Helpful Score: 7
I like cozies, but dont think this is really a cozy or a paranormal as most expect. Yes, Fahey is a ghost, but he doesnt speak to our heroine Maggie or to anyone for that matter. He cant be seen or heard. A few odd balls see him but overall he can only feel the emotions and experience the memories in the mind of the living. He is aimless and cant even communicate with any other ghosts. It is not cutesy. It is deep and brooding and dark, but in the best way possible. The murderer is evil and brutal, and you know who that person is midway into the story. The rest of the story is just Maggie trying to apprehend the bad guy without getting killed. I think this is well written and will be well received by lovers of the genres, mysteries and paranormals. Highly recommended to be put on the top of your TBR pile. I am looking forward to book 2.
Helpful Score: 4
This was a great read, half police procedural and half paranormal mystery. Kevin Fahey, now residing in the ghost world, spends a lot of time reflecting on his own failings in life and as a detective. He is redeemed by his assistance (and liking for) the young woman who took his place as police detective. The story is strong and so is the character development. You will cheer for Maggie, the young detective, and will pull for Kevin to succeed in his personal redemption.
Helpful Score: 1
First Line: A man lies dying on the grime-encrusted floor of an abandoned house on the banks of the Delaware.
The man who lies dying on the dirty floor is Kevin Fahey, a second-rate cop, a mediocre husband and father, and the narrator of this book. As Fahey himself now says:
"I am a ghost haunted by my regrets, doomed to walk through a world that is neither here nor there, tasting my fate in my solitude, seeking a redemption I fear will never come."
When it is proved that a young man Fahey and his partner sent to prison for the death of his girlfriend is in fact innocent, this dead detective knows that his best shot at redemption lies with Detective Maggie Gunn, a gifted, empathetic investigator who's taken on the task of not only finding the real killer, but of going through all Fahey and Partner's old cases to see if there's anything else in the files that needs to be straightened out. Although ashamed of how he threw away his life, Fahey is determined to be of as much help to Gunn as he can. Complicating matters is that Fahey's partner, Danny Bonaventura, has yet to retire and isn't taking this examination of the old files very well.
For those who aren't big fans of paranormal mysteries, you'll be happy to note that Kevin Fahey does not become Super Cop on The Other Side. There's very little he can do in this first book to influence the living except by planting the occasional thought in someone's mind. It will be interesting to see if he acquires new skills the longer he remains a ghost.
Maggie Gunn is the type of police officer we wish they all were-- compassionate with the families of victims, respectful (but not obsequious) with her superior officers, Maggie seems able to channel the Energizer Bunny and the most tenacious bulldog as she searches for a truly scary serial killer. In Desolate Angel, the killer's identity is no secret; it's how they're going to find the evidence they need to put him in jail that fuels the action. Knowing the killer in this case ratchets up the suspense by several degrees, and Fahey's despair at being unable to help is palpable.
I ordered this book primarily because I liked the different approach. This time the main character is a failure, a screw-up who gets a second chance to correct his past mistakes, and the author (Katy Munger writing as Chaz McGee) uses that to excellent effect. Aren't there times when every single one of us has wished for a second chance? Kevin Fahey has the best real, live partner to help him with his quest. I really look forward to its continuation.
The man who lies dying on the dirty floor is Kevin Fahey, a second-rate cop, a mediocre husband and father, and the narrator of this book. As Fahey himself now says:
"I am a ghost haunted by my regrets, doomed to walk through a world that is neither here nor there, tasting my fate in my solitude, seeking a redemption I fear will never come."
When it is proved that a young man Fahey and his partner sent to prison for the death of his girlfriend is in fact innocent, this dead detective knows that his best shot at redemption lies with Detective Maggie Gunn, a gifted, empathetic investigator who's taken on the task of not only finding the real killer, but of going through all Fahey and Partner's old cases to see if there's anything else in the files that needs to be straightened out. Although ashamed of how he threw away his life, Fahey is determined to be of as much help to Gunn as he can. Complicating matters is that Fahey's partner, Danny Bonaventura, has yet to retire and isn't taking this examination of the old files very well.
For those who aren't big fans of paranormal mysteries, you'll be happy to note that Kevin Fahey does not become Super Cop on The Other Side. There's very little he can do in this first book to influence the living except by planting the occasional thought in someone's mind. It will be interesting to see if he acquires new skills the longer he remains a ghost.
Maggie Gunn is the type of police officer we wish they all were-- compassionate with the families of victims, respectful (but not obsequious) with her superior officers, Maggie seems able to channel the Energizer Bunny and the most tenacious bulldog as she searches for a truly scary serial killer. In Desolate Angel, the killer's identity is no secret; it's how they're going to find the evidence they need to put him in jail that fuels the action. Knowing the killer in this case ratchets up the suspense by several degrees, and Fahey's despair at being unable to help is palpable.
I ordered this book primarily because I liked the different approach. This time the main character is a failure, a screw-up who gets a second chance to correct his past mistakes, and the author (Katy Munger writing as Chaz McGee) uses that to excellent effect. Aren't there times when every single one of us has wished for a second chance? Kevin Fahey has the best real, live partner to help him with his quest. I really look forward to its continuation.
Very good book. This is the start to a great series!
I read the second book, first. And had to begin at the beginning. The second book is even better.
I read the second book, first. And had to begin at the beginning. The second book is even better.
I wasn't crazy about this book, but it was OK. Too many wasted pages, I felt. I was able to skim through many pages without even reading them and still keep up with the plot. I didn't like that you know who the culprit is halfway through the story. I prefer a whodunnit type. But I did like the second half of the story. The pages I read (and didn't skip) were good. The ending was good also. Not bad, but I don't think I will read another in the series.
I didn't think I was going to like this book. In fact, I was sure of it. I was wrong.
The second saddest sack of a detective dies. He spends the whole book whining about what an awful guy he was and how he screwed up his life. He meets the new detective, a career driven, almost supernaturally gifted woman, and decides that he's her partner now. He leers around her the entire book, deciding that they're working the case together despite the fact that during the entire book he manages to influence what is happening in the living world all of twice.
It gets points for being an interesting concept, but then loses all of those points because all of the men in this book were insufferable.
It gets points for being an interesting concept, but then loses all of those points because all of the men in this book were insufferable.
He was once a second-rate cop, a mediocre husband, and an absent father. But ever since he was killed in a drug bust gone bad, Kevin Fahey's been a lost soul in limbo. Until he encounters a dead victim whose murder he thought he solved, a girl who points him to a fresh body. And Fahey realizes he imprisoned the wrong man -- and the true killer is still on the loose.
