The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: "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.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: If I could describe my experience reading this I would say:

I. Died. O_O

This book was intense, with its oozing suspense towards the end and the romance that was present throughout the book. I would have liked to see more about the serial killer though. Most of the book was about Jay and Violet's struggle about their feelings for each other, which is great, but it kind of put down the suspense a bit. But the characters were definitely created so perfectly--which is the bright side of it all! I love, love, love Jay and Violet.

Moving onto the suspense...The scary excerpts following the serial killer was creepy in the best way, sometimes even making my skin crawl. As more dead bodies are found, you can't NOT turn the page as fast as I did. I am amazed at the idea of a girl sensing dead bodies. I think that was what pulled me in. There was a whole lot of mystery, increasing my urge to just finish it already. Once you start it, you won't be able to drop the book. It's THAT good. This is another amazing YA debut.

What I thought of...

The Beginning: This was one of those rare books where a lot of background information in the beginning didn't make the book boring. I felt it NEEDED to be there.

The Middle: If you ask people I was talking to while reading this part, they'd tell you I wanted to slap a couple of people. Someone even told me I was weird for yelling at the characters. HOW CAN YOU NOT? GET ON WITH LOVING EACH OTHER ALREADY!! WOULD THEY END UP TOGETHER? Those were my thoughts...I know, I'm odd...

More dead bodies, and the parts with the killer just creeped me out so much because he didn't feel any remorse at all. O_O

The End: Never have I been so worried in my life that this could end badly. But it didn't. LOVED IT.

FTC: received from publisher for review.