The Dirt on Ninth Grave

Book 23 of my 2016 Reading Challenge
read from February 14 - 24

The Dirt on Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones
Book 9 in the Charley Davidson series

Summary (via Goodreads)
In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.
But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

My Opinion
This series was going off the rails but this one was better and reminded me of how it used to be and why I enjoy these books.  It wasn't perfect though; there were some typos throughout and some continuity issues (for example, only knowing an initial of a name but knowing the full name later in the same conversation).

Due to the circumstances in this book there wasn't as much interaction between Charley and her friends.  However, there were moments of the snappy dialogue I love so much and there was one particular moment with Reyes that made me swoon.

I still enjoy the series and look forward to reading the next one (this one had another cliffhanger ending - the author is so good at those!).  These are NOT standalone books - you must start with the first and read in order if you want to understand what's going on.

A Few Quotes from the Book
"I chuckled. "Not lately. I brought your favorite [sandwich], but it's kind of squished. And frozen."
 "Oh, honey, squished and frozen are my middle names."
 Yesterday her middle name was suppository. Long story."

"There was nothing like a wrecked house and a poltergeist to rob a girl of a good night's sleep."

"It was one thing to see the departed as being other. As almost not being real. It was another thing to know on a visceral level that they were once alive and dynamic and worthy of all that life had to offer."