Chasing the Dead: 1 (David Raker Mystery)

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Buried in Alex's past are dark, dangerous secrets that were never meant to be found - and a sinister group of killers willing to protect them, whatever the cost. But he doesn’t want her money, only her suffering–and he will kill Veda if Sue doesn’t follow his every command.

Susan Young, the main character of the book, was a hard working person who did everything she could to make a good life for her daughter, Veda. Read all Born, left behind in a hospital by her biological mother a young woman who feels an affinity with the abandoned dead, finds more than she bargained for.If I had been prepared for the change, I wouldn't have minded it so much, but as it was I was trying to solve the mystery when it seemed like this supernatural deus ex machina changed all the rules. Suffice to say there is a fanatical religious undertone to the proceedings and in the final pages a somewhat miraculous discovery about Alex Towne's family which I found somewhat unbelievable.

Another friend, Cormac, has since found superstardom peddling self-consciously "authentic" rock music that actually averts its gaze from the most painful truths of their shared past. I like Raker, he's solid, a thinker, devoted to his craft and a doer but underneath all that he's human and makes mistakes. Becoming a parent forced him to consider a career with more reliable income, and he got a job as an MRI tech at Hershey Medical Center.I think this would make a better Scream-style movie than book and can't recommend it for anyone looking for more than cursory horror/suspense. The book opens with a Coben-esque conundrum - David is tasked with finding the dead son of a friend, who swears she saw him very much alive, walking the streets of London a month or so earlier.