Review: Death Speaks

Caleb's in high school now and thinks the chaos of last year is behind him. Unfortunately, a serial killer is on the loose and children are his victims. What's a, five-point, Affinity for the Dead teenager supposed to do?

Caleb agrees to help the police apprehend the murderer...until the killer takes notice of Caleb and his paranormal friends. Carson and Brett remain the bullies they always were and their posse continues to grow. How long can the two groups stay out of each others' way before there's a firestorm of retribution... The Government Graysheets continue to keep tabs on Caleb's every move while Jade's family threatens their relationship. Can they still be together even when events threaten to pull them apart?

In the second book of the Death series Tamara does an excellent job of building on the foundation she set in Death Whispers. The relationships between Caleb's group of friends felt straight out of the halls of my high school, but at the same time there was a marked difference between how the characters were in the "Whispers" verses "Speak." They had noticeably grown from one book to the next and that was truly refreshing. To often characters stagnate or grow without actually changing, but I could really see the growth in this case.

Additionally, now that the background was in place there was room for a lot of solid character development to take place. The development of Caleb's power and his evolving relationship with "his" zombies was by far my favorite part. Just when I thought I'd seen everything I could out of his power some knew aspect popped up. It left me constantly wondering what it was going to do next and how it would shake things up.

If Death Speaks has any short comings it’s that the secondary threads are so strong they occasionally overpowered the main story arc. When I read the back cover I was expecting a “catch the killer” centered story, and in a way I got it. However, I found myself caring more about what was going on in Caleb’s life than if they ever caught the killer.

This is not a cut and dry this is the objective, work to the objective, reach the objective book. It’s a complex work of art in which the author is constantly weaving together dozens of different elements in a half dozen arks that deftly mimic real life.

All in all, buy the first book, read it, and then once you're all caught up buy Death Speaks.

- Aaron