Once Dead, Twice Shy product reviews

Having read some of Harrison's other works, I found this story to be a little 'weaker'... mind you, this storyline is teen fiction, so by definition it couldn't be as rough or raunchy as her 'Rachel Morgan' series... and the paradigm of this plot made me think a lot of the TV series "Dead Like Me" - a young girl is killed out of her allotted time, is able to hang around in the land of the living, and eventually becomes a part of the system that killed her in the first place... though this story is a little darker - this death was no accident but a play by a powerful agent of the system trying to buck the system for his own benefit.

Madison is a very easy character to emote with and attach to... 18 years old and suddenly dead - apparently by car crash, but really through the efforts of an angel of death... and as with all things spiritual, sometimes the good guys are really hard to tell from the bad guys... and sometimes they change sides on you without warning. As if the teenage years aren't tough enough to cope with, especially as we discover more of Madison's colourful past.

There is definite 'attachment' at the end of the story that makes it very clear there are more stories to come, and in fact at the time of writing this review, the second book is already in print... if it pans out to be as good as this, then I can see this being a very successful series indeed.

Overall, for the teens and young adults who enjoy a bit of of lighter fantasy to read, this is certainly one you'll want to look at... especially if you have read any other of Harrison's work and found it enjoyable. Her tales are always about strong female lead characters overcoming the worst odds to pull through and somehow survive, even if it does make things even tougher further along the track.