Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico

Croak #1

Release Date: March 20^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 311

Publisher: Graphia

Source: Bought 

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

I had received an eARC on NetGalley for this book a few months ago, but I never got around to reading. I always find it really hard to read ebooks, but when I saw it at my local bookstore (in all its SHININESS), I had to get it. This was a really good move, as I simply ended up DEVOURING it in a matter of hours. Why? Well, it is simply funny and creepy, a really great mix.

Now, I have to say that Lex was one of the reasons I really like this book. She’s an amazing character, as she was strong, fierce and slightly stubborn. She had a hell of an attitude! There was simply something about her that really made it easy for me to like her. Maybe it was also the way she acted with Driggo, her new partner. There was some really great tension between those two.

Now, after Lex gets expelled from school, having made a 180 from the A student she was to the now full of rage Lex she is, she is sent to her Uncle Mort for the summer. I don’t know why the parents really thought Uncle Mort was the best choice, as he is slightly creepy and doesn’t look like the strictest uncle in the common sense of the word. I found this also stranger since they hadn’t seen him in a while, but I won’t complain. The story wouldn’t be happening if they had done differently, right?

I have to say that I really loved the world Gina Damico created. Love the idea of the Grim Reapers; love the characters she had created. I’m already dying to read the sequel (which luckily I was able to find at BEA. Look for the review closer to the release date!) I have to say that I did guess who the bad guy was early on, but it still didn’t stop me from loving this book.

Overall, this book was simply addicting. It can easily be devoured in a matter of hours. I read it in one sitting, being unable to put it down. Definitely a book I would recommend to fan of paranormal books filled with humor. It was simply addicting.