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Life in Death

by Harlow Drake (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 34 ratings · 25 reviews

When a girl that social worker Kari Marchant places in foster care is brutally murdered, she’s compelled to learn why. Her quest for the truth pits her against friends and coworkers. As Kari works to solve the horrific plot, more people die. She’s been targeted for death and she doesn’t even know it. How far should she go to learn the truth—even if it threatens her life?

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Published February 13th 2012 (first published January 1st 2012)

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Aug 11, 2012 Elisha German rated it 4 of 5 stars

http://bookjunkiemom.blogspot.com/201...

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Aug 01, 2012 Erin Maurer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Life in Deathby Harlow Drake is a fun-twist on the traditional murder mystery. Centered around social worker Kari Marchant the bodies have started stacking up, starting with a foster-child she placed. But could sweet-faced Kari really be involved? Tough-as-nails Detective Cobb thinks so, but his younger, parter Nicolet does not believe the case is as cut and dry as it seems.

Drake does something that many mystery writers have trouble accomplishing, she writes a page turner that is a fast-paced,...more

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Jul 24, 2012 J.L. Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kari Marchant comes under suspicion when a girl she places in foster care is murdered. An old lover is also murdered, putting Kari in even deeper trouble. She’s attracted to the police officer who’s assigned to investigate both cases, but things are far from what they seem.

PLAYERS:
Kari, who seems to be set-up to take the fall for all the seeming coincidences involved in the murder cases. She’s not tough, but manages to hold her own.

Rance Nicolet, a detective who appears to be a decent guy, but...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Chryse Wymer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This story begins with social worker Kari Marchant having discovered that a teen in foster care has slipped between the system's cracks and disappeared. Follow-up on this teenager was indicated, but never carried out. Soon after, Kari discovers that the teen has been murdered. Detectives Nicolet and Cobb begin to investigate. Some sinister elements that felt, to me, like EXTREMELY TWISTED, South American, tribal shamanism come in to play. This is a quickie read at only 88 pages, and I was gifted...more This story begins with social worker Kari Marchant having discovered that a teen in foster care has slipped between the system's cracks and disappeared. Follow-up on this teenager was indicated, but never carried out. Soon after, Kari discovers that the teen has been murdered. Detectives Nicolet and Cobb begin to investigate. Some sinister elements that felt, to me, like EXTREMELY TWISTED, South American, tribal shamanism come in to play. This is a quickie read at only 88 pages, and I was gifted this book for a read-a-long. The idea of a percentage of profits being donated to a worthy charity warmed my heart and really made me want to like this book. But there is just too much wrong with it.

I'm an editor so I notice grammatical errors, missing words and letters, incorrect compound word usage, etc. like a stab in the eye. Normally, I give star reviews based on the quality of the storytelling and the writing itself. But here, I am forced to change tactics. I normally deduct one star per 7 errors. Having found 48, this would fall into the negative category before I ever reached the storytelling. The characters are so much the same that I had a hard time distinguishing between them. They are underdeveloped, and just sort of absent. The name Nicolet was particularly confusing to me since Nicolette would normally be a woman's name. I kept reading him as a woman, and since there was no real characterization to say otherwise, my brain kept having to switch it around. The plot, while it has the hint of something interesting, leaves the reader feeling like something is missing. It feels too short and underdeveloped in that parts of the story were hard to understand at all. I really believe that overall, this is the result of poor editing, and I do hope that Ms. Drake finds someone more competent to edit her work in the future. Despite all that, there was still a little something about this story that I liked, so I couldn't bear to give it only one or two stars. Normally, authors only improve as they progress, so I'll be interested to see the second book in this series.(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Books Mom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, mystery-suspense

This story is so fast moving, I could hardly keep up. But since it was one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time, I did my best! I know it's a cliche, but in this case it's the honest truth: I could not put it down. From the first page it was a heart stopper. I couldn’t believe how tense I became while reading.

The characters became very real to me almost instantly, and the murder that occurred was dreadful and gruesome. There were many strange happenings, and many weird people. It was...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Marina rated it 3 of 5 stars

A young girl is found murdered. A foster child, and no one noticed that she was missing, no one cared. Foster parents called the social service, but the note got lost, and the social worker never received the message. The note was found after the murder.

Detectives Cobb and Nicolet are trying to solve the case. Social worker Kari Marchant is one of the suspects. When her ex-lover was found dead with her letter in his pocket, she became main suspect. Detective Nicolet feel attraction for the beaut...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Anne Chaconas rated it 3 of 5 stars

I deeply enjoy a good psychological mystery/thriller. There’s something fantastically satisfying about being so into a story line that you don’t notice the time passing–all you’re focused on is turning the page, getting to the next tidbit, trying to figure out the mystery, fearing for the protagonist.

In a lot of ways, Life in Death delivered just that. In a lot of other ways, however, it did not.

I’ll start by discussing what I loved about the book. I absolutely loved the pace. It was quick–in fa...more I deeply enjoy a good psychological mystery/thriller. There’s something fantastically satisfying about being so into a story line that you don’t notice the time passing–all you’re focused on is turning the page, getting to the next tidbit, trying to figure out the mystery, fearing for the protagonist.

In a lot of ways, Life in Death delivered just that. In a lot of other ways, however, it did not.

I’ll start by discussing what I loved about the book. I absolutely loved the pace. It was quick–in fact, it was one of the quickest reads I’ve had this year. The action sprinted forward, and Drake’s prose was a fabulous propellant. She was pithy and concise, drawing exact pictures and giving you just what you need to mentally place yourself within the story. I could easily see the characters in my mind’s eye, and I could also see their surroundings and actions. Dialogue was also key (and this is something Drake admits is one of her strong suits–I would definitely agree), and Drake’s mastery in this regard is apparent.

I liked the turns the story took, and the unexpected (very unexpected) twist at the end. It was easy to tell that this story had been carefully thought out and outlined, and that each character had a backstory that fed into his or her behavior.

On the surface, there was nothing that could detract from the story. There were a few minor editing mistakes, but they were negligible overall.

The problem, really, comes when the story is analyzed as a whole.

Life in Death, although very solid at its core, peters out in the details, seems disjointed at times, and leaves many questions unanswered (most poignantly in the epilogue, which seems to come out of nowhere and completely changed the feelings I had towards the primary protagonist). Perhaps it is due to the novella-length of the story, or perhaps it is due to the author’s self-admitted shortcoming of “writing short” (“I can describe something in a paragraph that may have been better described in a page”). Likely it is a combination of both–and the epilogue set-up might be due to the fact that this appears to be the first in a series, so we had to be left hanging off a cliff somehow.

Each of Life in Death‘s substantial characters had a “humanizing” moment in the story (which I won’t go into due to potential spoilers), where you got to see a little of their own private life or their internal motivations–the problem was, these humanizing moments seemed to come out of nowhere. I know what the author was trying to accomplish with these brief glimpses–I just don’t think she properly prepared me for her epiphanies. I could see, through these glimpses, that she fleshed out the backstories of each of her characters in great detail. Unfortunately, they simply didn’t translate into the story effectively. I almost wish she had left them out altogether; I think the story would have been less piece-y were they to have been eliminated. With them, I’m left wondering, “Why was that there? Did I miss something?” Without them (save for a select few that gave the story itself some background), I think Life in Death would have been stronger.

I’m still not sure where the title fits into the story, nor where the cover has its provenance within the plot. In retrospect, they seem to be odd choices–something that makes perfect sense to the author but seems a little without anchor to one who is relying solely on the story within the printed page.

Overall, I did like Drake’s writing style and consider her tale to be a good one. However, I think that the story is suffering from its brevity–were Life in Death to be expanded (after all, it is only an estimated 88 pages long–it could easily be doubled in length without much of a problem), it would become much stronger, much more solid. I look forward to her future efforts, though; if Life in Death is any indication, Harlow Drake has the potential to become a very strong mystery/thriller author.(less)

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Apr 03, 2012 Kathleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kari Marchant is a social worker who has dedicated her life to improving the lives of children at risk. When one of her kids, Patience Dolo is found brutally murdered, Kari knew she had failed this one, and she vows to find out what happened. Homicide detective Rance Nicolet and his partner Rudy Cobb are investigating the murder of Patience Dolo, and when they interview Kari, sparks fly and there is an instant attraction between Kari and Rance. While Kari is searching for the truth in the murder...more Kari Marchant is a social worker who has dedicated her life to improving the lives of children at risk. When one of her kids, Patience Dolo is found brutally murdered, Kari knew she had failed this one, and she vows to find out what happened. Homicide detective Rance Nicolet and his partner Rudy Cobb are investigating the murder of Patience Dolo, and when they interview Kari, sparks fly and there is an instant attraction between Kari and Rance. While Kari is searching for the truth in the murder of Patience, she gets too close and other people she knows are murdered, which puts doubt of her innocence in Rance's mind. Is Kari involved in these brutal murders, or is someone trying to set her up?

Life In Death is a fast-paced chilling novella that will keep you sitting on the edge of your seat. The storyline has a lot of twists and turns that keeps the reader riveted and guessing what will happen next. There are a lot of characters in the story, their individual complexities are intriguing, but there are so many characters and plot changes that a reader can become easily confused. The description of the murder scenes are brutal and chilling, which is exactly what true murder mystery fans crave, and this story has plenty of that. The only thing that didn't sit well with me is that some of the subplots didn't make sense to me, I would have preferred if the story was a full length novel, but then again, perhaps the author is just whetting our appetite for her next installment of this series.

Life In Death is the author's first novella, and with that being said, I think she does a good job of writing a story that provides the reader with enough suspense and intrigue, that they will want to read the next books in the series. Murder mystery, suspense and thriller fans, give this fast-paced little novella a chance, it will provide the thrills and chills that you crave!

Disclaimer: At the request of the author and Goddess Fish Promotions, a PDF edition of the book was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review and participation in the virtual book tour event.

Virtual Book Tour Event: on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, in association with Goddess Fish Promotions, author Harlow Coban participated in a virtual book tour event with an Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews.
http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...
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Mar 25, 2012 Ruth Hill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books

Mystery, romance, brutal murders, and a confusing ending. This is the best way to describe this book, and this will be one of the more challenging reviews for me to write. This is also a rather short book, but I have to say that it is anything but an easy read.

For the first few chapters of the book, I was really mesmerized. The author had me right there. Although the murder described was quite horrid and brutal, I was somewhat intrigued. I am sure that the kind of "murder ring" described in the...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Vidya-BooksAreMagic rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, thriller, mystery, received-for-review

This is one of those books that I would recommend to everyone, if they ask me for a mystery.

The novel starts with a death and ends with a cemetery. The novel is entirely grazed with deaths of most of the characters. All these deaths are somehow connected to Kari Marchant, a social worker and the protagonist of our novel. Detectives Cobb and Nicolet were in trail. Nicolet and Kari get attracted towards each other, but the business at hand is more serious for them to be distracted. Murders keep ha...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Kriss Morton rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am giving this 2 stars for a few reasons and it is getting an extra star (I was goign to give it one) which I address at the end of the review. 1) It has great potential to be a very hard edged disturbing, shockingly dark meal of a book. However this NOVELLA was not a decent "meal" for my brain. It was like I got I got half way down the street and realized my fries were missing and it was to late to go back through the drive through, my burger tasted like it had been under the heater lamp for...more I am giving this 2 stars for a few reasons and it is getting an extra star (I was goign to give it one) which I address at the end of the review. 1) It has great potential to be a very hard edged disturbing, shockingly dark meal of a book. However this NOVELLA was not a decent "meal" for my brain. It was like I got I got half way down the street and realized my fries were missing and it was to late to go back through the drive through, my burger tasted like it had been under the heater lamp for hours and considering I got this "meal" free with a coupon (KDP day), why bother to go and argue for my fries and a fresh burger, just was not worth it and my diet coke was cold and had ample ice.

**WARNING THIS MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS, I tried not too but it does elude to some events that may ruin the read***

Main problems were the believably. The instances with child protective services, the fact that a murder and white slave trafficker could remain under the radar for so long, and actually infiltrating someones life from at least 10 years on and they have no clue is beyond me, especially when we are dealing with CPS and the Police with their HIGHLY intense background checks. Even if I dispelled enough belief, this is a story based in our reality, not an alternate one so it makes it even harder.

Not to mention that I was unable to keep track of half of what was going on (and since I have a degree in literature, this means there is something seriously wrong with the story structuring). I think the writer has a GREAT idea for a story, this is NOT A NOVEL as stated, it is a novella. It took 90 minutes to read, well wait it took me three hours I had to read it twice I was so confused. I am not trying to be mean I was just baffled a bit, and I know that it had to have stuff edited out, it had to many cut scenes without segues and there were segues in other areas. So yes poorly edited.

The ending stunted it all for me. It made the most believable character the most unbelievable. HOWEVER, that being said, she is the reason for the 2 stars and not giving it a 1 star. It has the potential to make for a very interesting sociopathic criminal terror which could even have Dexter possibilities, IF SHE gets a better editor and someone who can really help her clean up her structuring style.

(I purchased this book prior to a read-a-long event for the book on July 15th. I have had it on my Kindle since April 2nd. This review is my own honest opinion and is unsolicited.IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NEW FTC GUIDELINES I do, in addition to purchasing my own books for review, also receive books free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)

(I have owned the book since April 2nd but read it for an a read-a-long EVENT HERE http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/5...)(less)

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Jul 04, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Life in Death is an excellent book that is very easy to get through. It is not super long, but there is always one twist after the other. It is so crazy to find out who the perpetrator is and even the very last paragraph leaves you with one more exciting twist. You would never believe the outcome of this story and I do not want to give anything away, but read it for yourself and you will see. The book starts out with a bang and ends with a bang. Even though there are some more graphic descriptio...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Elizabeth (Stuffed Shelves) rated it 4 of 5 stars

What is the book about?
Detective Cobb and his partner Nicolet are trying to solve the murder of a young girl in foster care named Patience Dolo. Kari Marchant who is Patience Social Worker seems to be their prime suspect for the murder. Everyone around Kari seems to be dying and it just makes sense that it might be her, including her childhood friend and co-worker Mina Steele. You won't believe who the murder is!

What did I think of the book?
What an awesome book. It wasn't very long but it kept m...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook

Harlow Drake has a lot of potential as a writer. The story idea for Life in Death was really interesting and I was completely hooked in the beginning. Unfortunately, the plot and the characters ended up undeveloped leaving me with a lot of questions at the end.

At only 88 pages this is short enough to be read in one sitting - it took me less than two hours. It really need to be longer though to fully develop the story. I felt that I only got the highlights or an outline because Drake tried to fit...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Lauren Murphy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery

Life in Death is a mystery suspense novella packed full of action and surprising twists.

Kari Marchant’s life quickly becomes complicated- her ex is running for mayor, a child she places in foster care is murdered and as her colleagues begin to drop off like flies, Kari comes under the attention of Detective Nicolet and Detective Cobb.

Life in Death is told from various viewpoints- Kari’s, Nicolet’s, Cobb’s and the villains. For such a short book I felt as though there were too many characters to...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks-own, own, review-copy, short-stories

This book hooked me with the story. I got a review copy in pdf and about part way through it stopped being readable. I wanted to know what happened so I ended up getting a new mobi review copy. It clearly interested me enough for me to want to find out what happened but as the story progressed it just seamed to flounder.

The characters were all over the place by the end in particular though none were well fleshed out and they just suddenly were revealed to be totally different from what they had...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Marilou George rated it 5 of 5 stars

Meet Kari Marchant a social worker committed to helping children in foster care. Patience Dolo is a foster child that is reported missing and due to an oversight by a co-worker Kari is not aware of her disappearance. When Patience is found murdered Kari is determined to find out what happened and who is responsible. Detectives Rance Nicolet and Rudy Cobb are assigned to investigate the murder and the three of them are on a collision course that is totally unforeseen.

Harlow Drake has delivered a...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, mystery, suspense, novella

I think this author has a great future, but I don't think it's in novellas. It's very hard to tell a story in less than 100 pages without leaving out critical information or making readers feel as if they were cheated. Life in Death has the potential to be a great thriller, but there were too many things that didn't make sense because the author was trying to rush the story. I think this is supposed to be the first in a series, but there still shouldn't be huge chunks of story missing. I would l...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Melissa Rheinlander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(3.5 Rating) This is a really fast read... it was over before I knew it! The plot is sick and twisted and the characters too! Coban does an interesting job of creating a twisted storyline that keeps you guessing and wondering what just happened. Throughout the book there were several questions about the characters that I had to re-read and make sure that I had the characters straight. Even with the questions I would read the next installment to see where Kari's life leads! I would recommend this...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Sarah Baethge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Life in Death by Harlow Coban is a story that follows the investigation of two homicide detectives (Rudy Cobb & Rance Nicolet) as they are looking into a series of murders that seem possibly related. As they delve deeper into the investigation, they keep running into social worker Kari Marchant. With the high number of encounters, Nicolet can’t help but start to like her; Cobb however, begins to notice Kari as the only common human element in all the crimes.

There is no lack of unlikable evil...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kritter-reviewed-2012, ebook

A little novella that packs quite a punch. With limited pages, the story starts quick and is full steam ahead to the unexpected ending. At the onset, we meet Kari who is a social worker who finds out that one of the foster children she represented has disappeared. The reader is quickly attached to Kari and you want to follow her journey to find the truth.

As the story is short and to the point, so will this review. I liked the flow of the story and the quickened pace. The ending was the cinch tha...more

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Jul 15, 2012 A.B. Shepherd rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm amazed at how many 4 and 5 star reviews this book has on here.

This was a really short novel at about 80 pages - it needed to be longer. There was so much packed into it and not enough back story provided. It felt far too rushed. Much of it didn't make sense by the time you got to the end.

It was an inventive story and I liked the little twist at the end, but it really needed to be fleshed out a lot more for my taste.

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Aug 01, 2012 Elnora Romness rated it 4 of 5 stars

To read my full review, please follow the link below. I genuinely liked the work, but think there were a few places that could have been improved:

http://ogcmat.blogspot.com/2012/07/li...

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Jul 15, 2012 Donna Huber rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense-thrillers

Well, that was interesting. A whole lot was going on for it to be a short story. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads

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Mar 15, 2012 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: indie-challenge-2012

Review to come soon.

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Jun 06, 2013 Olga marked it as to-read

May 26, 2013 Jewel marked it as to-read

May 02, 2013 Ikebukuro marked it as to-read

Shelves: my-wish-list

Mar 30, 2013 Rene marked it as to-read

Jan 21, 2013 Sabrina Depue marked it as to-read

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About Harlow Drake

Author Harlow Drake was born in Kansas City, MO, but grew up in Denver, CO. She relocated to North Carolina five years ago with her husband, two dogs, and 16-year old twins.

She shares a birthday with the notorious Napoleon Bonaparte. In keeping with his legacy, she is currently working on taking over the world. Harlow's positive attitude and fresh take on life are her tools and conquest is certai...more

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