The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting - Review

Synopsis via goodreads:

"A serial killer on the loose. A girl with a morbid ability. And the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Violet Ambrose can find the dead. Or at least, those who have been murdered. She can sense the echoes they leave behind... and the imprints they leave on their killers. As if that weren't enough to deal with during junior year, she also has a sudden, inexplicable, and consuming crush on her best friend since childhood, Jay Heaton.

Now a serial killer has begun terrorizing Violet's small town... and she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him."
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Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

Where to start with this review? You know, I am not even sure! This book is such a jumble of everything all mixed up together; a huge mystery, a paranormal twist like I have never seen before and a love story that just enveloped me from the first few pages – You would be hard pressed to find a "genera" not represented with in the pages of The Body Finder.

And with so much going on, you might wonder – how do you keep up? The answer to that is simple – the excellent writing, of course. I know this is Kimberly's first novel but what a first novel! It's exceptionally written, in a way that I never felt lost as a reader, like I honestly expected I might be. I never once wondered what was going on, or where I was with in the book, if that even makes sense.

Kimberly has written this novel in such a way that I might compare it to a person spreading jam over an English muffin. The muffin has lots of nooks and crannies where the jam might fall, that is, IF it were something less substantial (something like butter). The prose written here are much the same, thick, yet juicy – Kimberly uses meaty words, getting to the heart and soul of the story. She has beautifully created characters in which I cried for, yelled at (once again, I can sit here telling you honestly that I YELLED at this book), and rooted for.

Our main protagonist Violet is as strong as she is brave – I have no idea how I would handle a gift such as the one she has, but I can tell you it would be with far less grace and strength than she displays, I can just about guarantee that! She's brilliant, likable and extremely unique, and yet she still rings very "real" above all else.

Jay is also a wonderful character, he's the character some might say is much to cliché, for such an otherwise very unique story – however, I didn't feel that way, not at all. Jay for me was much more than a clichéd perfect boyfriend, he's much to real for that. He is after all a teenage boy, there's a few times when he does things that set him below what one might call "perfect" – however, because of these "flaws" (if you will) he becomes more real. He brings so much life to The Body Finder, with his gentle spirit, glowing personality and quick wit, I found myself falling in love, just a little bit.

There are also several characters which supported the story – from Violet's friends, to her parents, all of which rang real to me...I mean you had the boys always talking about cars and sports, the girls worrying about make-up and gossiping, there's also tons of witty banter – which added such a light touch to this otherwise heavy novel. And the parents – yes, you read that right there's actually parents with in the pages of The Body Finder! Not only that but they are supportive, loving and attentive. It was nice to see a novel in the YA genera, where the parents are not part of the problem, but rather part of the solution (mostly, no one's perfect).

Bottom Line – This book is an intense ride, I picked it up and finished it in about 7 hours, though I did not want it to end, I just had to know what would happen next...and the ending, nothing I can say short of WOW, it's intense!

With it's authentic characters, it's brilliant story line, and a love story that's like no other - Kimberly Derting has, what I can only assume will become a best seller on her hands, I know I can't want to get my very own copy as soon as it's released (I am so sad to send on the ARC, so I can't read it again ASAP)! It definitely deserves 5 very big mushrooms! I can't wait to read much more from this author! Nor can I help but wonder, is Desires of the Dead (Kimberly's next novel due out in 2011) a sequel? Kimberly actually emailed me to let me know that it is!!! EAK – FAN GIRL SQUEAK – that's just too awesome! Though, don't get me wrong, The Body Finder does not end in a place where one might wish there was a sequel (like right now), it's very much it's own story but knowing there's going to be more of Violet and Jay...makes me one VERY happy girl!


The Body Finder
Written by: Kimberly Derting
336 Pages
Published: March 16, 2010
Publisher: Harperteen


This book is part of the Dark Fairy Tales ARC tours series. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of the tour!