Review: Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Living with the Dead

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Women of the Otherworld #9

Publisher: Orbit

Publication date: 03 Nov 2011

Format: Paperback | 384 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads

Robyn Peltier has never done anything out of the ordinary. So when her new boss is murdered and she is named prime suspect, she finds herself way out of her depth. As friends and colleagues abandon her, only two people remain loyal - best friend Hope Adams, and Hope's spooky but charismatic boyfriend Karl.

What Robyn doesn't realise is that she has accidentally stumbled into a bloody and escalating supernatural turf war. She's also completely unaware that Hope is actually half-demon, and her 'spooky' boyfriend is a powerful werewolf. Now the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by introducing her into a world she's safer knowing nothing about…

My thoughts:

Living with the Dead is so far the only book in the Women of the Otherworld series with a non-supernatural as the protagonist. The book follows Robyn Peltier as she tries to clear her name after becoming the prime suspect in a murder investigation that soon turns incredibly nasty. With a little help from Hope, the half-demon journalist and her werewolf boyfriend, Karl Marsten, Robyn sets out to solve the murder case of her boss and absolve herself of the case once and for all. 

So for this review, I'm going to get all the negative, ramblings going on in my head out of the way first and then move on to the good stuff. I was pretty much split right down the middle with this book. I liked it, but as usual in any series, I couldn't help compare it to the previous books. I can't get on with Hope as well as the other characters for some reason. I don't know if it's because she wasn't introduced until quite a bit later on or if I just don't like her personality. Either way, pair that with a completely random, non-supernatural protagonist as well as a bucket load of new characters, safe to say I got a little muddled with where the author was going with this one.

I did, however, recognise that this book may be a turning point for the series. There were hints of things to come - big Cabal secrets revealed, unrest between supernaturals and the like. I have to admit, that side of the plot was incredibly interesting. Maybe the previous books were just an introduction into a final, intricate plot? Maybe Armstrong was leaving a trail of hints all along? I certainly hope so at least!

Aside from the characters, I enjoyed the book. There was the usual suspense present in the rest of the series that made me desperate to find out what happens. I didn't want to put the book down and for me, that essentially says it all. I wasn't disappointed in this read, it just didn't seem on par with the rest of the books in the series.

My rating: 6/10

Kelley Armstrong:

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Women of the Otherworld:

1. Bitten
2. Stolen
3. Dime Store Magic
4. Industrial Magic
5. Haunted
6. Broken
7. No Humans Involved
8. Personal Demon
9. Living with the Dead
10. Frostbitten
11. Waking the Witch
12. Spell Bound
13. Thirteen