Book Review: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1) by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1)

Author: Kimberly Derting

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publishing Date: February 15^th 2011

Length: 352 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy, mystery

5/5 ***** The Body Finder- Sensuous, sexy and dangerous. An exquisitely exciting and insanely captivating read that should not be ignored! 

~ The Author ~

Kimberly is the author of THE BODY FINDER and it's follow-up, DESIRES OF THE DEAD. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.

Author profile by Goodreads 

Don’t forget to visit http://www.kimberlyderting.com/

~ The Novel ~

The Body Finder is the first novel in The Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting. It was first published in March 2010. Desires of the Dead is the follow up and was released in February 2011. Derting recently announced two more books in her The Body Finder series.

Beside The Body Finder series she has a new book called The Pledge, which will be released November 15^th 2011. Kimberly Derting posted this teaser:

A romantic fantasy set in a dystopic, war-torn world, in which a teenage girl realizes that she may be the key to saving her country.

~ The Story ~

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 left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, 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 intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself. 

Summary by Goodreads
 

~ The Review ~

Why did I wait so long to read The Body Finder? Last year I once read the summary and thought about it as a freaky murder mystery. Then Leanna @ Daisy Chain Book Reviews  was always gushing about it and Nic @ Irresistible Reads named the male protagonist Jay her Book Boyfriend #3  and I bought The Body Finder in hope to maybe encounter a freaky murder mystery, but also a good romance. 

Now that I read it in only one day I need to say that this novel has so much more than just some good romance scenes. If The Body Finder weren’t about gruesome crimes, I would call the kissing scenes that, forbidden, sweet and sexy crimes! Derting knows exactly what YA fantasy fans need to experience a reading night full of anxiety and longing with an insanely good and breathtaking novel.

Kimberly Derting applies the perspective of an omniscient narrator. Most of the chapters follow the story of Violet, Jay and their families and friends. In the other few chapters our narrator slips into the perspective of the serial killer. Derting shows that there doesn’t need to be a 1^st person narrator to witness a character’s own voice, experience his story and learn about his feelings.

Each character has his own special voice. Violet is a very natural protagonist with a distinctive sense of justice and truth. Our male protagonist Jay is strong, protective, caring and I can’t but be crazy about him.

The potential for a new kind of love story is huge. This love story of Violet and Jay could be something really different, because they have been friends since they were little. Falling in love with your best friend and no stranger, not the new kid in town doesn’t sound exciting or adventurous, The Body Finder could prove the opposite. Violet and Jay have known each other for so long, they know the other. Nevertheless there is so much more to learn about each other, to adjust to the new way of seeing and exploring the other. Violet is falling in love with her best friends, but could they ever be more than that and still be happy?

Derting creeped me out with a cold-hearted and mad murderer. Reading his thoughts on chasing his victims, following and choosing them was scary. She played with my mind, making me make the weirdest accusations, suspecting everyone around Violet to be guilty, involved in some way. When I paused reading to go to the bathroom I glanced over my shoulder checking several times if someone was following me, I was so paranoid!

Although Violet’s gift, finding dead bodies of persons that were murdered, is supernatural, The Body Finder does not appear illogical or impossible. Hunting down the killer seemed so real, I felt involved and affected.

Kimberly Derting did a great job writing her first novel, her writing style is excellent and no single page is boring or like the pages before it.

I loved, loved, loved The Body Finder and am so mad that I hadn’t ordered the sequel, Desires of the Dead in advance. It took several days to get here and right after my review is posted I'll continue the sequel to The Body Finder!

~ We love this book because…~

1) of a natural heroine with supernatural talents

2) best friends always need to take care of each other

3) the lost can be found and rested in peace
4) of its versatile writing style 
5) of the best kissing scenes  

~ The Verdict ~

The Body Finder unites all senses to an unbelievable reading experience. It had all to keep me hooked: a dangerous supernatural gift, a murder mystery and an even more thrilling romance! If awesome novels were echoes, The Body Finder would be strongly calling to you. A must-read, go get it!