Never judge a book by its title. I have to confess it took me awhile to get to this one because I think the title is a little cheesy (and it's now obviously impossible to get Elton John out of my head), but this turned out to be a hilarious book that had me laughing out loud numerous times--not a bad feat when a big part of the book is about raising the dead. All the characters are engaging and likable, especially smart-mouthed Sam, strong and beautiful Brid, Sam's little sisters, the...incapacitated Brooke, and the gleefully bizarre Ashley.

Favorite quote:

"So, you're telling me the zoo commissioned you to make a zombie panda in order to avoid a potential international incident." Hah!

This is probably a 3.5 star book for me, though, since:

* I would have liked to have seen more of Sam's necromancy powers appear earlier on
* Douglas would have been more interesting if his character was a little more developed
* it would have been fun to see more of the critters that appear later in the book
* the flashbacks slowed down the momentum a little too much
* the book would have been more pulled together if Sam's narration was in the third person. With focus shifting between him, Douglas, Brid, and then later Ramon and Tia, having Sam's POV in the first person was confusing when it would have been just as good written in the third.

Still, these are minor ticks considering this is a super funny, fast-paced and entertaining book. I enjoyed the big battle scene at the end, am mightily intrigued by the idea of a were-bear, and I love the way the author writes. Can't wait for the next installment in the series! Though now I want waffles. Badly.