Croak - Book Review

Croak (Croak #1)
by Gina Damico

What is it about:
Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

What did I think of it:
I will confess I totally fell for the cover of this book. I'm shallow like that sometimes. (In my defence: it's shiny and reflective!)

Still I wasn't sure enough about the story to buy it, but once again a giveaway came to my rescue ;-)

And let me tell you: this is a really cool story.

Lex is a great character. She skirts the borders between kick-ass heroine and annoying pain-in-the-ass teenager at the start of the story, but along the way she drifts away from that border far enough for me to think of her only as a kick-ass heroine. I like how she questions herself and the things around her. Her thoughts and fears were recognizable, although she was a bit extreme at times in my opinion.

I do wish there had been a bit more background on Lex and the relationship she has with her family, especially her twin Cordy. It was implied they had a really close bond, but I would have liked to read about it to have it become more real.

I loved the concept of the Grim Reapers and the town of Croak where they live. It was weird, but also believable enough that I could picture it without any problems. I especially liked all the small details that littered the story: the ghosts of famous persons hanging out with the Grims, the way the townsfolk handle outsiders, the shop names. All really helped set the mood for the story and made Croak come alive.

The story was fun and intriguing, even though the bad guy could be smelled from miles away (could be just me though). The ending however annoyed me a bit as it looked like I was getting a rounded story, but at the last moment things happened to throw a plotline that seemed to be coming to a close wide open again, leaving me with an ending that screams: To Be Continued.

Ending and backstory aside this is a very cool story and I'm already looking forward to the next book, because I want to read lots more about Croak and its inhabitants.

Why should you read it:
It's a fun story about taking lives.