not at all what I expected. From the cover I though it might be a somewhat humorous story involving ghosts and crime. Instead, it was a fairly complex exploration of love and relationships. enjoyed it, but a fairly strange mixture ( )

This is a terrible book. It is rife with trite interactions between poorly drawn characters. The women are about as unrealistic as you can get, conforming mostly to teenage cartoon fantasies then anything approximating anyone you've ever met. There are random samplings of nicely phrased sentences that serve little purpose in the book. The ghost-world is ineffectively drawn and boring. ( )

Really really good. Every time I thought the plot was going to go one way it went somewhere different (well almost every time, I did predict a few turns), and the place where it went was very intense. Actually, "intense" is the single word that best fits this book. It's not scary or gruesome like many books that deal with the dead, but it will make your heart pound.

One tip for any potential readers: If you have fears of death, vivid and paralyzing fears, then it would be wise to read this book mostly during the daytime. Reading this book at night in the peacefulness of your apartment will possibly bring on crippling panic attacks. Still read it, it's a great book, but just do it on your train to work or at a buzzing coffeehouse or something. ( )

Some of this made me cringe (trying so hard!), but I finished it anyway. ( )

This book was billed as part police procedural, part ghost story. Michael Mercer is a rookie cop in Colma, California, a city that has so many cemeteries that the dead outnumber the living by thousands to one. I want to say that I think the author shows definite potential with this book. Unfortunately it fails on a few levels. Too much time was spent overdeveloping minor characters at the expense of plot and pacing. Although the ghost characters appeared throughout, Michael’s interaction with them started way too late in the book. I was also not fond of the ending. Although the different story threads were successfully tied off, I was personally disappointed with all of the results. On the good side (and there is one), when the story concentrated on Michael and his job or his relationships with his friends and coworkers, it was engrossing and entertaining. And the author shows a real talent for character development and creating interesting backstories for them. ( )