Review: Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
(Women of the Otherworld #5)

4 out of 5 stars

Published by Orbit Books
This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series

Whether you like the Women of the Otherworld series or not, one thing is certain; the books all have something that makes them unique. The most intriguing aspect of this book was our new narrator: Eve Levine.

What makes Eve so special is that she's dead, and has been dead quite a while now. She's a ghost, living in the supernatural plane. She can visit the world of the living, but she is unable to actually influence anything there. She is ripped from her obsessing over her 15-year-old still living daughter by divine influence, and sent on a not so divine mission to catch a rampaging demonic serial killer.

What I liked about this book is how it adds to the series. I found it very interesting to read about a world after this life. It was new and something I had never read before. Even though there are a lot of angel and half-angel stories out there, none of them really show what happens after someone dies. There were a lot of imaginative solutions to keep the supernatural system running smoothly and I loved reading about the structure of this worlds afterlife.

As we are used to, this book is one action-packed hunt to capture the bad guy. This keeps the pacing high, but at some point the constant running around gets a bit tiresome. There was some space for character development but at times I wished there was some more, to get a bit diversity in the story.

Which brings me to the major problem I had with this book. As much as I like Eve, and as much as I like her voice and overall character, I just don't feel for her. For some reason I don't see her as a narrator. This book seemed a bit like a sidestep from the running plotline. There was some of the usual cast present but at the end of the book I and I looked back, I didn't see it really change anything.

Still, an exiting read that doesn't bore at all. There were quite a lot moments that had me giggling which is always good. Does contain some pretty gruesome serial killing fantasies, but nothing extreme. Maybe not the strongest part of this series, but I would still certainly recommend the Women of the Otherworld books.

Blurb

Eve Levine—half-demon, black witch and devoted mother—has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can't be killed again—which comes in handy when you've made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn't too bad—all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she'll be happy.

But fate—or more exactly, the Fates—have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they've just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy—previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that's not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel's sword. And Eve is no angel…