The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting Summary:

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.


Review:

I have no clue why but I seem to absolutely fall in love with debut authors the last two years and The Body Finder quickly added itself to my favorite books of 2010. The book is incredibly original and the best mix of mystery and love story I have read in a while. It is the perfect combination of edge of your seat thrill ride and heart-melting love story and I couldn’t put it down.

Violet has a gift I can’t even begin to imagine dealing with, she can sense dead bodies and also the imprints left on those who have killed. They appear as colors, smells or sounds and every one is different. To me this is the most original paranormal ability that I have come across, and there is a lot of paranormal out there right now. Her ability lands her smack in the middle of a murder investigation but it is hardly her biggest problem.

She is also in love with her best friend Jay and their relationship is so much fun to read about and Jay might be one of the best book boyfriends ever, while still being realistic. He isn’t perfect but he is awesome and incredibly protective of Violet, which is good because she goes off chasing murderers and that can lead to some sticky situations.

I also really like how much the setting of the book plays in to the plot. Mount Rainier and Lake Tapps and all the other locations become another character in the book and it really adds a lot. Derting’s description of them is amazingly well done.

I don’t often talk about covers but I really love this one. I think it is gorgeous and to me it looks like it could be one of the colors of echoes Violet sees on somebody. I also love that the cover for the sequel, Desires of the Dead has been released and it keeps the same theme. So pretty!

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge