Book 7 of the 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge
I shouldn't be as surprised as I am at how much I enjoyed this novel. I've read a lot of Charlaine Harris’ books and found them entertaining. But I started another book based on a very similar premise and it bored me to tears. I'd spent a ridiculous amount on it and I couldn't get past maybe page 15. So this was a very pleasant discovery. I think I picked it up at a charity book sale because of the Harris name.
Charlaine Harris writes what she does so well. She knows small town life and she knows human nature and she can combine those two things in interesting ways. Sookie Stackhouse was a telepathic small town waitress and Harper Connelly is an itinerant locator of the dead. Both women have hardship in their past and currently making a living as best they can. They have unusual talents and people dislike them for their differences. Harris writes about being disliked with such authority. It makes me wonder if she too felt like an outsider somewhere along the way.
Harper and her step-brother Tolliver are a tight team. They survived their family situation and cared for younger siblings for as long as they could. Now people look at them askance and wonder what their relationship consists of. A classic case of being judged without any knowledge of their circumstances. We can never know what really goes on in other people's homes and we should always interpret things kindly, at least until proven wrong. Harper is much more vulnerable than Sookie and Tolliver is much more loyal and reliable than Sookie's brother Jason. So this is not just a variation on a theme.
I'm keeping this book and I plan to read further in the series. It was worth the cash I paid for it, unlike the other one that nearly made me skip this volume.
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