A review by megankass
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson

3.0

Dead Like Me meets The Book Thief. Set in Australia, Steven is a Grim Reaper, or Pomp, working in the family biz that essentially turns Reaping into a bureaucracy. All of a sudden Pomps are murdered en masse and Steven is running for his life.

Good, but not great writing. The main character is a little too blah, and too mentally weak to really be the hero of the story. His weakness makes sense at the end, but doesn't exactly inspire confidence at any point.

Now here's the warnings that should have been on the label: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU'VE JUST EXPERIENCED A RECENT LOSS, are otherwise grieving, or are just plain sensitive to sadness and desolation. And here's why:

EVERYBODY DIES! Almost everyone Steven has ever known, casually or intimately, is a Pomp, and they are all assassinated in a coup d'etat. And when you think it's all over, THE DOG DIES! Monsters. And then when Steven has nothing left to lose, he goes into the Underworld, finds his people, and loses them AGAIN! Because dying just once isn't enough?! Even the dogs dies twice.

Steven spends much of this book overwhelmed and grieving, and Jamieson writes those emotions almost too well.