Review of “Desires of the Dead” by Kimberly Derting

This is book two in this young adult mystery series.

Violet Ambrose is a 16-year-old who senses “echoes” from the dead, but only from those whose lives have been cut short by the violent actions of others. The echo can be a smell, sound, color, or taste. The perpetrators of the violence carry a similar echo. Identifying one, the other, or both generally gets Violet into danger.

The dead call out to Violet through their echoes because they want to be at peace. She can’t resist the pull to go to them, but insists on doing so alone without telling either her infinitely patient, understanding, and loving boyfriend, or her parents, so as not to worry them. Of course, as soon as the murderer comes after Violet, the boyfriend and parents get involved anyway, and are more worried than they would have been otherwise, since her life is now in danger. This does not occur to Violet, and is a source of frustration to the reader, who wants to shake her each time this happens.

Two new characters enter the series in this book: Sara and Rafe. Sara is a woman who works with the FBI preparing profiles of killers, and Rafe works with Sara in a capacity yet unknown to us. But Rafe is around Violet’s age, is mysterious and sexy, and elicits some sort of electric response from Sara. I suspect we will see more of Sara and Rafe in future installments of the series, and that Rafe may be a pull on Sara’s affections.

Evaluation: The “Body Finder” series is quite entertaining; it has typical YA elements (e.g., high school cafeteria-centered action, boyfriend with crooked smile and floppy hair, and best friend who is silly but diverting), but also appealing mystery/suspense aspects as well.

Rating: 4/5

Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2011