Review: Creative twists keep it fresh
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 6, 2010
After reading DEAD(ish), which I got for free thanks to an Amazon-initiated sale, I felt I should give Naomi something back, so here's a review. DEAD(ish) is a longish short story or maybe a shortish short novel. Whatever you want to call it, it piqued my curiosity with its concept: a dead girl bugging a private eye to find her body so she can rest in peace.Somehow, Naomi Kramer managed to juggle five main characters and tell the story from (if I counted right) three narrative voices and yet never allowed the story to drag or the perspective switches to become confusing. As an American reader, there were some Aussie words that threw me just a bit, but not too much.The narrative is focused and lean; there's no unnecessary description, nor are there reams of burdensome and irrelevant backstory. The tale just kicks off and doesn't let up until it's done.The book's central mystery - locating Linda's body - unravels nicely but doesn't tip its hand too early. Some pleasantly-played-out twists keep one guessing until just the right moment.One thing bothers me about DEAD(ish), though. That is the portrayal of a male homosexual couple who seem too open to the idea of including a woman in their bedroom activities. That seemed a bit of a stretch of credibility, but as a straight male, I'm no expert.The story's definitely not for reader's who are turned off by rough language or some mild sexual content (no worse than a Silhouette Romance, though, really). But if one possesses a dark sense of humor and wants a book that can eat up a couple-three hours some afternoon, DEAD(ish) is worth your time and your $0.99. I enjoyed the book enough, in fact, that even though I got DEAD(ish) free, I bought her other book, MAISY MAY, as soon as I finished DEAD(ish).