A review by fernbxo
Deeper Than the Dead by Debra Webb

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Having never read anything by Debra before, I went into this one with a completely open mind and really enjoyed it. 

I found the writing style to be unique and engaging. The story was very easy to follow, and although there were language choices that I don’t often come across in modern day novels (mama, daddy, etc), I chalked it up to cultural differences that I’m just not used to. The majority of the story was slow-medium paced, but it definitely picked up in the last 100 pages when the suspense began building. 

Although the story was character driven, the plot was full of twists and ever-changing theories. Every time I thought I’d figured it out, things would change and I’d be back at square one. If you like playing detective, I definitely think you’ll like this one. 

I’ve knocked a star off for two particular reasons: 

• I wasn’t expecting it to become intertwined with romance, and it threw me off a little. Maybe this was because there was nothing to suggest romance in the description, and I don’t often pick up books with the mixture of genres. I also wasn’t a fan of how it was executed at times - particularly the sections like “this really stressful thing is happening, but look how handsome he is”. This is definitely personal choice though. 

• The portrayal of dementia, which felt a little bit too stereotypical and icky for me. 

Overall I really enjoyed this one and it felt different to a lot of things I’ve picked up recently, which was definitely a positive. 

I’m giving it 4 stars ⭐️ 

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!