January 5

Dead Is Best – Jo Perry

 

Charlie and Rose are back in their much anticipated new adventure. Charlie’s step daughter lies dying on a beach. She needs help. Some serious help. But how did she get there and what can on earth can a dead guy and his dead dog do? Plenty as it turns out. As Charlie & Rose ride to the rescue in their own unique way it soon becomes clear that the body on the beach was only the beginning…

 

 

 

One of the most unusual (but enjoyable) partnerships I have encountered while blogging. Charlie is dead. Rose, a dog, is also dead. Together they can drift in and out of the real world and spectate but their capacity to interact is virtually nil.

Dead is Best opens with Charlie’s step-daughter Cali suffering a near-death experience. She sees Charlie and Rose and begs for their help before she is returned to her unhappy existence. Charlie and Rose return to the world to keep a watch over Cali and the full extent of her problems soon become clear.

I love how Jo Perry tackles events in Dead Is Best. While Charlie and Rose cannot intercede during events Charlie is a highly effective narrator.  He can travel to where Cali is but when necessary he can move to a different location, for example to see how Cali’s mother (Charie’s ex-wife and her new husband) are handling their “difficult” child.  Not Well it would appear.

Charlie begins to understand how tough life is for Cali – a troubled teen who appears to have fallen in with a bad crowd. As the story progresses and Cali finds herself in trouble with the law we see the true strength of her character come to the fore.

As non-corporeal entities Charlie and Rose can be anywhere they need to be and often witness the worst of people.  They see acts of violence and bullying which the protagonists would never let a “human” observe and Charlie’s frustration at his inability to intercede seeps through – brilliantly written by Jo Perry.

The Charlie and Rose stories are quite unlike anything else I read and I cannot recommend them highly enough.  Hunt them down…or use this handy link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jo-Perry/e/B00PEG4T9I/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

 

Dead is Best is published by Fahrenheit Press in digital and paperback format.

 

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July 18

Dead Is Better – Jo Perry

Dead Is Better 2Charles Stone has just woken up dead. Well he’s pretty sure he’s dead, what with the bullet holes in his chest and all. He also appears to be totally alone in the after-life except for the ghostly dog who seems to be his new companion.

Unable to interact with the world of the living other than watching and listening, he and the dead dog (whom he names Rose) have nothing to do and all the time in the world to do it.

When Charles and Rose try to unravel the circumstances of Charles’s death, they uncover a criminal who is raking in millions of dollars by cruelly exploiting, and sometimes killing, his victims.

But what difference can a ghost make?

And what does the damn dog have to do with any of this?

 

I love dogs, there are too many cats on the internet…dogs are 100 times better (at least). Look at the cover of Dead Is Better – see that paw print? That’s a love heart with toes – gimme dogs every time.

But in Dead is Better the dog (Rose) is dead. Not the best way to win me over Jo Perry! However, all is not lost as even in death Rose the dog has become one of my favourite characters this year.

Rose is keeping recently deceased Charles Stone company in the afterlife. Well I say afterlife, they are still hanging around Charles’s old haunts (terrible pun) and it seems Charles has some unfinished business to attend to. But how can he put things to right when he is dead?  Well not very easily is the simple answer and frequently during Dead is Better we will see Charles getting massively frustrated that he has no way to interact with those that are left behind.

Charles leaves an odious brother, several ex-wives and with hindsight he starts to question how he chose to live his life.  Rose, meanwhile, seems hell bent on getting Charles to visit a hospital. Something or someone in the hospital means a lot to Rose, enough that she will guide/lead/bully Charles back to the same places over and over again – unfortunately for Rose, Charles is not the quickest at understanding what she is hoping to achieve.

Dead is Better is a buddy story, two strangers thrust together in death seeking justice. Yes it sounds a bit odd but I loved this story and as soon as I finished it I had bought Dead is Best (Charlie and Rose book 2). Jo Perry has crafted a very clever story here and I cannot wait to see where it may lead.  Chapters are short enough to make it a nice one for the commute – the story trips along with several laugh out loud scenes. Equally there are some upsetting moments (the book is about a dead guy and a dead dog – some sadness must happen) those scenes were less fun to read but wonderfully evocative. One of the trips that Rose takes Charles on was particularly upsetting…nuff said there.

In short – this is memorable, fun and one that you absolutely should consider if you are looking for something new to try.

 

Dead is Better is published by Fahrenheit Press and you can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Better-Charlie-Rose-Investigate-ebook/dp/B01BNG5KH2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468880239&sr=8-1&keywords=dead+is+better

 

 

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