Book Review: Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Let me start off this review with a disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for typos or misspelled words, though I will try my best to proofread before posting. Kimberly Derting‘s Desires of the Dead had me up until three-thirty this morning. It had me so intrigued and I just had to get to the end.

Desires of the Dead is the second book about sixteen-year old Violet Ambrose, your normal, average, everyday teen girl attending high school in Seattle. She does have this one little quirk, though; she can find dead bodies. They call to her. They don’t let her rest until they are laid to their final rest. Violet keeps her ability a secret from everyone except her parents and her best friend/boyfriend, Jay.

As Violet tries to figure out her new relationship with her best friend, and what to do with this ability of hers, a new threat is stalking her. She is receiving threatening notes, silent phone calls and a dead cat turns up in her driveway. On top of all that, the FBI is suddenly very interested in what she can do.

Violet tries to handle all of these things by herself, not even confiding in Jay, which is something that changed with her new ‘girlfriend’ status. When Violet makes a frightening discovery involving Jay’s new friend, Mike, she decides to step outside of her comfort zone and trust someone with her findings, only to have it end with hurtful results. And I do mean hurtful! Kimberly Derting has a knack for involving your emotions in her story.

Desires of the Dead never lets you stop and catch your breath. You find yourself pushing through to the end, telling yourself that you’ll stop reading after this one, but because she is very effective in leading you on to the next chapter, you just can’t stop yourself. Derting gives you just enough background story on her characters to get you to care about them, without getting so wordy that you lose interest. Her scenes are all interesting, and you never know what’s around the bend. I don’t know about you, but I love when an author can make me feel the climate, hear the wind blowing, smell burning wood from a campfire. I literally huddled under a fluffy blanket while reading the last few chapters, I was so cold!

Although this is the second book in the “Body Finder” series, I did not find myself lost for not having read the first book, The Body Finder. I knew exactly where I was and who these people were in this novel. Now, however, you can believe that I will find the first book and read it as well.

I am hoping (please, dear Ms. Derting!) that there will be another “Body Finder” novel soon. While the mystery was solved in the end, there are many questions that still need answering. For instance, what is the FBI consultant, Sara Priest’s, secret? There’s something she’s hiding. Then there’s the boy who works for Sara, Rafe, who has a gift of his own, but it’s not the same as Violet’s. The warehouse-turned-office where Sara works employs other ‘special’ people, but who are they? What do they do? How did Sara learn of these people? Where did she find them? Did they find her? Does Violet learn how to really control her ability?

In other words, I want more!

Desires of the Dead is a HarperCollins Teen novel, but I found it very enjoyable to read, and just as exciting a mystery as any of the adult books I’ve recently read. I give it five out of five Oreo cookies (Violet’s favorite snack).

For more about the author, Kimberly Derting, visit her website at kimberlyderting.com. The Body Finder books can be found at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.