First Grave on the Right

Hardcover, 320 pages

English language

Published Feb. 1, 2011 by St. Martin's Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-66275-2
OCLC Number:: 651912743

(1 review)

Meet Charley Davidson -- PI and grim reaper extraordinaire...

Charley sees dead people. That's right, she sees dead people. And it's her job to convince them to 'go into the light.' But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

5 editions

jokususa reviewed First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones (Charley Davidson, Book 1)

None

1 star

I would have dropped this if it wasn't for the credit I spend on it. It's not horrible enough to put on the horrible shelf. I see how some could enjoy this book. But not me...

It starts with a set-up I quite like. A sort of a psychic solving crimes in an unorthodox way and an attractive __ who's not really into the ghosts thing. Them working together to accomplish something and arguing on the way would've been interesting!

For me, the best kind of humor comes from building up interesting situations, where things take a turn you didn't quite expect but it's still realistic AND characters interacting in unexpected ways, that still fit their personalities. Charley is presented as witty and sassy. She is that, I suppose. But it's just not that funny. Her sarcasm is nothing you haven't seen before, if you've at least reached the age …

I would have dropped this if it wasn't for the credit I spend on it. It's not horrible enough to put on the horrible shelf. I see how some could enjoy this book. But not me...

It starts with a set-up I quite like. A sort of a psychic solving crimes in an unorthodox way and an attractive __ who's not really into the ghosts thing. Them working together to accomplish something and arguing on the way would've been interesting!

For me, the best kind of humor comes from building up interesting situations, where things take a turn you didn't quite expect but it's still realistic AND characters interacting in unexpected ways, that still fit their personalities. Charley is presented as witty and sassy. She is that, I suppose. But it's just not that funny. Her sarcasm is nothing you haven't seen before, if you've at least reached the age of 18 or so. It gets repetitive and annoying, making our narrator seem mean and bratty rather than someone who just relies on sarcasm to survive through the day. It doesn't help that she seems to have the emotional depth of a plate. Angry, sad, compassionate - it's all diluted by the never ending one liners.

I guess I can't be too mad about it. Even if the crimes in the book can get a little dark, the overall feeling is more naive than psychologically believable. But I am really mad about the love interest, tho. The final nails in the coffin were
Spoilerthe description of their first meeting "Have you been raped before?", the way Charley used to say "some things are better left unexplained" I HATE THAT SORT OF REASONING and the growing skillset of her. She sees dead, understands every language, can sense guilt and apparently when people lie - how come it still took her so long to solve the crimes?

The audiobook narrator Lorelei King was ridiculously good, tho. I can only thank her for making it easier to get through the story.