Reviewed: "Grave Surprise" by Charlaine Harris

This is the second book in Ms. Harris' Connelly Harper series. I have to admit that I'm not as wild about Harper as I am about Sookie. I just don't see the possibilities for story development with this character.

Harper finds dead people psychically. She got the ability after she survived a direct lightning strike when she was a teenager.

So, you bring in Harper and she finds or doesn't find dead bodies.

Oh, and she also can determine how that person died.

For an old crime thriller fan (I've go in spurts with genre's) it just seems so easy.

Cop: "We found a body. Let's get forensics to tell us how they died."
Harper: "Well, this person died by X, Y, Z."
Forensics: "Wow, she's right!"

Harper is always suspected by the local police of the actual crime because she knows way too much of the details. The grieving family is freaked out by her "power".

The reason why I DO like reading this series is because Ms. Harris does a good job of drawing from her mystery writing days to keep the story interesting. Harper knows how the kid dies, but can't tell you who - and that's really the focus of the story line. Not the how, but the who and why.

This book introduced a real psychic who is a real character. But it's the psychic's grandson who proves to be even more interesting. I know we'll see more of him in future books.

The book was a fast read - most of Ms. Harris' stuff is. I'll have my local library order the next in this series which is due out at the end of September.

Oh. And I've wondered what would happen if Harper came across a vampire. Right now, the Sookie world and the Harper world aren't related; but I'd still like to see if Harper would react differently to the un-dead.