REVIEW by Jena: Third Grave Dead Ahead (Charley Davidson #3) by Darynda Jones (@Darynda)

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.

Granted she did imprison Reyes for all eternity, but 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 on his plan of seduction….. and revenge?

Oh I love this series more and more as it progresses!

We are back! Today we’re looking at Third Grave Dead Ahead, book #3 in the Charley Davidson series and since I have already read all the way through book #4, I can tell you that Third Grave Dead Ahead was BY FAR my favorite book in this series.

One word: Insomnia! Charley is normally one of the funniest characters I have ever read. Her biting sarcasm and odd way of looking at the world really make for some hilarious moments. Well, you take that normally funny character, add coffee and take away sleep. Yeah, you’re totally going laugh so hard you’ll shoot coffee out of your nose. Third Grave was definitely the funniest book in this series so far. Charley’s attitude, temperament and reasoning when she’s running on no sleep is gut-busting kind of funny.

I did notice something in this book that we didn’t really run into with the first two books. Third Grave has a lot more story rehashing. See, I love series books. Always have. I don’t need a book to be standalone and sometimes I prefer that it isn’t. As long as the book is part of a series, I start at the beginning. I know not everyone does this and that is why series books always have a little bit of rehashing. I just wish this was unnecessary. In the case of Third Grave, I literally finished the audiobook for Second Grave and immediately hit play on the audiobook for Third Grave. When the rehashing started, it stuck out like a sore thumb to me because the wording was almost identical to what was in Second Grave – specifically, the story of how Angel died and came to be a departed. All that being said, there was also about a year between the releases of book #2 and #3 so most readers wouldn’t pick that out. I wouldn’t really count it against the book. Not all of us are nerdy enough to read through an entire series back-to-back in a few days. For those that read them spaced out, the rehashing might be needed.

Once again, in Third Grave, we are finding out more and more about Charley’s abilities. I am sticking by my theory. Whatever it is that she’s capable of, I really think that we are all going to be shocked.

The story line in Third Grave is a touch darker than what we are used to seeing in the Charley Davidson books and I think it was good for the series. For one thing, we are brought closer to understanding why Reyes is the way he is.

We also meet the cutest character ever in this book! Her appearance is brief and cryptic but I like her!

Overall, I am giving Third Grave Dead Ahead 5 stars! Heavy plotlines that will make you want to cry mixed with humor that could not be a farther end of the emotional spectrum. Loved it! A must read!!! BUT read the rest of the series first! You wont be disappointed, I promise!