Genre: Paranormal Mystery
POV: 1st Person (Harper’s point of view)
Sensuality: Subtle
Violence: Mild (most occurs off page)
Format: Print (borrowed from a friend)
My Grade: C
This review was written for Keishon’s monthly TBR Challenge. I got the dates wrong for this month’s challenge, so I’m afraid my review is a week late!
Grave Sight is the first book in Charlaine Harris’ Harper Connelly series. When Harper was struck by lightning when she was fifteen years old, she was left with an unusual ability: she can find dead people and experience their final moments. As an adult, she’s uses this ability to her financial benefit. Harper and her step-brother, Tolliver, hire out Harper’s services to law enforcement officials and private individuals who need help locating a dead body.
In this story, Harper has been hired to find the body of a missing teenager in the Ozark mountains. When the girl’s boyfriend’s body was discovered, local law enforcement ruled his death a suicide. The assumption is that he had something to do with his girlfriend’s disappearance. When Harper locates the girl’s body, she’s certain that both she and her boyfriend were murdered. However, the locals seem satisfied with the discovery of the missing body and aren’t prepared to listen to Harper and Tolliver’s theory that there is a murderer still at large.
It soon becomes clear to Harper and Tolliver that the people in the town of Sarne don’t want them there. They’re used to being treated like lepers due to Harper’s psychic powers, but the hostility they encounter in Sarne is extreme. When Tolliver is thrown in jail on trumped up charges, Harper is more determined than ever to get to the bottom of the mystery concerning the teenagers’ deaths. With the body count mounting, she soon finds herself in a race against time.
Grave Sight was a simple mystery with a fairly predictable plot. Harper and Tolliver are sympathetic characters but I’m not convinced by the romance which I suspect is going to blossom between them. They definitely give off a brother and sister vibe and the idea of them becoming a couple is not appealing.
Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books leave me cold, and I don’t feel particularly enthusiastic to read the next title in this series. However, I’ve heard that the Harper Connelly books improve as the series progresses, so I might give them a go at some point.
{ 4 comments }
I didn’t mind these books, but I did struggle with the relationship developments between Harper and Tolliver.
Haven’t read this one yet but I do remember starting it and putting it down for some reason.
I think I’m in the minority for not being bothered by the central relationship. I found it refreshing for some reason. But I certainly understand where everyone comes with the squick factor. Sorry this wasn’t your cuppa.
@Marg: @Keishon: @Angie: I got an email from a friend urging me to stick with the series until book three. If I can borrow them, I just might.