A review by veronica87
Working Stiff by Rachel Caine

2.0

Truthfully, it is difficult for me to rate this book because I'm not sure quite how I feel about it. There are no supernatural creatures in this book, which is fine, but there is some weird science going on. Basically some corporate pharmaceutical company mistakenly developed a drug that can revive the newly deceased and maintain them as they are, i.e. they won't age, indefinitely. The only catch is that they will need a daily injection of the drug forever or else they will decompose over the course of a week, after which they will stay dead. But while revived they act, feel, sleep, and eat just like any normal, living person. I did appreciate this new take on sentient zombies but it still had a certain "ick" factor for me, particularly in the romance aspect. At one point there's even a joke about necrophilia. There is no love triangle though so that is a plus. The heroine is likeable and there is a quiet strength to her. I thought the pacing was slow at times but the ultimate plans of the big bad are disturbing and the steps taken to achieve that are even more so. I'm not opposed to darker UF but I still find myself rather lukewarm about the whole book. Taken separately, the different elements are interesting and/or passable but somehow when they get combined into a whole it didn't really work for me.