Book Review: The Body Finder (Kimberly Derting)

A serial killer on the loose. A girl with a morbid ability. And the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Violet Ambrose can find the dead. Or at least, those who have been murdered. She can sense the echoes they leave behind... and the imprints they leave on their killers. As if that weren't enough to deal with during junior year, she also has a sudden, inexplicable, and consuming crush on her best friend since childhood, Jay Heaton.

Now a serial killer has begun terrorizing Violet's small town... and she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.


Kimberly Derting's debut novel is a nothing less than a masterpiece. Wonderfully expressed, The Body Finder mersmerises readers with ease. Violet Ambrose's special ability is both disconcerting and fascinating at once - and believable. Derting has pulled of writing about her abilities well. It is an intricate weave of thrill, mystery and romance, incorporating into a beautiful story that I could only praise. The mystery component and the romance factor are equally important and delicately weighed, balanced out expertly such that where the mystery takes a backseat, the romance takes over.


Delivered in both the perspective of the protagonist, Violet, and that of the hunter - the serial 'killer' - it sets up a vivid, chilling account of the mysterious disappearances around Violet's county. The suspense is palpable - as I was reading I was very much engaged in every bit of fear and fright that surrounds the plot. The suspense and uncertainty of events in The Body Finder would literally grip you until the last pages of the book. I wasn't quite certain how it would end - and that, my friends, would literally make you want to just bloody get to the end - after which you would sulk (like I am now) because it's such a wonderful book and what are you going to read now? It cannot end!


The romance is impeccable - Derting has detailed a sensitive, believable, even flustering love story that would surely delight every reader. Violet's attraction to Jay Heaton - her best friend of all people - and her attempt and failures at managing this attraction, is something young adult readers would relate to. The painful possibility of rejection and unrequired love, not to mention the ruining of a life-long friendship, all of which Violet has to consider in her every reaction to her endearing best friend/crush displays a certain sensitivity that Derting possess. And she has executed romance in this book so wonderfully, I almost wanted to pray for my personal Jay Heaton. Believe me, just the romance part itself makes the book worth every penny. 


I loved all the characters in the book. Violet Ambrose was a very unique individual - however Derting has never made her unreachable to her readers. Violet has maintained normality, even relatability throughout the novel. Jay Heaton - oh my - pictured as a perfect bestfriend (at times, too perfect) is endearing, humorous and dreamy. The secondary characters were all in their own merits, loveable. I personally admire how Derting incorporates family bond, friendship and general human affections into the unpredictability of the book.


The Body Finder is a definite must read for thriller and romance lovers alike - Derting has managed to strike a delicate balance between the two, and you will never ever regret reading this. Fantastic!


Five Stars!