality that their extremely tight relationship has formed multiple dimensions that they aren’t quite ready to examine yet. All in all, it isn’t a bad formula.
The cops, FBI and private investigators are particularly annoying- such that I began to have trouble keeping them straight. I also hard a hard time keeping straight the relatives of the victim. Also, for the second time, I had a pretty damn good idea of who the killer was and why the little girl was killed.
My favorite thing is the older half-brother, 17-year old Victor, is sort of a suspect. No one really thinks he did it, but everyone can tell that he is keeping secrets. He’s sulky, and quiet and secretive and you never know where he is going except he is always with that one kid. Yeah.
I think there are two more books in this series. It is total brain candy, but it is also October.
The Next Dark Age 