The Body Finder

I would like to preface this review by saying that it's been a couple of years since I read this book. I don't remember enjoying the plot to where I would read it a second time before I write this. This review is based on what stuck out to me the most.

I thought that the echoes concept was pretty cool and had a lot of potential, but I feel like it didn't fit well with a teenager for the main character. There's a certain lack of survival instincts from Violet and Jay. Also, the romance part eventually took over the entire story. Now, I think the childhood best friend to lovers thing is cute, but in small doses. As the story continues, it consumes more of Violet's focus and more of the plot. If the story is focused on an active serial killer, it should be the concern for everyone until they're caught. Jay is all Violet thinks about even when he isn't there. I remember being so frustrated that all Violet could focus on was whether her crush liked her and not on the fact that the serial killer was hunting her down. This made the book feel like a romance that had a serial killer mystery and unknown powers as a background idea instead of the other way around. Maybe the author intended this, but it was not what I was looking for or expecting when I picked up the book. Three stars for the concept, but not for the execution.

I'll just say a couple of words. The style is rather poor, characters are trite. Annotation seemed intriguing enough originally, but as events unfolded this novel had turned out to be graphomaniac opus only.

A story about an unremarkable girl in literature is becoming a kind of obsession among authors, really, and it's annoying.

2.5 stars

The premise of this book was interesting, mc can sense echoes, which are usually connected to dead bodies. The echoes can be sounds or smells or tastes. However, since a lot of this book revolved around the high school life of the mc, it fell short of what I was expecting. I think in a more adult setting with the romance being a little more on the back burner it could have been more. It was definitely entertaining, but just a little juvenile.

BLUF: The Body Finder is equal part mystery and YA puppy love.

Overview: Violet Ambrose has a gift - she can see dead people. Just kidding, but she can sense animals and people that have died at the fault of others. Sometimes this sense is auditory, other times it can be olfactory, gustatory, or visual. While fascinating to an extent, this gift can be traumatizing - she found her first human body at the age of eight.

Mystery Plot: When the killer dumps a body outside of town, Violet and her classmates are shocked. Soon after, a local girl is taken without a trace from the killer. Violet takes it upon herself to help the catch the killer, but can she do so without moving too far into harm's way?

YA Puppy Love Plot: Over the summer, Violet's best friend has grown from boy to manboy. He's turned into a real hunk and is completely oblivious to all of the girls fawning over him - including Violet. How can he be so clueless?

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My thoughts: The concept of somebody who has an ability to sense the murdered as well as the murdered's imprint on the murderer is exciting. It's taking the detective's intuition and pulling it into one of the other senses. I love it.

Unfortunately, these senses aren't quite like intuition: they aren't built up through clues and observations. This means that the reader isn't brought into the trail to find the killer - we aren't able to make our own assumptions. We are left in the dark with no ability to guess the killer.

Don't get me wrong, it's interesting to see her hunt, but not as much fun as it would be to hunt with her.

Now the YA portion, oh my. I can't say I miss the emotional state of being a teenager, but it was captured painfully well...

I can't say that I wasn't annoyed by it. Violet spends a majority of the book crushing on her best friend while, simultaneously, telling herself that she is going to stop crushing on her best friend. Ah, I remember the days of constant self-doubt and uncontrollable emotions. (Or... rather... this book had me relive it.)

In the end: It may be irrational, but I really enjoyed this book. I know I shouldn't as Violet's crush/obsession completely overshadows the murder mystery, but I really did.

I have literally just read the prologue and I feel haunted by this story already. I have chills running down my spine - can't wait to get more imto it.

Wow! I actually couldn't put this book down. I loved it! I'm downloading book 2 for Kindle as I write this. I loved thd characters, the way it was written, the twists and surprises in the plot. Just wow! I know for sure that this story with stay with me for such a long time.

This was an okay read. I liked the suspense of the chase. The love story was, at first, sweet and really good until she turned into Bella. Couldn't live without him, if he left her house early she was achingly lonely, etc. etc. I thought because they had spent their lives as best friends it wouldn't be so end-of-the-world-must-be-with-you type of situation, but alas, it turned into that.

But I liked the story, it reminded me a bit of a teen version of Charlaine Harris's Harper Connoly series, but Violet is much more likeable than Harper!

Denne boka var skikkelig bra. Jeg synes plottet var unikt og godt gjennomført, og jeg synes også Violets evne til å kjenne imprintene var godt beskrevet, så jeg skjønte liksom hvordan det var å være henne. Violet virket litt uoppmerksom på omgivelsene sine av og til (hallo, Jay!) og hun er superheldig som har en sånn venn som Jay. De andre vennene hennes – Chelsea, Claire og Jules – var kjempemorsomme å lese om. Og slutten var så spennende – herregud, siste kapittel – jeg trodde jeg skulle dø. Og jeg gikk i fella som helt garantert var plassert der med vilje, så epilogen var veldig oppklarende. Vent og se (les) så skjønner du. :-) Gjett om jeg gleder meg til å lese bok to, da!