Author: Kimberly Derting

Publisher: Headline (11th November 2010)

Pages: 327

ISBN: 978-0755378951

From Amazon
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, 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, but now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

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

Review
The Body Finder is another one of those books that I wish I’d bought and read ages ago (like when it came out for instance) but even when I did buy it a few months ago I still didn’t read it straight away. I waited and waited. Then the other week I felt like something completely different and there it was – waiting for me!

It’s about Violet, a girl who has what can only be described as a ‘morbid’ special ability. She has the ability to sense a dead body (whether it be animal or erm, otherwise). That may seem odd enough but there’s more to it as she can also sense when the killer is close to her.

For me it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before and it’s an ability I wouldn’t wish on anyone. But Violet seems to handles these discoveries remarkably. Sure she’s upset and all the usual feelings you would expect a young girl to feel when a discovery such is this is made are evident but once they are out to rest she seems to move on.

Violet, however also shows such compassion for these dead bodies, always having to give the dead animals a proper send off. And even when she discovers a dead body her determination doesn’t let her down. She becomes determined to help the police catch the killer even if it puts her own life at risk.

Another aspect I liked about The Body Finder was seeing the story from the point of view of the killer – it wasn’t an altogether nice place to be but gave a hint about what the killer was up to and there thoughts.

The Body Finder wasn’t all about death though (thank goodness, that would have been a little too morbid for my tastes lol). It also has an almost coming of age quality too it as the two main characters, Violet and Jay discover more about themselves as they grow up and the new feeling they are feeling.

It’s just a fantastic book and I know most of you will already have read it so I’m going to finish by saying I’ll be buying book two very soon indeed!