Dead Harvest

Finished Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm.

Sam is a soul collector.  Basically when people are marked for hell, it’s his job to snag their soul and deliver it to the higher-ups.  His latest assignment is Kate, who’s accused of murdering her parents and younger brother.  Except here’s the thing: she may not have actually done it.  And if he essentially damns an innocent person, all hell will break loose.  (By which I mean that it could literally bring about the apocalypse.)  So, you know, no pressure there.

This book is one of the most fun novels I’ve read in a while.  It’s sort of noir, but it’s really just…well, FUN.  It hooked me immediately and kept me guessing as to whether (a) Sam was right and Kate was innocent and (b) whether he could avert the apocalypse.

In a Twitter conversation, I told the author that I wanted to become a collector (when I was only a few chapters in).  This is now false; I in no way want to do that.  When I started the book, it sounded fun and like justice—you take really bad people off the streets and instead of putting them in jail, you send them to hell (a more permanent solution, right?).  Except as I learned later in the book, it’s actually awful and every time you do it, you lose a little bit of your humanity.  So no, I don’t want to be a collector anymore.  (Vengeance demon is still on the table, though.)

This is definitely going to be a Christmas present for one of my best friends; said friend is going to love this book like nobody’s business.

I’m very happy that there’s a second book in the series, because I cannot wait to read it.  Highly recommended.

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