Dying for a Living: Volume 1

Kory M. Shrum

Mar 2014 · Dying for a Living Book 1 · Timberlane Press

About this ebook

And you thought dying once would be hard... 

On the morning before her 67th death, it is business as usual for agent Jesse Sullivan: meet with the mortician, counsel soon-to-be-dead clients, and have coffee while reading the latest regeneration theory. Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, Jesse can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don't have to. 

Although each death replacement is different, the result is the same: a life is saved, and Jesse resurrects days later with sore muscles, new scars, and another hole in her memory. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself--or die trying. 

Dying for a Living is the first book in Kory M. Shrum's gripping urban fantasy series. If you like page-turning action, tough as nails heroines, and perfectly-paced suspense, then you'll love this "hilarious" and "supernaturally fantastic" ride. 

Ratings and reviews

This is my second read of this book (I purchased some further books in the series and thought it made sense to start at the beginning again). I didn't enjoy it quite as much the second time around but I was surprised how much of the storyline I had forgotten - the major plot points were still there but a lot of the nuance had been lost. The plot is a good, and rather unique one, Jesse is a Death Replacement Agent - going to die by accident then an AMP will confirm a 24 hour window of it happening and you book your Death Replacement Agent (they die so you don't have to). The problem is someone is out to kill the agents and Jesse seems to be next in line. Who is responsible for the attacks - the FBDR? The Church? or is it something or someone even darker? This creates a good plot that is part thriller and part supernatural and it does do a good job of straddling both genres. The characterisation is reasonable but you do find yourself struggling to get to grips with anyone other than Jesse - even she is a bit of a mystery. In some instances, Brinkley, this is because even Jesse doesn't really know what is real and what is front so we suffer from her skewed perspective. However, Ally and Lane are a problem as Jesse knows both intimately but I didn't get any real sense of them as people off the page. The set up to the big set piece at the end of the book is well handled with the tension palpably building with the fallout seguing neatly in to book two.

This is a really clever premise: someone who can die so that someone else doesn’t have to then come back to life a few days later. It was partially that, and having read some of the author's other work, that drew me in. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way that keep the reader wondering what might happen next. The characters are all interesting even if some are a mystery for the most part, something I assume we’ll get answers to later. It is a well paced, fun contemporary fantasy. Jesse, the girl that dies for a living, is certainly my favourite of the characters and I think this mainly because I can relate to her sense of humour and excellent use of sarcasm. For me this is a good book, not quite great, but most certainly good enough that I’m hooked on finding out what happens to Jesse in the following books.

This book had my attention from start to finish and left me wanting more. This author didn't fail me on that aspect because the amount of free books and stories I've received just by signing up with my email address is amazing. Definitely an audience friendly author that really cares about her readers. If you haven't checked out this author, you will not be disappointed. As far as this particular book though, it's a story line I haven't read before now. Fresh ideas and characters are kind of hard to find if you're like me and search for free ebooks. Even though my search started with "free" I ended up buying more because of both the original storyline as well as the amazing way the author stays in direct communication with her audience. I've never left a review for a book but this author deserves all the kudos she can get!!

About the author

USA TODAY bestselling author Kory M. Shrum lives in Michigan with her wife, Kim, and their ferocious guard pug, Josephine. Kory naps like an adult and chugs caffeine like one too. She's an active member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Horror Writers of America, and best of all, the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, where she's known as Conquest.

She's the author of the Dying for a Living urban fantasy series and the Shadows in the Water supernatural crime thriller series. When not reading, writing, or battling her pug for the covers, she teaches writing to college students.