Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: Deader than Dead

SERIES: Paranormal Problems: Necromancers #1

AUTHOR: H.L. Day

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 220 Pages

RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2024

BLURB:

Even death can’t stop fate.

Professional thief, Bellamy, might have bitten off more than he can chew this time. Jobs have gone wrong before, but never this wrong. His moral code might be grayer than most, but it exists, and he finds himself facing an impossible choice that could cost him everything.

Necromancer, John Averill’s day just got ten times worse. One more job, his boss says. Well, that job sucks, because not only does he find himself with a gun pointed at his head, but the man he’s been hired to raise temporarily from the dead is none other than his fated mate… the man he’s been searching for all his life.

Their love story is over before it ever began. Or is it? Fate still has a few tricks up its sleeve, and the impossible might just become possible.

Deader than Dead is a 57k Fated Mates MM paranormal novel featuring villains who will stop at nothing to get what they want, a stolen artifact, kidnapping, betrayal, lies, and two men determined to overcome death itself to be together.
Content warning for death and mention of suicide.

Please note that this is a revised version of a novella first published in the Fated Mates charity anthology. The story is now dual POV with 28k of added content. There have been some small changes to the story.

REVIEW:

A necromancer. A job gone wrong. And a raising from the dead is all it took for John to meet his fated mate, Bellamy. But how can you have a lasting relationship with someone already dead? Enter an artifact that is more than it seems.

Deader than Dead is the first book in the Paranormal Problems series. It is an excellent story that I enjoyed reading. However, despite being told in the first person, I often felt like I was in a room being told the story rather than experiencing it. Storytime at the library, as it were.

John works for the Paranormal Problem Bureau (PPB – sorry, but with this acronym, I couldn’t help thinking of Peanut Butter), London. He is a headstrong necromancer with a snarky tongue that is my kryptonite. Occasionally, he also has a melancholy side that had me tearing up. When his emotions hit, they hit hard. It was John’s reactions that got to me the most. Some of his page time was superbly written heartstring time. Conversely, his sardonic side had me smiling the most.

Bellamy is a thief with sketchy morals, but at least he has them. He’ll steal just about anything with the proper justification, and he’s good at his job. Bellamy’s reputation and paycheck are indicators of his skill. He loves a challenge and the thrill of a mystery.

Apart from their snarky temperaments, the other thing they both share is a constant internal monologue. When writing in the first person, I get why it is there, but sometimes it becomes a bit much. The thought process may have explained a lot, but it intermittently interrupted the dynamic of a scene. It may have been better to say that a hundred things were going through the character’s head instead of naming them. Not knowing everything can add to the mystery. And I think this disconnected me from some aspects of the story. Sometimes, less can be more.

I liked that the tale was set in a specific period instead of trying to fit a lifetime into too small a space. Therefore, the pace was to my reading tastes. The story arc is one of those that made me think – after the event rather than during. Was fate or a higher force engineering an outcome, and were the characters simply pawns in another game? A Monopoly/Cluedo combo. The extended cast, too, was small but varied enough to provide many scenarios for the future.

Deader than Dead is an excellent introduction to a series that holds much promise.

RATING:

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