Review: Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Title: Desires of the Dead
Author: Kimberly Derting
Series: The Body Finder #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 15, 2011
Pages: 368
Rating:

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Kimberly Derting’s Body Finder series is one of the best young adult reads that I have had the pleasure of reading. DESIRES OF THE DEAD picks up right where The Body Finder ending with Violet and Jay happily in love with each other.

Violet has some struggles in this book involving her relationship with the heart-throbb, Jay and also the possibility of others finding out about her secret.

I loved this book even more than the first book. When I flipped through page one I just couldn't stop and I didn’t want the story to end. I was so absorbed into this book that I may have forgotten to go to work, but I can’t remember. I love it when I just find a book that I can just devour like this. I was very happy with the sequel to The Body Finder.

"Oh, come on!" Chelsea complained to Violet. "Seriously? We had it all planned. You can't bail on us now. You have to come. Please, Vi, I never ask for anything." "Umm, yeah you do," Violet pointed out. Chelsea didn't bother arguing. "Okay, yeah, but come on. This is important."

In the last book, I said I had trouble liking these characters at first but they had grown on me and loved them in the end, no problem whosoever in DESIRES OF THE DEAD. I loved following these characters and have come to love every single one of them as well as some new characters.

Violet is in love with Jay and she loves teasing him all the time about her uncle because Jay now finds him godly and they respect him a great deal because of the events in The Body Finder. It is quite funny how she teases him. Violet stumbles upon a realization and there is a point where she realizes that Jay doesn’t trust her and it breaks her heart and BTW, this part in the book broke my heart. That is just how good Derting is at writing, where is able to get some emotion out of you while reading this book.

"I like to give Jay a hard time about his little man-crush on you."

Jay = non-supernatural powers! Okay I have a thing about only reading books that contain supernatural powers/liking the guy who must have supernatural powers. A guy with some supernatural powers is hot to me where the normal one is like not! But OMG. I praise Derting for creating a character like Jay that not only has no super powers, but he is normal. I find him so hot! In DESIRES OF THE DEAD we really find out how boyfriend Jay is. Boyfriend Jay = PERFECT! I wish he was my boyfriends. Jay has all the qualities you look for in a boyfriends.

We have a couple of new characters. The FBI. Really, the FBI, that’s right. And I was so absorbed in this part of the story where Violet was scared. Who wants the FBI to experiment on you like you’re some type of lab rat, I mean I would think the same thing. But there is always more to the story than just that. I enjoyed Violet’s struggle in deciding whether or not to trust Sarah Priest(FBI). Rafe was another character about her age(I think) involved with the FBI and I would love to learn more about these characters. I think the FBI part is still a little mysterious to us and I hope to get more of this in the next book.

We still get the killer POV, but not necessary the killer. We know who’s POV this is in and I loved the POV part, but I would like to not know who it was. Not knowing adds so much suspense and it excited me quite a bit, but the POV it is in was still enjoyable.

Overall, this was a fantastic sequel to The Body Finder Series and I am looking forward to the rest of the books in the series. And BTW, if you haven’t already put Derting on you MUST-READ List right away. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.