Fame in the Making. R.R. Virdi

Followers of this blog might recall me yelling from the top of buildings about this author. Watch his rise in the world of literature because this is how its done. 

Good writing and a most excellent storyline is at the junction of Success and New York Times Bestseller list. 

A recent Facebook post caught my eye. Ronni aka R.R. Virdi has done it again by snagging a review that can make any author blink. This review is by E.J. Roberts for her site, A Drop of Ink Reviews.
Facebook.

Meet Vincent Graves. Who is he? He’s not 100% sure himself. All he knows is he died under “strange and mysterious circumstances” awhile back. Now, his soul is bounced back into newly deceased bodies whose previous owners also died under “strange and mysterious circumstances.” He learned real quick that meant the same as “supernatural.” He has bounced in and out of so many people, he’s not even sure who he was anymore, however, he at least gets to retain some of the memories and skills of the people he’s inhabited.

His job is to figure out what killed the person whose body he is now occupying and put an end to it. To aid him in this, he keeps a journal of each thing he encounters. Since he can’t take it with him when he switches bodies, he hands it off to his caretaker. At the beginning of every job, he enters the nearest church, grabs his journal and receives a snazzy countdown tattoo. He has yet to fail in his job, but there’s always a first time for everything.

This go-around, Vincent ends up in the body of Norman Smith, who was once the curator of the American Museum of Natural History. As he goes around trying to figure out what killed Norman, he has a run in with the FBI and meets Special Agent Camilla Ortiz. She turns out to be a rather interesting woman.

Honestly, I don’t want to give anything away. Virdi has a fun style of writing and the entire book was enjoyable from beginning to end. The idea is a great one and he obviously had fun writing Vincent Graves. It has a definite feel of Jim Butcher, reminiscent of the Dresden Files. I will admit I enjoyed this more than the Dresden Files books. Okay, that might be blasphemy to some, but hey! A girl has the right to her opinion. ;-) There might have been a few sneaky bits tucked in from a few TV shows, but I can’t prove that. I found the sense of humor that ran through the entire book great.

Virdi uses some harsh language here and there, but considering what Vincent goes through? It’s understandable. He also has a thing for ellipses (…) and periodically using periods in odd places to emphasize something. For example, “Stop. Moving. Right. Now.” That kind of thing. So if that drives you insane, you’ve been warned.  There are a few editing issues here and there, but those can be fixed over time. Personally? I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Amazon

About Grave Beginnings. From my perspective, it is a series that promises to out-do the urban fantasy genre of Jim Butcher. I do not say that lightly. JB is one of my all-time favorite authors. But his Dresden series is tiring now or maybe simply running out of steam. His last one, Skin Game, wasn't worth the price the price of a first edition. In the past, I've pre-ordered his books and waited anxiously for USPS to show up at my door, ripping the box out of their hands and speeding back to the house. Now I'll probably wait for the price to drop. Or buy the Ebook version.

Ronni's Grave Beginnings surpassed Skin Game. 

Easily.