Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Series: The Body Finder #1
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: March 16th, 2010
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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 Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer.. she might become his next prey.

I cannot tell you how long this book has been on my "to read" list. I snatched it up a while ago on an amazon daily deal, and vowed that I would read it soon. I actually followed through!!! lol. There is a small cluster of books I wanted to read this fall, and The Body Finder was one of them. I'm sad to say that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

Violet is Sixteen. I often felt like I was reading the POV of a 13 or 14 year old. It's weird, because I wouldn't say she was immature per say, but her mentality at times comes across that way... I mostly saw it in her relationship with Jay. She was very naive and clueless when it came to boys and such. It was sweet, don't get me wrong. It was cute watching their feelings change for each other but it would have been more believable if they were younger.

What I really liked was Violets ability to seek out dead people. I felt like her methods were pretty unique and I was all into that. There are some pretty intense creepy moments in this story. I'd be all on the edge of my seat... and then the next chapter we would be back to the sappy tween love drama. I was literally yelling at my kindle... "Hello!!! Can we get back to the killer now!!!!"

So yeah, definitely not my favorite fall read thus far. I will continue with the series I think, but I'm not in any rush to pick the next one up.

About the author:

Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series (HarperCollins), THE PLEDGE
trilogy (Simon & Schuster), and THE TAKING trilogy (HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.

Find Kimberly:

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