Review: Eighth Grave After Dark (Charley Davidson #8)

Author: Darynda Jones
GoodReads Rating: 4.33
Pages: 293

With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums.

Charley’s been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.

While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….

 So wow, a lot happens in this book! Probably one of my favorites!! So if you are getting ready to read this, you better strap yourself in for a wild ride because once you start, it's gonna get bumpy.

First off, like most of the Charley Davidson books, there is a whole lot of recap in the beginning. I love not feeling pressure to go immediately into the next book (and also not having to worry about forgetting some stuff while waiting impatiently for the next book).

Now, moving onward... I'm keeping the review relatively short because a) I don't want to risk giving away spoilers in my excitement and b) most of you who have read this far I'm going to assume like reading the series in the first place so I'm not going to play up the typical things I love about Charley and the other characters and some common themes and aspects of the plot that have been there since book 1. If you wish, you can check out my other reviews of the earlier books for that stuff.

The one major thing I loved about this particular book is all the wonderment that it made me go through. I had so many questions about everyone's secrets, and predictions about certain characters that I couldn't put the book down because I had to know and I had to know now! Everything to what's Beep going to be like, to Charley and her celestial name to what's going to happen with Charley, Reyes and Lucifer, and what's up with the dealer and is he really on their side?(Note: some of these questions and such I still have but hopefully we will find out more about them in the next book.)

Now, aside from all this awesome wonderment, things actually start out pretty low-key. It's the typical, Charley gets a case, works it out and then wham, bam, thank you ma'am... shit hits the fan! I'm talking holy moly, frick on a stick with a brick, what the heck did I just read! (This is the part in my notes where I clearly used a lot of caps to emphasize my shock and awe). The caveat! We get to learn a little bit more about the esteemed Mr. Wong :) If that alone doesn't make you want to devour this book, then hopefully the curiosity with my "shock and awe" description will entice you.

Overall, loved the book! This book probably gets more of a 4.5 star rating from me just because of the slow-ish start and the fact that I nearly dislocated my jaw with how quickly (and numerous) things happened in the end. Can't wait for the next one!!!

The Court's Decision: