Review ~ Death is but a Dream by Erin Hayes

ebook received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: 26th September 2013

Description: 

Caught between life and death, all Callie wants is to live again.

Homicide detective Callie Saunders knows that death isn’t all pearly gates and angels. After being hit by a bus, she finds that it's the ancient gods and goddesses of Greek mythology who are in charge of everything.

So when Hades offers her a deal, she accepts. If she wants to be brought back to life, she’ll have to figure out who is trying to kill his son. But if she fails, both her soul and the world will be destroyed.

With the odds mounting against her, it’ll take everything she has within her to wake up from death. But the rules are constantly changing. And someone wants her to stay dead.

My Opinion

This book sounded great from the description. A mystery about the attempted murder of a god from ancient mythology - who could want more? However this book has torn me now that I have finished it.

In Death is but a Dream everything started off great. The story moved at a fast-pace, it captured my attention instantly and it kept me hooked. As Callie gets thrown into the afterlife the book got even more interesting due to the addition of the Gods and the deal with Hades. It set everything up nicely for what I thought was going to be a great detective story with a paranormal element. I also liked how the author used a bit of imagination with the gods. Rather than stick to the ancient look and feel, she modernised them which I thought was a good twist that separated it from the other books involving these characters. It also allowed the book to be an easy read as there was more similarities with today than the past.

As the book moved on I found that the suspense and mystery as to who was behind Plutus's assassination attempts to be kept up well. I couldn't guess who was behind it all until it was revealed. Callie's desire to protect was crafted well and although she did have her slight annoyances (repeatedly telling everyone to call her by her nickname when they didn't) I did find I liked her.

However, after the 'killer' was revealed halfway through, this is where my problems started. After this it became all about Callie protecting Plutus while they were on the run and they slowly fell for each other. Personally I don't think the romance added anything to this book and in fact I found it annoying. The start was set up so well and the mystery was so entertaining that I feel the romance just wasn't needed. I would have liked the identity of the 'killer' to be kept a secret longer rather than include romance. Normally, I love anything romance but I just didn't feel it worked in this book.

As well as this, because you find out who is trying to kill Plutus so early on, I found the ending a little anti-climactic.I read it and all that I thought was "really, that's it? How can you end it like that?" I feel if you include a romance in a book, it shouldn't end the way it did as it wasn't satisfying.

There were also parts that were a little too descriptive about things I didn't need to know-especially when on the run. As you can see, I'm trying really hard not to give away what happens in the second half as I don't want to spoil the book for you.
Overall though, I did enjoy Death is but a Dream more than I thought I would. The first half was brilliant but I feel it was let down by the romance and the ending. However, saying that, it's a good, easy read that paranormal, mystery fans should enjoy.