Series: (#2) The Dead Girls Detective Agency series
Source: Review copy from Netgalley
Blurb: [ Goodreads] The Dead Girls Detective Agency trilogy charts the adventures of teens in NYC, tasked with solving the mystery of their murder from beyond the grave.
Lorna has been dead long enough to know the Rules. But that doesn’t stop her showing up at her little sister’s high school production of Hipster Hamlet. But when she arrives, a lighting rig comes crashing down on the lead cast member mid-performance. All fingers point to Lorna’s little sister, Emma, and it’s up to The Dead Girls Detective Agency to find the real culprit. Unless Em’s not as innocent as she looks?
Charlotte wants to help Lorna prove her sister’s innocence, but she’s completely distracted. Not only is her ghostly-self suspended in this New York-limbo-hotel, she is having to deal with the fact that the very alive love of her life has moved on. And then there’s the cute dead boy Edison, who seems to be acting nice all of a sudden. But is Charlotte ready for a new boyfriend, and one with such a murky past?
REVIEW:
A huge thank you to publishers and netgalley for allowing me to receive this is exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in the trilogy, to see my review of the first book, The Dead Girls Detective Agency, Click Here.
I was really eager to return to this series and was very happy when I was accepted to review it. Although, after finishing it, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this novel.
It was nice to return to the Attesa hotel and its ghostly inhabitants. I really like the characters in this novel, especially Nancy, and enjoyed reading the novel . Nancy, the self elected leader of the Dead Girls Detective Agency, is one of my favourite characters of the series. She is quiet, introverted and mild but also excitable and a really kind and caring friend. I really enjoyed her character in this novel as she worked to help the newest dead girl, Mercy, solve her murder . I love Nancy's drive to help others and I think she can also have moments of being brutally honest in the most hilarious ways.
Charlotte was the protagonist of this novel again. I found that a little surprising because I thought the newest dead would be the voice of each novel but obviously not. Although in the previous novel, I really liked Charlotte for her cynicism, dry humour and sarcasm, I felt it ran a bit thin in this novel. Her character became this sort of moaning and whiny character who was very self obsessed and self important. Her relationship with Edison also was not as interesting in this novel and sort of read two dimensional for me. I do like her narration of the story but felt she was a little overly whiny in this novel.
Mercy, the newest dead girl, was a good addition to the story. Although I really disliked her throughout the first 60 % of the novel, her character did a complete U- turn for me and I instantly liked her so much more. She started off as this stereotypical theatre brat type of girl but underneath that she was much more normal and vulnerable. I could really identify with her character and think many other readers could. My favourite Mercy scene was when she said her life motto was "fake it until you make it" because I love that saying.
The plot of this book was okay, not great, just okay. After the fast pacing and plot twist filled novel that was the previous book, The Dead Girls Detective Agency, I was rather disappointed and surprised that after the first 50 pages I found myself feeling somewhat disinterested in the plot entirely. The plot seemed to be going around in circles for a very long time, where nothing would happen for a while, then something would happen before the process repeated itself. I found Mercy's murder investigation to be quite boring in comparison to Charlotte's. I wasn't interested in the high school squabbles Mercy had experienced and it made me dislike her case.
I didn't feel the pacing of this book was very good at all. The previous book was paced perfectly whereas I feel this novel contains too many chapters where not a lot happens. I think that the last 40 pages of the novel contains more action than is seen in the entire novel. I wish some more suspense and mystery was added near the middle of the novel as that is where I begin to lose interest.
The writing style was good. I think Suzy Cox has a great set of characters, and had a good idea for this novel but it just didn't translate as well to paper as the previous novel. The plot was good, but nowhere near as good as the previous novel. The writing style was just okay. The dialogue was very dry and bland. I felt humour, sarcasm and such was overused in the novel making it seem very forced and dry whereas in the previous novel it came across as light hearted and natural. The relationship between Edison and Charlotte could have been more teased at before the ending of the novel.
The end of this novel was quite odd but also good. I have a love hate relationship with cliffhanger endings as although they make me want to buy the next book, they annoy me as they leave you without closure. Warning to readers, you may want to wait for the third book to be released if you would like to read the series all the way through without being frustrated at the ending.
Overall a good but slightly disappointing novel. Light hearted and humorous in places. Not my favourite in the series so far but I am looking forward to the release of the third and final book in the series. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
RATING:
Three Stars
I was really eager to return to this series and was very happy when I was accepted to review it. Although, after finishing it, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this novel.
It was nice to return to the Attesa hotel and its ghostly inhabitants. I really like the characters in this novel, especially Nancy, and enjoyed reading the novel . Nancy, the self elected leader of the Dead Girls Detective Agency, is one of my favourite characters of the series. She is quiet, introverted and mild but also excitable and a really kind and caring friend. I really enjoyed her character in this novel as she worked to help the newest dead girl, Mercy, solve her murder . I love Nancy's drive to help others and I think she can also have moments of being brutally honest in the most hilarious ways.
Charlotte was the protagonist of this novel again. I found that a little surprising because I thought the newest dead would be the voice of each novel but obviously not. Although in the previous novel, I really liked Charlotte for her cynicism, dry humour and sarcasm, I felt it ran a bit thin in this novel. Her character became this sort of moaning and whiny character who was very self obsessed and self important. Her relationship with Edison also was not as interesting in this novel and sort of read two dimensional for me. I do like her narration of the story but felt she was a little overly whiny in this novel.
Mercy, the newest dead girl, was a good addition to the story. Although I really disliked her throughout the first 60 % of the novel, her character did a complete U- turn for me and I instantly liked her so much more. She started off as this stereotypical theatre brat type of girl but underneath that she was much more normal and vulnerable. I could really identify with her character and think many other readers could. My favourite Mercy scene was when she said her life motto was "fake it until you make it" because I love that saying.
The plot of this book was okay, not great, just okay. After the fast pacing and plot twist filled novel that was the previous book, The Dead Girls Detective Agency, I was rather disappointed and surprised that after the first 50 pages I found myself feeling somewhat disinterested in the plot entirely. The plot seemed to be going around in circles for a very long time, where nothing would happen for a while, then something would happen before the process repeated itself. I found Mercy's murder investigation to be quite boring in comparison to Charlotte's. I wasn't interested in the high school squabbles Mercy had experienced and it made me dislike her case.
I didn't feel the pacing of this book was very good at all. The previous book was paced perfectly whereas I feel this novel contains too many chapters where not a lot happens. I think that the last 40 pages of the novel contains more action than is seen in the entire novel. I wish some more suspense and mystery was added near the middle of the novel as that is where I begin to lose interest.
The writing style was good. I think Suzy Cox has a great set of characters, and had a good idea for this novel but it just didn't translate as well to paper as the previous novel. The plot was good, but nowhere near as good as the previous novel. The writing style was just okay. The dialogue was very dry and bland. I felt humour, sarcasm and such was overused in the novel making it seem very forced and dry whereas in the previous novel it came across as light hearted and natural. The relationship between Edison and Charlotte could have been more teased at before the ending of the novel.
The end of this novel was quite odd but also good. I have a love hate relationship with cliffhanger endings as although they make me want to buy the next book, they annoy me as they leave you without closure. Warning to readers, you may want to wait for the third book to be released if you would like to read the series all the way through without being frustrated at the ending.
Overall a good but slightly disappointing novel. Light hearted and humorous in places. Not my favourite in the series so far but I am looking forward to the release of the third and final book in the series. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
RATING:
Three Stars
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