He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.
Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer. Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in? (From Goodreads)
I think I might have to put the town of Croak on my list of places I need to see before I die. And Croak's afterlife as a place I need to go when I die. Seriously, I'm so in love with Gina Damico's version of the afterlife. I want to visit it. It's full of madness and mayhem and deceased presidents. It's a place where Mozart has his own planet and Edgar Alan Poe and Emily Dickinson walk around full of angst. How do you not love that?
Seriously, I tell people about this book and I just ramble on and on about how awesome this afterlife is, but I'm going to do my best to talk about other things. Like the town. Okay, because as awesome as the afterlife is, the town where the grim reapers reside is just as wonderful. It's full of dark humor and it has that small town feel (well, probably because it is a small town, but you know, some towns just don't have the feel - am I making ANY sense or am I just rambling now...?). I love that people throw food across the diner (all in good fun) and that their drink of choice is called the "Yorick" and that the fixture of the town is a bank that has nothing to do with money.
So moving on from the setting...I have to say that by the second page I was laughing out loud. I'm actually really glad I read this in the solitude of my room, because if I had been in public I would have been getting some looks...When you combine Lex's attitude with the dark humor in this book you get a whole lot of personality. Lex is just the top of a pile of characters with sparkling wit and charm. Her Uncle Mort is a fireball of a leader in Croak and I totally pictured him as hot Uncle Cooper (from One Tree Hill? Anyone?). The whole crew of grims-in-training added to a group dynamic that you just want to be a part of. And Driggs. Yeah, Driggs is definitely worth reading this book for. The attraction between Driggs and Lex is understated but tense at the same time. That relationship is so well done.
Before I just go on and on and on (I could probably break down the awesome page by page if I wanted to....) I just want to say that I'm so impressed by this book. There's never a quiet moment, but it never goes too fast. Plus, it's not all happy and sunshine, there's some serious stuff going on. AND, it has a sequel out in September, Scorch, in which there is a road trip and I SO hope a glimpse at what the west-coast afterlife looks like...But, in all seriousness - this book is so worth reading.
