Summary:Hired to find a boy gone missing in Doravilla, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver head there----only to discover that he boy was only one of several who had disappeared over the previous years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways.
All calling for Harper.
Harper soon finds them---eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterwards, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's about to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville---knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave...
Review:
Well this series keeps getting better and better. The first book, Grave Sight, was pretty good, the second book, Grave Surprise, was good, and An Ice Cold Grave was very good. Actually, now that I think about it the Sookie Stackhouse series was kind of the same way. Books one and two weren't as good as the others in the series, I think.
I like how Harper and Tolliver are in a different location for each book in this series. That keeps the books fresh and prevents repetitiveness. I also really like how each book is a little mystery in itself which is solved/wrapped up at the end of the book so we don't have a cliffhanger ending. When I finish a Charlaine Harris book, I want more, but I'm not out of control waiting for the next book wondering what will happen (like I am for Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, for example).
An Ice Cold Grave got pretty gritty a couple of times. The "bad guy" in this book does some pretty awful things, which Harper of course learns of when she finds his victims. Also, there are a couple of sex scenes which are more graphic than any in the first two books. I don't really know what's up with that. The Sookie Stackhouse books have been the same way lately in that regard. I liked the innuendo better than the long descriptions. It seems to cheapen a book to add too much of that in there. But, to each her own, I guess.
At any rate, this is now my second favorite Charlaine Harris series. The Harper Connelly series is actually a very close second to the Sookie Stackhouse books. And, as Elinor says in Sense and Sensibility, that's praise indeed!
Just One Gripe:
There was a little too much grit for my taste.
The Best Thing About This Book:
Harper leaves behind her tortured, Edward Cullen in Midnight Sun existance and gets happy, finally!
Appropriate for a younger audience:
No!
Score:
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Setting/Imagery: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Ending: 4/5
Total Score: 23/25
Read First:
This sounds like an interesting series. I hadn't heard of it before!
ReplyDeleteI found it by looking on Charlaine Harris' website. The series is definitely worth reading. Her other two series were okay but this one is great! And it's not too macabre with the dead bodies, even though it sounds like it would be.
ReplyDeletei love this series i some how lost track of it but i remember i had just finished the second book deffo need to get back to this one!
ReplyDelete