Fifth Grave Past the Light

Title ~ Fifth Grave Past the Light
Series ~ Charley Davidson, #5
Author ~ Darynda Jones
Publisher ~ St. Martin's Press
Published ~ 9 July 2013
Genre ~ Paranormal/Romance/Mystery

*Book source ~ My local library.

Audiobook excerpt


My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper Extraordinaire and Private Investigator, is at it again. There are blonde women invading her apartment and they are too terrified and traumatized to speak to her. She has to figure out who they are, who killed them and where their bodies are so she can help them. However, Reyes, the sexy Son of Satan, has moved into the apartment next door and his fondness for leaving Post-It notes on her door are driving Charley insane(r) with the desire to jump his bones. Again. In addition, she needs to solve some arson cases in which she strongly suspects Reyes is the arsonist, deal with an old high school frenemy and go to therapy for her PTSD all while her best friend and assistant is taking a weekend course in gun safety and conceal carry. She can handle it though. Right? Hmmm…

Sweet Mother of Pearl! Darynda Jones has done it again! I cannot express in any words or body gyrations how much I fucking love this series. Really, I can’t. Five books in and the series only gets better and better with each book.  I tear through the books and my family just shakes their head at my manic giggling and refusal to put the book down until I’m done. Though I did have to put this one down. I made the absolutest error in judgment by starting this book at 9:00pm, knowing I needed to go to bed soon. I stayed up until 11:00pm before I forcibly had to put the book down and go to sleep. I can’t help it! I need my sleep or I can’t function! I did pick it back up the next day and finished it though. How could I not?

Picking up where Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (I can’t wait to see future book titles, I’ve been making them up in my head) ends Charley is still dealing with PTSD and Reyes as a neighbor. And what a yummy neighbor! Favorite characters are back and we have some new additions that look like they might prove to be very interesting. I can’t wait to see if I’m correct. The women in Charley’s apartment are heartbreaking and it staggers me once again to realize that there are such evil people out there who do such horrendous things to others.

There are laugh out loud moments galore as well as moments of sadness, joy and steamy lava hotness. *fans self* Quotes by the dozens are running through my head, but there are two that have stuck with me and most likely will for a long time.

“I consumed a fire tonight.”

“Yes, you can do that,” he said. He laid his head back against the wall. “And I’m made of fire.”

I could see that now. Of darkness and fire.

“Is that how you’ll kill me?” he asked.

A zing of surprise darted through me.

“Will you consume me?” he continued. “Extinguish my fire with a breath? Suffocate me?”

“I would never kill you. Why would you even say that?”

A sad smile crept across his impossibly handsome face. “I told you a long time ago you’d be the death of me. Surely you know that by now.”

And this, which I will only partially quote because I don’t want to give too much away, but I’ve been obsessively puzzling over it since I read it.

“…a warrior, a scholar, a prophet, gatekeeper, a warden and a couple of other figures…”

So, this story solves some cases and some things are explained, but it brings up another whole can of worms. Maybe even a case of worms bought in bulk at the nearest BJ’s. And the ending? Holy shit! Who does that with a Post-It note?! And what’s Charley going to do? When the hell is the next book due out?! *pulls out best Charlton Heston impression* Damn you, Darynda Jones! *shakes fist wildly in air* Ah, damn you! *takes breath* Ok, not really, but you better be working on the sequel. *stern look*