by Charlaine Harris
|
| List Price: | $7.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $3.46 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Book Description
Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living-but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her stepbrother Tolliver as her manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent-even if the dead can wait forever.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Harris fan, not a Harper fan, 2008-08-01
This author is probably my favorite of the paranormal chick lit sort of genre that I've been introduced to in the last two years; her Sookie Stackhouse books are outstanding, well-written and genuine and fun. I love Sookie's strength and vulnerability, and the way nothing specific defines her; Sookie is a whole person, and the books explore her working life, her family life, her romantic life, her life as a psychic, as a homeowner, as a Southerner -- everything. No one facet is allowed to dominate, and I really like that. So I was excited about reading a whole new character with a whole new power, and exploring another well-rounded life.
I was disappointed. The book wasn't bad, because Harris is just a good writer, but everything I liked about Sookie was lacking from Harper. Her vulnerability was annoying, her strength was haphazard and undefined, her relationships with everyone but her brother were shallow and one-dimensional. The story wasn't enough to carry me through, though it wasn't bad; it had an interesting twist, but the bad guy wasn't set up as bad enough before he started killing, so it felt unbelievable. For Harper, a woman who was struck by lightning and gained the ability to sense the dead and see their last moments, her power, while interesting, barely made an appearance in the story -- she finds the dead people in the town within the first hundred pages, and the rest of the book is sort of about her flailing around the town without much in the way of purpose. She depends on her brother to the point of psychosis, something that I couldn't relate to, and it wasn't explained enough for me to understand. She has a fling with a sheriff's deputy, but since it's basically a one-night stand, there wasn't much point to it.
I didn't feel like there was much point to the whole thing. But maybe I'm being too hard on it. But there are a lot of other books I'm planning on reading before the second book of this series.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 Didn't Flow Right, 2008-07-06
Harper Connelly was struck by lightening as a child and has ever since been able to sense the dead. She can sense the final location and the final minutes of their life. So not having many other skills, she hires herself out to find missing persons, she see's it as helping, others see it as a way to take advantage of people at their most vulnerable moments.
Harper travels from town to town with her step-brother Tolliver. They have a very strange relationship that left a funny feeling in me. He is supposed to be her bodyguard, but it plays off more incestuous then that. Harper is about 23, but is less than mature and quite incapable of taking care of herself while Tolliver appears to be the knight in shinning armour who saves her from the terrible fate of bad guys and lightening storms.
This story was a bit twisted with Harper traveling to Sarne, Ark, to find the body of a missing girl. Finding the body is no problem, but being able to get back out of town still alive is the real challenge here. Too much seemed to be thrown into this book with who was related to whom and who was dating who and who sleeping with whom. Harpers relationship with the local cop seemed unnecessary and rather unbelievable. The whole book just didn't flow right.
This is the first in the Harper Connolly series, but it left me a bit cold and I don't know if I will continue on.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 On the Fun Meter: 4 stars., 2008-06-17
Harris' hook is different enough to make this series a fun change in the genre. The book was well edited and pretty well written, which gave it at least one of its stars. She did a good job with most of the characters while keeping us in the dark on others (it is a mystery).
My biggest problem was with the semi-siblings. Their relationship and dialog was way, way too sappy! I hope they become more "real" in the future.
I'll read at least one more.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Passive heroine, 2008-06-01
Unlike the lead characters in Ms. Harris' other books, Harper is somewhat passive. I found the characters believable and interesting, but I can understand how others who have read the book found them annoying or a bit dull.
The story is quite dark, like the later Sookie Stackhouse plots.
Maybe not for everyone, but I am glad I jumped into this paranormal series.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A Dead Sense, 2008-05-26
Harper Connelly was struck by lightning as a teenager, and besides a weakness in her right leg and a paralyzing fear of storms, she has one other side effect: she can tell how a person died. Creepy as that sounds, Harper has made the best of the situation by deciding to use her "gift" to help those in need of answers. She and her stepbrother Tolliver travel to appointments where Harper can give her information and move on quickly, hoping to leave both the town and their abusive past behind. Unfortunately, in the little town of Sarne, Arkansas, neither the dead nor the living will let go.
This is the first installment in Charlaine Harris's series featuring Harper's unique ability, and unlike Harris's Southern Vampire Mystery series, this one is decidedly darker in tone. Harper is a fragile soul and her reliance on her stepbrother is at times almost a bit odd. The mystery that Harper and Tolliver find themselves caught up in is fairly transparent and has a few sizeable holes. I did enjoy the characters but felt that more actual background, rather than generalities, would have helped me to understand them more and would have given them more depth. However, Harris has a very readable, engaging style, and I found the storyline picking up as the book moved along. The preview for the next title in the series certainly left me intrigued enough to want to move forward. This one can be recommended for those who are fans of Ms. Harris's and enjoy some paranormal elements in their mysteries.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|