Book Twenty-Eight of my 2013 Goal

A Body Displaced by Andrew Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Body Displaced (Lansin Island #2) by Andrew Butcher is a great read that I just couldn't put down. It starts where book one 'A Death Displaced' left off. Although you could possibly read this book without reading book one since there are references to what happened in book one (which is great because it refreshed my memory), I still suggest you read book one first otherwise you would be missing so much.

A Body Displaced starts with Nick awaking from a bad dream. No! Not a dream, a nightmare. One that seems so real it brings back memories of when he had this type of nightmare before, only that one turned out to be a premonition. Was this a premonition? What did it mean? Nick tries to push it out of his head and is looking forward to his weekend getaway with his girlfriend, Kerra. True to the author's style that weekend getaway doesn't go as planned and once again, Nick finds himself with a mystery that needs solving. Not only does it needs solving, it is personal and needs to solve it fast since his freedom and quite possibly his life depends on it.

Juliet, who now has her grandmother living with her is busy with her own life. She still goes to sessions at the witch's house where she is being taught how to block out the ghosts. This allows her the power to control her 'gift' and try to lead a somewhat normal life. At least now she can go outdoors and not be terrified by all the ghosts that are around her. She finally has enough control that she even manages to go on a date with Austin. Not all goes as planned with her either and she finds out that even Austin is not who he seems.

The author did not take the personal lives away from the main characters in this book either. Both Nick and Juliet are also struggling with their family life. Nick now has Tom, his brother living with him. Tommy, his other brother (Tom and Tommy are twins) lives with his dad and hasn't spoken to them in months. Juliet has her mom and dad problems, still not getting over they lied to her. Juliet's mom doesn't know the grandmother is living with her and will have a fit when she finds out since they don't even speak to each other. Although this layer of family drama did slow the story down in places, I felt it really developed the characters and made them all so real.

The pace of the book was good. As I said, it did slow in parts but it was to build character or introduce/reintroduce other characters, it also contained what I consider vital information to make sense of the rest of the book. This multi-layered and multi-plot story always went forward and I didn't feel as if I was ever lost and didn't understand what was going on or what I just read. Although the switching between characters or plots may have seemed a bit choppy, I don't see any other way of smoothly doing it since for the most part because they were separate, coming together here and there until it all comes together toward the end. There was plenty of action between the murders, missing children, someone trying to kill Nick, someone almost killing Juliet, Nick being watched and followed, fights, torture, and sex, it was far from boring (and that isn't even all of it). As if that isn't enough, there was also the paranormal events of the Otherworld, magic, portals, ghosts, a dead person walking around, and trapped souls, just to name a few. And, this are all just in the main plot, the other personal layers are the soul searching, moral issues, family issues, work, lies, and grief that are going on at the same time.

Many of the questions I was left with at the end of book one were answered, such as what happened to Aldrich and Grendel Manor and if Nick and Juliet will get back together. (I have more but can't say for fear of writing a spoiler.) However, it had left me with a whole new set of questions and ended on a cliffhanger. I know the author did this on purpose since now I have to read the next book "A Spirit Displaced" to see what happens. Hats off to Andrew for another book well done!

I recommend this to adults who enjoy paranormal/mystery genre.

*I received an advance copy for the purpose of proofreading. (I hope I helped!) In no way did the author influence my review of the book.

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