Graveminder

Graveminder
By Melissa Marr
William Morrow, 2011. 324 pgs. Fantasy

Rebekkah and Byron have spent years trying to escape both the small town they grew up in and their own doomed romance. But escaping Claysville becomes impossible when Rebekkah returns to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Maylene’s death is the result of a brutal murder that the local police seem to be uninterested in investigating. Recently returned as well, Byron is now the town’s mortician, and he and Rebekkah begin an investigation into Maylene’s death, the history of the town, and the unimaginable and inescapable legacy Rebekkah has inherited.

This is the first book in a new adult series for Marr. It takes place in a reality where the dead walk and the living can venture into the underworld, though doing so changes you forever. “Graveminder” undoubtedly has a great premise and some real possibility. That said, Rebekkah, and sometimes Byron, drove me crazy! Their relationship issues read like a YA novel and detracted from the fun of discovering Marr’s fantastic new world.

CZ