Desires of the Dead - Kimberly Derting

Title: Desires of the Dead (Book 2 in The Body Finder series)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperTeen, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 355 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy, Mystery
Started: May 30, 2011
Finished: June 1, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Review:
After liking The Body Finder when I read it a year ago, I knew I would be picking up the sequel. Desires of the Dead is a much cooler title this time around, and still has the same slight supernatural feel combined with romance and mystery, but the plot just didn't have that same sense of urgency as the first one did.

In the first book, Violet uncovers a serial killer who in turn comes after her. Combined with the emerging romance and angst from friend/boyfriend Jay, and you've got a book that demands to be read. This time around in Desires of the Dead, Violet and Jay are established and are so cute they cause cavities, so not much angst there. The mystery element has Violet tracking two separate killers in two different cases that don't really affect her until the very end, so you never really feel that her life was in danger like in the first book. I mentioned in my review of the first book that it felt like a romance novel disguised as a mystery, even though I really enjoyed it. I felt that even more so with Desires of the Dead...the mystery wasn't much of a mystery, you never really feel that Violet's in any real danger, and the whole "my freaky talent being discovered by the FBI" bit could've had some more urgency to it, like the threat of Violet actually being taken to be studied or something.

Recommendation:
I liked the first book, The Body Finder, much better than this installment purely because of the urgency to the plot and the mystery, which just didn't deliver in this one.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the continuity from the blue "echo" of the first cover to a pink one on this cover. They're kinda plain, but it works.