Felix drinks to get through life. Ever since his wife died, he hasn’t been able to see the point in anything, and just goes through the motions. The only person who understands him and has any patience left for him, is Melanie, his best friend. One night, stumbling home drunk, he’s hit by a car, but instead of waking up in a hospital bed, he wakes up in the morgue. As the doctors realise he’s come back from the dead, he and Melanie notice that he’s healing a lot faster than what’s natural. And they’re not the only ones who have noticed his strange gift… 

There’s a great premise behind this book, which is what drew me to accept it for review. It’s kind of a supernatural thriller, with a lot of classic thriller elements, and has been translated from German for the international market. I liked the German names and places, it felt kind of fresh. 

Without giving too much plot away, the books functions like a lot of paperback style thrillers, with car chases, evil organisations and a pretty girl or two. It reminded me a bit in places of old James Bond movies, with the evil villain with an accent and an underground lair, with old grudges to settle. Those kinds of stories can be a lot of fun, and I think that this book is quite entertaining. 

It does have some of the same problems that those old James Bond movies did though. First of all, I’m not sure if it’s the translation, but the dialogue can be quite cheesey in places. Characters also have the habit of being a bit emotionally all over the place. After being horrified by a brutal death, a moment later a character is laughing at someone’s jokes. Someone who is a trained killer will scream about someone being the love of their life. It’s not emotionally true. 

Secondly, the character Mel, like girls in old action stories, falls into bed with a stranger, and almost everyone is attracted to her. In fact, it can be a little awkward. There’s a scene where she is locked out of a hotel room naked, and the maid who lets her back into her room makes some comments about not minding seeing her naked because she’s pretty. She’s teamed up with a guy who hits on her in phrases and at times that are just really awkward. But of course, she doesn’t seem to mind. It’s that kind of a story. Also, later in the book, it seems that Felix is also secretly in love with her, which is weird because his whole MO is that he’s still in love with his deceased wife, and also because after his parents died, he was raised in Mel’s home, so, she’s kind of his sister, even if not by blood. 

Finally, the book builds up to a big face off between the good guys and the bad guys, and some interesting secrets rise to the surface. But the ending… Well, it’s kind of abrupt. And doesn’t entirely make sense. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the big bad agency with all the money that’s been pulling strings and has this facility… well, they get taken down really simply. And when you think about it, certain characters could have used their supernatural power to off the bad guys. 

So, essentially it’s a bit flawed. But… It’s like I said above, that it’s like a paperback thriller or James Bond story. So if you go into it knowing that, and you like that kind of thing, you might enjoy it. Especially as the concept, which I’ve tried not to spoil in this review, is pretty interesting and makes you think.

Read It If: with it’s cheesey dialogue and melodramatic emotions, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but as a supernatural thriller, it has plenty of action and a cool concept. 

This book was sent to me for honest review. If you like the sound of this book, you can find it on Amazon UK HERE and Amazon US HERE. You can also find out more about the author, Jannes C Cramer, HERE.