ARC Review: Shallow Graves

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release date: January 26, 2016

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Shallow Graves has a very dark, gritty, and foreboding vibe to it, something I really loved it for. The story begins with Breezy Lin, who wakes up from her grave one year after her death, and suddenly can now know who is a killer. It is Body Finder meets Dexter, as she can ‘pull’ the shadows around said killers and kill them. She is trying to discover who she is, and find answers for what made her this way, and she comes across this church-like cult who are basically monster hunters. She finds out that there are plenty of things besides her that go bump in the night, but just because they are monsters doesn’t mean they are all on the same side.

The narrative shifts in the timeline regularly, with past events giving insight into her present mood or decision, and it is not even really that confusing. It made for a very complex and entertaining story that way, the unveiling of each event of the past and the bearing on her present. The writing flowed beautifully from one chapter to another, and pacing was engaging. The mythology of the world is more of magic realism, but in the shadows – the general population is unaware of things, kind of like Supernatural, but in reverse. Breezy has to go from finding out what she is, see her path in the future, the possible end for her, and make a decision as to what she wants to be. She is a killer, but even without remorse, she is not a dark character – its her nature, but she is not ready to give up just yet. By the ending, I was so enthralled by this book, I am craving another installment of this world.

Received a free galley from Katherine Tegen books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

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