Product Description

Harper Connelly had a lucky escape when she was hit by lightning: she didn't die. But sometimes she wishes she had died, because the lightning strike left her with an unusual talent: she can find dead people - and that's not always comfortable. Everyone wants to know how she does it: it's a little like hearing a bee droning inside her head, or maybe the pop of a Geiger counter, a persistent, irregular noise that increases in strength as she gets closer. It's almost electric: a buzzing all through her body, and the fresher the corpse, the more intense the buzz. Harper and her brother Tolliver make their living from finding the dead, for desperate parents, worried friends . . . and police departments who have nowhere else to look. They may not believe in her abilities, but sometimes the proof is just too much for even the most sceptical of police chiefs to deny. But it's not always easy for someone like Harper, for the dead *want* to be found - and too often, finding the body doesn't bring closure; it opens a whole new can of worms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3523 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Charlaine Harris is an award-winning writer of more than 20 fantasy, mystery and crime novels. Her Sookie Stackhouse series are New York Times bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

Read This
i've read other boks by Charlaine Harris and really enjoyed them but i think this one is even better. it surrounds a character called Harper who was struck by lightening as a little girl and developed the ability to find dead people and see their last moments on earth. she travels with her brother tolliver and the story is as much about the relationship with her family as it is about the mystery. i really enjoyed this book and would reccomend it to anyone who is a fan of sookie stackhouse novels.

Still enjoyable but what happened to suspence?
This book focuses on the adventures of Harper Connely, a woman who has an unusually morbid gift for finding the dead. At least that is how the fearfull and prejudiced pea brains who hire her seem to regard her. Aided by her brother she ends up resolving a mystery regarding one of her bodily discoveries, while she and hers suffer the price for her persistant investigations. Which are not welcomed by the culprits, as one might have assumed from the beginning. The dead, unfortunately, don't say much to Harper, but the living assume that she heard too much anyway.

Having arrived at this book via avid contemplations of the adventures of Sukie Stockhouse in Southern Vampire mysteries, I found myself rather disappointed by the predictability of the plot, which I sort of worked out by the third chapter. All the elements of a successful Harris work are there, form original characters to gracious writing technique, so I cannot claim that it was a bad read, merely that it was below the standard I have come to expect from this writer. I was not as instantly attracted to the protagonists as in the afore mentioned series, and feel they would have benefited from being expanded upon in a more vivid manner. It seemed like it was not enough, and left me with a vacant expectation.

Having said all that, I am awaiting the arrival of the second novel from this series in the post any day now, the reading of which will hopefully make me eat my words!

Intruiging idea
Having read four of the excellent Southern Vampire Series (Sookie Stackhouse) and a few of the rather good Lily Bard Mysteries I had high expectations of this book.

I have to say I was slightly disappointed.

The basic Story is quite good and certainly interesting. Its about a woman called Harpur Connelly. Harpur was hit by lightning and since then has an understandable fear of storms and an extra gift where she can locate dead bodies and get a brief snapshot of their final moments and an understanding of how they died. She is generally despised by the people who engage her to find the dead, mainly because she charges for the privilege.

Her latest job sees her involved in a messy missing persons case which quickly establishes itself as a murder case. The murderer does not wish to be discovered and will do anything to keep Harpur from getting to the bottom of the mystery.

The story does keep you interested but the characters are not especially likable. Harpus comes across as cold and a little whiney. Her brother seems roguish but without the charm.

Still it's a good read and I will read any subsequent sequels. Miss Harris develops characters well over a series and you do seem to grow to like them ... even if it takes a while