Review: Three Days to Dead

Three Days to Dead
Kelly Meding
Urban Fantasy
Dreg City/Book 1
Dell Publishing/November 2009
Library book

From the back cover ~

She’s young, deadly, and hunted—with only three days to solve her own murder…

When Evangeline Stone wakes up naked and bruised on a cold slab at the morgue – in a stranger’s body, with no memory of who she is and how she got there – her troubles are only just beginning. Before that night, she and the other two members of her Triad were star bounty hunters — mercilessly cleansing the city of the murderous creatures living in the shadows, from vampires to shape-shifters to trolls. Then something terrible happened that not only cost all three of them their lives, but also convinced the city’s other Hunters that Evy was a traitor – and she can’t even remember what it was.

Now she’s a fugitive, piecing together her memory, trying to deal some serious justice – and discovering that she has only three days to solve her own murder before the reincarnation spell wears off. Because in three days, Evy will die again – but this time, there’s no second chance...

What's the worst way to start your day? Waking up on a slab in the morgue in someone else's body would probably top most people's list. Evy Stone knows how it feels to come a breath away from being autopsied. Once she gets up and scares the hell out of the coroner and his assistant she's got to find out just who's body she's in and why. Three Days to Dead takes place over, yep, 3 days. That's how long Evy has to solve her own murder.

Three Days to Dead was a fast ride with a few stops along the way. The city where Evy lives and works is populated by humans and non-humans. In this case the humans are not aware of what lives among them and what sometimes hunts them. It's Evy and her Triad's job to hunt down the dregs (non-humans) who cross the line and prey on the other inhabitants of the city. Not all the supernatural beings are out to snack on humans. Some try to blend in and keep to themselves. It's the other ones that Evy hunts and kills. She's been doing it for four years but now everything has changed. Now Evy is being hunted by her own people and she doesn't know who she can trust.

I had to take a somewhat different approach when getting to know Evy. It was as if I got to know Evy and Chalice to a certain point. Which was interesting because as I got to know them, in a way, Evy was getting to know Chalice. She was still Evy but she was in a body that wasn't at all like her own. She had to adjust to this new body because it didn't have the training Evy had had, it didn't always move the way she wanted it to move. I liked those scenes where Evy's training kicks in but Chalice's body doesn't respond like Evy wants it. A definitely handicap when fighting dregs and well trained hunters.

I liked the fight scenes and the plot for the most part. The problems I had were that it seemed like every possible supernatural being was included in this book. There are gremlins, vampires, shapeshifters, fae, trolls and I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten. I felt at times like I needed a score card. It's not that I don't like series that have a variety of beings, it's that I would have preferred they not all come out and play in the very first book. But that's just me. :)

One thing I kept wondering about was why Evy ended up in Chalice's body instead of the one she was intended for and why didn't Evy try to find that out? I realize she only had three days and had a lot to do in very little time but she did find time for sex. Which was something else that bugged me. You're being hunted by just about everyone, you've got a very short time limit, you need to get some rest or you won't be in any shape to fight but you still find time for sex?

So while I had some problems with Three Days to Dead I still found the story interesting. I liked Evy and the way she had brought herself up out of the foster care system and made her life count for something. I liked the world that Kelly Meding has created enough that I want to find out what happens next. So in that regard I'd say the book did it's job. It entertained me and made me want more. As Lie the Dead, book 2 in the series, is due out this summer.

Rating: B