Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Not Dead Yet

SERIES: Not Dead Yet #1

AUTHOR: Jenn Burke

NARRATOR: Greg Boudreaux

PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio

RELEASE DATE: July 24, 2019

LENGTH: 9 hours, 18 minutes

BLURB:

Dying isn’t what it used to be.

Wes Cooper was dead. Then he wasn’t-though he’s not exactly alive, either. As an immortal not-ghost, he can transition between this world and the otherplane, which makes him the perfect thief for hire. For 70 years he’s made a “living” returning items to their rightful owners, seeing his fair share of the bizarre in the process. But he’s never witnessed murder. Until now.

His latest mission brings him more than he bargained for: a very-dead actor who is definitely going to stay that way. It’s just Wes’s luck that his ex-boyfriend, Detective Hudson Rojas, is assigned to the case. Hudson broke Wes’s heart years ago – and could again, given he’s rocking a hot silver-fox look that shouldn’t be legal.

As they work together to track down the murderer before anyone else gets hurt, it becomes clear Wes and Hudson have unfinished business. And when a secret Hudson’s been keeping threatens more than just their happiness, it might mean the end of their not-life together – permanently.

REVIEW:

Can I just start with saying wow?

This was the book I didn’t know I’ve been looking for! A murder mystery, a superbly interesting paranormal world, great characters and Greg Boudreaux on top of that! I don’t know that things get any better. Though I am willing to keep searching if I find more gems like this.

It has been a while since a book ensnared me as much as this one did. I’ve loved and liked them, but there was something about this story that just hooked me right in. To the point where I wanted to go back and listen to it all again right after finishing. Well, I did listen to part of it again – but I couldn’t let these guys go just yet. And isn’t that a sign of a great book?

I found Wes Cooper to be fascinating. He was murdered some 85-years ago and brought back to “life” again by a witch. Only he’s not really alive either, he’s both and neither. Neither human nor ghost, yet both. He can chose to go between the two as he likes, travelling through different planes – which is how he found himself as the perfect thief – or retrieval expert in his own terms. Witnessing a murder was not part of his plan. Or calling his cop ex-boyfriend to tell him about it. But he did. And said ex-boyfriend, Hudson, hasn’t only become a detective but has aged really well since they last saw each other thirty three years ago. Another thing he didn’t count on was to become a part of the investigation.

Wes and Hudson have history. There are a lot of old feelings coming to life. But things are also not as they seem. Thirty three years has passed, they’ve continued on living their lives, met new people, found new burdens to bear and challenges they’ve overcome. Despite all that there is this connection between them that goes to their very souls. I loved watching them together, re-discovering the men they were now. How they changed and remained the same.

There have been millions and millions of paranormal stories written (and that’s true for any other genre as well), to the point where you feel like “yep, ghosts have been done before, witches has been done before and so has demons and other mystical creatures”. Yet somehow, we’ve never seen this before. Burke and Boudreaux managed to make this feel new and exciting. I was so happy to experience and explore this new world they created, and I don’t feel that I’ve discovered nearly enough.

Greg Boudreaux was perfect for this book. I can’t imagine anyone else bringing Wes and Hudson or any of the others to life in the way he just did. He captured them all just right – and made me snort and laugh more than once. How he managed to portray a vampire high on magical blood that I want to say accurately, but who the hell am I to know that? In any case it was hilarious and felt so spot on that I could see it in front of me.

This was a winner for sure and I’m now an addict. I want more, no I need more! I’m so glad that the next book in the series isn’t too far away, because patience and I don’t always go hand in hand.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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