My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Sometimes being the grim reaper really is that. Grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above. Or at least get dressed. She quickly realizes something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. The more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, has been cleared of all charges. He is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved. Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans.
I
don’t know if it is because after having the privilege of reading the
next book in the Rachel Morgan saga, everything else seems pointless to
me, but the fourth installment of the adventures and misadventures of
Charlie Davidson has been disappointing to me.
While the three previous books are full of action and intrigue, this one feels like a filler book.
While the three previous books are full of action and intrigue, this one feels like a filler book.
The
end of the third novel leaves a broken Charlie, not only physically,
after suffering at the hands of Earl Walker, but also mentally, feeling
betrayed by Reyes and his father.
At the beginning of Fourth Grave, Charlie is still struggling with the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, afraid of her own shadow and unable to go outside.
The fact that she is broken, reactive her enough to make the herculean effort to go out and try to charge Reyes for Walker’s capture.
On the way to the street, Charlie is surprised by Harper, a client who asks for her help, believing that someone is trying to kill her.
From that point, the plot focuses on the resolution of the case, with some occasional parenthesis in which we will see how Charlie's father tries to talk with her (with little success), how her sister Gemma tries to psychoanalyze her to help her overcome her trauma, and we also got to see a kind of reconciliation with Reyes.
The plot with Reyes is the most disappointing part. At first, they seem finally reconciled, but the peace between them will not last long ... so the relation between them is at the same point as in previous books, without moving one bit.
The Bandits also make an appearance, starring one of the funniest chapters, getting Charlie
involved in a bank robbery!At the beginning of Fourth Grave, Charlie is still struggling with the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, afraid of her own shadow and unable to go outside.
The fact that she is broken, reactive her enough to make the herculean effort to go out and try to charge Reyes for Walker’s capture.
On the way to the street, Charlie is surprised by Harper, a client who asks for her help, believing that someone is trying to kill her.
From that point, the plot focuses on the resolution of the case, with some occasional parenthesis in which we will see how Charlie's father tries to talk with her (with little success), how her sister Gemma tries to psychoanalyze her to help her overcome her trauma, and we also got to see a kind of reconciliation with Reyes.
The plot with Reyes is the most disappointing part. At first, they seem finally reconciled, but the peace between them will not last long ... so the relation between them is at the same point as in previous books, without moving one bit.
The Bandits also make an appearance, starring one of the funniest chapters, getting Charlie
There isn’t either very much movement when it comes to discover the extent of Charlie’s powers, although she projected herself out of her body, as Reyes usually do, in a scene full of action.
Finally, and though the synopsis refers to an arsonist who is ravaging Alburquerque, the book ends with that mistery unsolved... so that plot remains open for next installment.
In short, and though Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet was supposed to be the darkest book in the series,it feels for me not as a bridge book but exactly as a filler one. Nothing deep here.
Anyway, Darynda has a few surprises (some of them you can easily foresee, to tell you the truth)
