Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones (VO)

Charley Davidson, Book 2

Synopsis : When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.

Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?

Review : I’ve just loved this novel, even more than the first one. I think the synopsis allows us to understand very well what will happen this time, but there are so much more too ! We can follow the adventures of Charley who, we have really well understood, doesn’t have any luck ! So even if some men break in her apartment a lot of times with guns, true to form, she isn’t afraid and doesn’t really care about what could happen.

In this second novel, we will learn a little more about Cookie, who follows our heroine all along the story. As she was less present in the first one, we can discover a lovely character who could do anything to help her friends. On the other hand Garrett was a little less present in this one, but he will be always here to irritate Charley and of course to save her too.

And Reyes… Ah Reyes ! It’s a pleasure to find him here one more time ! He is always the same, but it was without counting on the Charley’s determination who only thinks about one thing : to find his body before he could die. A trap ? And so what ? She doesn’t care about it, her only goal in to keep Reyes alive as much as she can. But it’s more complicated to do that when this man does everything in his power to interfere in her plan. Even if he had to treat her friends life to succeed.

The plot is amazing all along the story and it was very difficult to stop reading the novel. Indeed, once we start it, we just want to know more ! All the events happen the ones after the others, and therefore we want to know what will happen next. I was surprised all along the book, about her father, the murder’s culprit, or even about where Reyes was. The writing style was slight and also very serious sometimes, it was a great mix. Charley is a heroine we can only love, we understand her really fast, her feelings, her fears. It was a terrible end, I just can’t wait to read the third book ! I want it now !!!!