Dead is a Killer Tune, by Marlene Perez

Jessica continues to deal with the typical trials of high school, in addition to being a virago, a female warrior, protecting her hometown of Nightshade.  When a Battle of the Bands brings a band named Hamlin to town, odd things begin to happen.  The fans seem to become rabid, people start doing strange things they cannot remember doing, and members of rival bands start to go missing or get hurt.  Clearly, treachery is afoot, and Jessica is determined to do something to stop it.

Having recently read the previous book in the "Dead is" series, I was eager to read the next book.  I ended up having very mixed feelings.  First, I liked seeing more of Jessica's character, and learning more about her family specifically.  It made me feel a bit more connected to her, and more interested in her story. And in terms of the overall storyline of the book, the plot was solid enough.  I actually liked the whole concept of it.

These books work very well as standalone stories.  A reader can jump in at any point, take that book for face value, and have a great little story.  However, since I had just read the previous book, I did think there would be more flow from that story to this one, yet I found it lacking.  It seemed like there were gaps where the previous story ended and this one began.  I felt like I had missed an entire book between the two, particularly when it came to Jessica's relationship with Dominic.  I found that a bit distracting.  Similarly, it seems like all of the characters have some kind of angle.  Either they are some supernatural creature, or they are part of something sinister.  It makes it hard to really connect with characters when they can all be boiled down to belonging to some category of supernatural beings.

Still, the story, like all the others I have read in this series, was cute, and short.  These books serve as good introduction to paranormal fiction for older middle grades and early high school readers.  I doubt mature young adult readers will be too captivated with these, but they do make for nice, light, quick reads.  

I received a review copy as part of the Amazon Vine program.

If you liked this review, please rate it (and others!) as helpful on my Amazon profile. My Amazon Profile