Book of the Week: Death Most Definite (Paranormal fiction)

This week's book of the week is a paranormal fiction novel from an Australian author. "Death Most Definite" by Trent Jamieson is a story about a man named Steve, who is tasked with easing spirits from this dimension to the next after death. The premise sounded interesting. But halfway through, it got really weird. Today's blog is my take on it.

MY TAKE:  The main character, Steven de Selby was likeable and his presence through the book made you want to find out what happened to him. I also liked the "ghost girlfriend" character. Those 2 characters made me want to finish the book.

   The acronym "RM" was used throughout, but unless I missed it earlier, it wasn't identified as "Regional Manager" until after page 275 (out of 332). It applied to people who manage a "business" that had regional offices of death where people called "Pomps" who help people cross over. One weird thing was that the dead are all crossed over into the underworld... so it seems there is no good place for them to go. There are also "Stirrers" which are vengeful dead entities' consciousness' who take over and re-animate dead bodies (like zombies) and seek to harm others.

  Spoiler alert- when Steven's dog was killed, that soured me.  Another thing that didn't sit well with me were the mass killings of the lead characters friends and family. I found the last third of the book hard to follow with the character's journey to the underworld, and a supernatural place called the "Big Tree."   So 2.5 of 5 stars for me on this one.  

ABOUT THE BOOK: Steve knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the dead girl in the Wintergarden food court. Nothing new - he saw dead people all the time - but this one was about to save his life.'

Steven works in the family firm. He's a Pomp, tasked with easing spirits from this dimension to the next after death. And he's kind of okay with that, until someone high up the corporate hierarchy makes a bid to be Australia's new Regional Death. This means killing all of the current Death's staff. After his parents, relatives and pretty much every other Pomp he's ever known has been killed, Steve is left to make a reluctant stand.

But to do this he must stay alive. Threatened at every turn, Steve and the perilously attractive (and dead) Lissa go on the run to save what's left of their world in DEATH MOST DEFINITE the dark, funny, fast-paced first book in the Death Works trilogy.