The Smarty Owl: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder

Author: Kimberly Derting

Genre: Paranormal/ Romance/ Suspense

Target Audience: Teens - Adults

Number of Pages: Hardcover- 327 pages

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 was felt the echoes of 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 murder and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself. - From the inside Flap Jacket

I had finished this book in about 2 days, and considering the fact that I am an incredibly slow reader, me finishing a book in that amount of time is saying something. You can assume that this book is one I didn't want to put down. It was the cause of my exhaustion on Monday morning when I had to get up to go to school, after staying up well into the night reading this book. Kimberly Derting entwines suspense with romance and the two elements mingle flawlessly, thus creating a richer and more complex novel.

This book held me in since the beginning with the adorable romance and captured my attention with the bone-chilling suspense. The love between Jay and Violet will make you smile in your seat, while the lurking serial killer forces you to jolt up and gasp. On the outside, Violet is just your average teenager- one who goes to school, hangs out with her friends, and crushes on boys. But behind the scenes, she is anything but ordinary. Her unique knack of uncovering murdered bodies thrusts her into adventure...and trouble. Readers follow Violet on her drive to stop the man threatening her suburban home and Jay's determination to keep Violet safe.

Derting tells the story from two points of view. One voice is Violet's, and the other is the murderer's, which is written in italics. I remember when flipping through The Body Finder at nighttime, I would always dread reading the italicized chapters, for they never failed to send shivers down my spine. However, reading about Violet's accounts were always a treat for me. I was able to witness the brave and shy, happy but scared, mature yet growing, qualities in Violet which all come together to make up her persona. I was also able to get a glimpse of the killer's mind. It was an interesting experience, for when readers scan their eyes along the italicized lines, they are able to learn about his motives, purposes, and his thinking process.

Her writing was fair. It was not the best I have read, but the sentences flowed easily enough. My one concern was her over use of ellipsis. They appeared quite often, yet it wasn't so major and bothersome to the point where I couldn't stand it. Another theme I discovered when reading, was her repetitive vocabulary. I noted how the same words would show up more than once. Don't get me wrong, I am not judging her on little words like 'the' or 'and', but rather more memorable words and phrases like the adjective, 'no-nonsense.' The phrase had been featured over two times. These are minor flaws and they didn't overshadow or make a large impact on the overall effect of the novel.

Though her writing is not spectacular, the strong and alluring plot overpowers it. This is definitely a novel that I would read over and over again, so if you are in for a thrilling love story, go snag a copy of The Body Finder!

Cover: 3.5/5 - The cover is pure, pretty and very majestic, but I'm not sure what it is, or is supposed to be. Maybe it is an echo? I don't know. The blue contrasts with the black and it is appealing, but it could definitely be more clear on what it is. From the cover, readers don't really know anything about the book. Just by judging the cover however, I would probably pick it up at the store.

Rating:

4 Hoots