Review ~ Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones
Narrator: Lorelei King
Length: 9 hrs
Series: Charley Davidson #8
Published by St. Martin's Press on May 19, 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 293

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With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums.

Charley’s been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.

While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….

This is another one of those books that emotions really got to me, and not good emotions. I was frustrated, I was disappointed and I was just plain mad. When a book generates this many feelings, I have to wonder if I should rate on the fact that I was so engrossed in the book that those emotions were even possible. I have to be really attached to this book for those kinds of reactions, even if they were not positive. This is a line I walk every time I read a book that makes me feel so intensely.

Charley and Reyes have been living up in the convent, avoiding the hellhounds for the months of Charley’s pregnancy. They are going stir crazy. Trying to avoid each worrying for the other, they continually try to secretly have lives and be involved in outside activities. I thought they had kind of gotten over trust issues and were working as a team now. Unfortunately, they both are keeping secrets. Some of these secrets are big secrets. Big enough that they should have shared them with each other.

The gang is pretty much all present, and they get to work cases despite being chained to the convent. I think there is something to love about every one of these side characters. Charley, as always, has me laughing at her attitude, distractibility and just plain craziness. Those friends of hers really have to be the same way for them all to relate and love each other so much. This creates a band of wacky characters in the midst of dangerous situations.

We get the main problem of Reyes’s father and the hellhounds, but we also get taken on a couple of cases that help distract. I like that these side cases get included. That way we get some conclusions while our main storyline can be left open. There are also the relationship issues that pop up.

Overall, I think Eighth Grave After Dark was a fun addition to this series. The characters and quirky situations always make for a good mix between serious storylines with silly and often wacky plans. However, decisions made by Charley and Reyes, as well as the ending overall had me screaming in frustration. Situations arose that caused heartbreaking decisions and the storyline turned a corner that I’m not sure I’m going to be into with the next book. All I can say is I am praying book nine brings the solutions to these new issues. I need things to be fixed and not be part of the storyline that continues on through multiple books. I will go crazy.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2015 Audiobook Challenge

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