by Gina Damico
Paperback, 311 pages
Published March 20th 2012 by Graphia Books (first published March 1st 2012)
ISBN 0547608322 (ISBN13: 9780547608327)
Series Croak #1
Blurb
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.
But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business.
She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can’t stop her desire for justice - or is it vengeance? - whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.
Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?
Mini Review
I wanted to love this book, I really did. The cover is adorable, and the whole story sounds like a YA version of the show “Dead Like Me”. Unfortunately, “Croak” and I were never meant to be BFFs. The main character’s snark and blatant obnoxiousness made me want to throw her off a bridge pretty much the entire time I read this. I loved the twist on afterlife mythology—particularly the idea of a “Yorick” drink being served in skulls. Very clever. I have never heard of or read anything quite like this before. The mystery assassin is evident almost immediately, which takes away the suspense and guessing entirely, and the rivalry which emerges early on is uninteresting and annoying. To sum up, I really just wish the entire story was told from a different person’s point of view, because some of the characters were wonderfully endearing, quirky, and lovable (I’m looking at you Uncle Mort) and the world-building is wonderful. I just cannot take any more of Lex’s crap, so I will probably not be reading any more books in the “Croak” series unless I happen to come across them at the library. If you enjoy very sarcastic, bratty characters and books which take a modern twist on afterlife and reaper mythology, you will really enjoy this. I just couldn’t take the snark.
Favorite Quote
"Let me go!" She tore off a mirror and brandished it in his face. "I mean it! I don’t want to go to your godforsaken hellbarn, you retarded psycho farmer!"
