Third Grave Dead Ahead

Darynda Jones

Jan 2012 · Charley Davidson Series Book 3 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this eBook

Third Grave Dead Ahead is the third installment of Darynda Jones' award-winning paranormal series that's "hilarious and heartfelt, sexy and surprising." (J.R. Ward)

Paranormal private eye. Grim reaper extraordinaire. Whatever. Charley Davidson is back! And she's drinking copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake because, every time she closes her eyes, she sees him: Reyes Farrow, the part-human, part-supermodel son of Satan. Yes, she did imprison him for all eternity, but come on. How is she supposed to solve a missing persons case, deal with an ego-driven doctor, calm her curmudgeonly dad, and take on a motorcycle gang hell-bent on murder when the devil's son just won't give up?

Ratings and reviews

4.5 Charley, The Grim Reaper, she has what every women wants Reyes Farrow. A man so hot so gorgeous legs weaken just looking at him. She has a family- a father who loves her, a sister who ? , and an Uncle. Then there are her friends, Cookie her trusted side kick, Angel the departed gang-banger, Mr Wong in the corner, the dead girl with the knife and Garret. Her dream job as a PI. Oh, but not all is good in Charley land. Reyes escapes from prison, and gets her to help him. Pain, suffering and extreme torture, are part of the deal. She get bruised and battered down to often, does everyone have to damage her ? It's not all physical- Someone is going to die, someone she cares about, and it's partially her fault. Her trusts will be betrayed and her future with Reyes is in doubt. She drinks copious amounts of coffee staying awake for days, because sleep is not restful. Broken from the inside out it is a painful ride. Charley never forget her humor, even in the darkest moments she clamps onto it for her sanity. Being the Reaper is not a light hearted job, and she works hard to keep balance. In the end, this might just be the tip of the Iceberg, something terrible is on the horizon. Wow, so much happened to Charley in this book. It really is hard to watch, betrayed by the ones you love.Is there anything worse ? My heart hurt for her character. It ended with a cliffhanger light. The next books looks like it will be another whirlwind like this one.

Parts of this one seemed to dawdle (understandably--in case some readers stepped into this book without reading the first two). This fact was completely made up in the end. My eyes were reading a mile a minute, and i couldn't stop turning the pages!

The third book picks up right after the second, in “Charley” time, we’ve managed to move forward about a month, and here we learn a bit more about her, her friends and even the struggles she’s had with Reyes: now coming to her every time she closes her eyes for sleep. Adding to this strangeness, he’s furious with her for binding him, and she’s finding the intensity from his anger and their combustible chemistry to be too much. But a new case has come to her: a guilty husband wanting her to look into his missing wife, a not so hidden tail on her placed by Ubie, and the question that Earl, the man Reyes is in jail for murdering just might not be dead after all, and this has all the hallmarks of a never-ending set of adventures, all with Charley seeming to run off in multiple directions with apparent cluelessness, even with the little nudges and assistance she gets from her otherworldly helpers. Add in a strange message from Mistress Marigold, a nun waiting in her office and a warning that she’s got a guardian coming for her protection in roughly 48 hours, and things were never quite so strange around her. When you mix in a little girl with a death-grip on a knife appearing out of nowhere and not looking Charley in the eye, she’s battling her need to stay awake with more threats on her life, her father’s determination that she quit the PI business, and multiple leads on a husband who has a history of wives and their family members turning up dead, there has never been so much going on to both tickle and tempt her ADD. And what a fun ride this was – a guilty husband with tempting paper trails that all seem to go nowhere -but for the missing woman’s brother and sister, a need to get to Rocket in the abandoned asylum, now populated by a biker gang and patrolled by Rottweilers is almost her undoing, as Rocket won’t let her in, she makes friends with a Rottie, the last of the three left after they were poisoned, and some questions and answer time with the bikers – and she’s off to meet her sister at an out of the way convenience store, where she’s responsible for aiding Reyes in the second step of his plan to escape and hunt down his former guardian, Earl, the man who tortured and abused him for most of his young life. From one crazy moment to the next, peppered with Charley’s need for caffeine and Cookie’s help in the search trying to find the missing woman, the missing not-murdered, not-dead Earl, and the continual pushes from her father to stop being a PI, and more than one Charley’s life is in danger, and while she still hasn’t learned everything she can do, she’s getting closer. More important than finding the answers and people here though is Charley’s own revelations – having been used as bait by her father in the last book, and now by Reyes in this one, with her believing that Garrett is dead as a result of Earl’s bullets, she’s now convinced that those who aren’t using her for their own ends are going to betray her – a sharp comeuppance for the girl who blunders into situations usually with the best of intentions, trying to do some good in the world. It will take some doing (I hope) to discourage her from wanting to make a difference, even as she knows hat often things go pear shaped, but her heart is bruised (as is her body) and something will have to give. I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About the author

Winner of the 2009 Golden Heart(R) for Best Paranormal Romance, DARYNDA JONES lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two sons.