Grave Secret

I told you I like this series. Better written, more interesting than anything else she has published (including the Sookie series-Sorry). Particularly the second and the third.

For those of you unfamiliar, Harper Connelly was struck by lightening as a teenager. She now has an affinity for the dead- can sense them, tell you how they died, etc. etc. She makes a living traveling from town to town providing this service to those who can afford to hire her. Accompanying  her is Tolliver Lang, her sort of step-brother. His father married her mother when they were teens.

In book three- the relationship between the two changed. Instead of treating each other as de facto siblings they now are involved with each other. Deeply involved. Getting married involved. Which is fine. I mean they aren't blood relations, the books are written in the south which if you believe everything you read, indicates they tend to be a bit looser about that sort of thing and the parents were only married for a few years- not their entire childhood. See "Willing Suspension of Disbelief"

All of which would be fine except she refers to him as her BROTHER through the entire book. Which cast a huge ICH! over the entire thing for me. If the guy is now your lover/boyfriend/fiancée it is no longer OK to refer to him as your brother. It's just weird.

Now thats over...Grave Secrets was a nice closure to the series. Charlaine Harris has a gift, a gift for incorporating childhood tramau in such a way that's real. Matter-of-factly. Just the right touch of dark and broody but honest. Kinda make you wonder.

In past novels Harper related the less than idyllic childhood shared amongst the Brady bunch ensemble. Two drug addicted parents, multiple children living in a beaten down trailer. Four teens desperately trying to keep the family together. The younger babies fed, cared for, clothed. Let's face it- their childhood made Eminem's look like summer bible camp. The childhood that culminated in the kidnapping/disappearance of the older sister Cameron and the arrest of both parents.

Grave Secrets tied up the mystery surrounding that disappearance. I'm not ashamed to admit I was surprised. I didn't see it coming.

A worthwhile read- if nothing else than for the deep satisfaction of finishing what one started.