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RIP, Volume 1: Choices After Death

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Ghosts are people, too, but not all choose to be good people.

Rip Cooper must overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. This young loner learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he's just as solid to them -- pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend's ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2013

21 people want to read

About the author

Daniel Sherrier

7 books150 followers
Daniel Sherrier is a writer based in central Virginia. He is the author of the novel "The Flying Woman." A College of William & Mary graduate, he has worked for community newspapers, written a few plays that have been performed, and earned his black belt in Thai kickboxing. And there was that one time he jumped out of an airplane, which was memorable.

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Dianne.
6,815 reviews632 followers
February 11, 2014
Are there ghosts among us? If so, who are you going to call? Rip, and his evil-ghost fighting team, of course! Rip, short for Ripley, always thought he was just a regular guy, until he started seeing ghosts and then he wasn’t so sure if he was even sane. Enter Serissa, a “good” ghost, who explains to Rip that ghosts, like people can be good or evil. She goes on to tell Rip he is one of THE SEVEN, (cue dramatic music) who have a special gift that allows them to see and eliminate the evil ghosts, sending them on their journey into wherever evil ghosts go. Rip doesn’t think he is the right guy for the job, but something happens that changes his mind and his destiny is set. With his chance reunion with Kalli, a girl from high school, whose faith is strong, the three become a ghost busting threesome.

RIP: Choices After Death-Volume 1 by Daniel Sherrier is NOT your normal paranormal adventure! His ghosts will not keep you up all night, listening for things that go bump in the night. With an unlikely set of heroes, get ready to chuckle more often than not at their banter, especially the utterly disarming Serissa. Daniel Sherrier writes with a sense of humor and delightful style that flows along easily and will appeal to all ages! As he allows Rip to grow into his role and assume his position among the Seven, the transformation is remarkable. A fun read that is light, quick and a refreshing change from the dark side of ghost stories!


I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date: October 12, 2013
Publisher: Daniel Sherrier
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Number of Pages: 202
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble


Profile Image for Merissa (Archaeolibrarian).
4,190 reviews119 followers
March 2, 2014
If you like a light-hearted and witty version of a ghost story then this is definitely a book for you. Don't get me wrong there are still bits which will send shivers down your spine but there are also funny parts as well. The reactions of the ghosts when they realise that Rip can feel, see, hear them never gets old!

The stories are short but very well written. The characters are all interesting and how Rip deals with being one of the Seven and accepting who he is, is wonderful. I would actually add Young Adult to the genres already given as this book seems perfect for the younger generation as it encourages them to accept who they are and work with their own individual gifts.

http://archaeolibrarianologist.blogsp...
Profile Image for Donald Armfield.
Author 67 books176 followers
February 7, 2014
Excellent! Ghostbusters meets The Six Sense; Starring Jason Statham as the ghost neck snapper.

Rip sees a ghost at a young age and runs from the basement with freight. Years later as an adult he meets Serissa a female ghost who teaches him his gift. The gift of sending the "bad" ghost to heaven or hell.

This is a great concept and just to think there is more to come. I also think this would make a great comic book series. Very likeable characters, Fight sequences that gives the pages some great action.

I will be waiting for the next in this series and checking out Daniel Sherrier's Sci-fi novellas called "Earth in Space Vol.1 Where are the little green men".
Profile Image for Nicole M. Hewitt.
Author 1 book354 followers
April 4, 2014
This review and many others can be found on my blog - Feed Your Fiction Addiction

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book since I haven't really read something like this before - a book that's formatted as multiple novelettes that make up one story. Each novelette read sort of like an episode of a TV show; they each had their own self-contained story, but then there was an overarching storyline for the whole volume.

The story follows Rip, who discovers that he is able to see, hear and feel ghosts. He discovers that it is his job to send the evil dead (which it turns out is most of them) where they belong. He's helped by an angel named Serissa (well, she's trying to be an angel) and a crush from his past - a girl named Kalli who can't see ghosts, but has no problem believing Rip when he tells her he can.

The negatives:

The romance.
While I loved both Rip and Kalli, I didn't necessarily feel a lot of chemistry between them. I wasn't ever really sure if Kalli was actually interested in Rip. While I liked them together, I wish I'd seen a few more sparks or meaningful moments between them.

What I loved:

The structure.
Like I said in my intro, this book is formatted with novelettes of about 50 pages each that felt like TV episodes, and the volume kind of felt like a "season" (albeit a short one). I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but I ended up really liking it. It was kind of fun!

The humor.
I loved the snappy dialogue in this book. It often made me laugh and it kind of reminded me of the type of humor you saw in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I LOVED!). Serissa was especially funny - it seemed like she always had a quip in any situation. I loved that she was always kind of torturing Rip. After all, he was the only person she could talk to, so she wanted to hang out with him - all the time. Sometimes Rip just needed a little breather! It was all just witty and humorous. Once again, this book just came across as a fun paranormal TV show - perfect for me!

Kalli.
Kalli was a really interesting character because she was interacting with people she couldn't see (or even hear). I especially loved her attempts at "conversation" with Serissa. Because of her belief in God, she seemed to have no problem believing in other things she couldn't see (her reaction to Rip's confession that he can see ghosts is monumentally underwhelming - she just kind of shrugs and says, "Okay, how can I help?"). Of course, helping is a bit complicated when you can't see, hear or touch the enemy. Still, she found plenty of ways to pull her weight!

This was a fun paranormal read with lots of humor and a few spooky moments. If you're a fan of this genre, I think you'll find a lot to love in Choices After Death. I'm eager to read the next installment! 4/5 stars.

***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***
Profile Image for Becca.
419 reviews30 followers
March 29, 2014
I started reading this book last night. I was sitting in my house around midnight, it was dark and the first few pages scared the jeepers out of me. So, I was SUPER excited. Growing up there was a window at the top of our stairs, and I always was afraid I would see someone standing outside the window. Well....Rip experiences this kind of thing in the very beginning. His is even more creepy to me though. A dark basement, and then BAM something is in front of him. I had to turn my lights on while I read :).

I wish the book would have kept up the "scary" for me. I LOVE scary. It turned out to be quite a hilarious read actually. Rip's one of the "Seven" on earth who are here to send "ghosts" back to heaven or Hell. Serissa is ghost assigned to Rip to help him fight the ghosts. She is a crack up. Kalli is his friend that is a girl, that seems to be there for him at all times. I do think it was a little unrealistic when Rip told Kalli about what he does for her to just "accept" it right away. It worked, but it seemed a bit fast. Then Rip asks her out right after a fight with a ghost. It seemed a little out of place. I do wish that there was more "love" story between Rip and Kalli, but the story worked.

I still don't quite understand how the ghosts were able to hurt Rip, but I did like how the "feelings" came into it. Some of the ghosts could bring on "good" feelings like Serissa and some of them brought on feelings of "fear". It was interesting. People couldn't see them, but they could see the after math of what the ghosts were making the people see. Made them look a little crazy. It was interesting. I liked how Kalli couldn't "see" the ghosts but she was willing to help and could "feel" Serissa. She could tell if it was a good or a bad ghost by the feelings she was having. I like how she seemed to be connected without actually being connected. I would have found it quite entertaining to see some guy talking to himself all the time. It seems that Rip was doing that quite often because no one else can see the ghosts. The pulling out of his phone and talking was quite clever :).

I found this book to be quite entertaining. Not at all what I expected it to be. Especially after reading the first few pages. I thought I was in for a "scary" ride. I would have loved that, but this turned out pretty good. It's such a different take on ghosts than I have read before.

Source: I was given this book by the Author in return for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way for this review, and these are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.
Profile Image for Phaedra Seabolt.
Author 1 book277 followers
March 8, 2014
Ripley, mostly called Rip, is a screen photographer with a past with ghosts. He had a run in with one when he was a child that made him afraid of ghosts for a long time. It's a fear he has spent most of twenty years ignoring until Serrisa comes into his life. She's an angel, but really she's just a good ghost. She entered Rip's dreams in order to get him to acknowledge that he's been hiding from his knowledge that ghosts really exist. She transforms him from the scrawny man he is into a ghost killing machine (no clue if he actually beefs up, but he does learn to fight). He is one of the Seven. His destiny is to deliver bad ghosts to hell with his Angel by his side. During his newly discovered profession, he rediscovered old high friend whom he had been in love with. She was saying his best friend so he never confessed his feelings for her. Instead he started by her side as a good friend when his best friend broke her heart by chasing on her. Kalli, the girl he loves, had refused to give up her most prized person to Sawyer, the best friend, which caused him to seek another girl for his pleasures. Kalli called her faith in God too much to sleep him. That faith now bolsters the power of Rip's Angel allowing Serissa to burn evil ghost with holy fire while Rip beats them into hell.

I have to say that this was a very different book for me. It took a while for me really to get into it, but one I did, I discovered it to be action packed and exciting. There's a love story element, but it would not make this book into a romance. I would say it is more Urban fantasy mixed with Action/Adventure. I really enjoyed how the ghosts were each portrayed and how Kalli was able to be a part of the ghost fighting without having any real contract with Series a. Her faith became a very interesting twist to how they could defeat ghosts or in her case just defend herself from ghosts. I feel like there are some unresolved portions of the story which leads me to believe there might be a second book coming. For instance a particularly evil ghost torments Kalli for a period of time, but decided he wants to finish the job another day. That ghost never makes another appearance. I would like to know what happened with him, but it isn't such a driving need that the story feels incomplete. I loved the ending too.

Read more reviews at Identity Discovery Blog.
Profile Image for Gayle Pace.
1,110 reviews22 followers
May 28, 2014
REVIEW

When I first started reading the book, I thought, whoa, this is gonna be a good scare. Rip is a rather creepy, weird person. The creep started in Rip's dark basement. At first it wasn't out of the ordinary and then, something appears before him. I'm a real fan of scary stories but as the story went on, the scare went out.

Rip thought he was a normal guy, living a normal life, that is, until he started seeing ghosts.

He doesn't realize at first that they are ghosts. He meets Serissa, a ghost that has been sent to help Rip fight the bad ghosts. Serissa was a good ghost. She was absolutely a fun loving ghost, if there is one. Rip is one of the seven here on earth who is supposed to send the bad ghosts to hell and the good ghosts to heaven. Rip has a friends, Kalli who is there for him whenever he needs a friend. To me, there were times when the events were out of place. One is when Rip fights a ghost and then asks Kalli out. To me, it ended up being more of a possible love story between Kalli and Rip.

The read was a little interesting, but I just didn't feel the scare factor. It was more of a funny read than a scary one. I guess I just have a hard time thinking of the ghosts in this story as scary. Anyway, if you like ghost stories, you might pick up a copy and decide if it scares you or if you are smiling at the humor in it. It's all in the minds of the readers.

I received a complimentary copy of RIP- Choices After Death from the author, Daniel Sherrier for my view of the book. No other compensation took place.

Profile Image for Jessica Bronder.
2,015 reviews31 followers
July 9, 2014
Ripley, Rip, has the ability to see ghosts. When we was young he had a bad experience with a ghost and he has tried to block them ever since. Then he is visited by Serissa. She is one of the good ghosts and is there to train him to fight the bad ghosts. He is one of the Seven in the world that are meant to send the bad ghosts on their way. And he better learn how to fight quick because he can interact with the ghosts and they can hurt him just as bad.

Along the way Rip meets up with a friend from high school, Kalli. She accepts his ability and although she can’t really interact with the ghosts, is there to help Rip fight them. Although she can’t see them, she has a lot of faith which helps protect her from the bad ghosts. With Kalli and Serissa helping Rip, he might have a chance against the bad ghosts.

The interaction with Rip and the first ghost was scary as heck. But that is not the way the rest of the book goes. This becomes a paranormal adventure with Rip fighting the ghosts and trying not to look like a loon while he is arguing with invisible people. The stories are short but really good. They sucked me in and I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next.

This is a great book and I can’t wait to read more from Daniel Sherrier.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Will Van Stone Jr.
Author 3 books12 followers
July 23, 2016
Rip Cooper kills ghosts. Unfortunately for him, ghosts can kill him just as dead. While that's bad news for our hero, it does make for some amusing scenes where the poor guy is getting his ass kicked by invisible fiends. Or yelled at by his dead guardian angel.

Sherrier takes a rather simple premise (think "chosen one" archetype) and layers on much humor, wit and originality. The writing is brisk and easy to breeze through and the very un-flat characters actually make you want to read one more "act" before bed..

Speaking of "act," using that instead of the typical "chapter" gave the book more of an episodic feel. Each part (there are four) do really feel like a complete, self contained episode while building the overall arch, same as shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. do.

Although the book stars member of the life-impaired, it is not a horror. With Rip's journey to save the world (or at least Sidwick), Choices After Death plays out more like an action/adventure with a hint of romance and even a pain in the ass sidekick/teacher (who admits she doesn't have all the answers).

So go on and give this book a shot. I don't think you be at all disappointed..
Profile Image for C.A. Staff.
Author 10 books2 followers
December 30, 2013
A Ghost Story With A Twist!

5 Stars!

If ghost stories are your thing, you will want to read this one. It is to funny in a lot of areas. I loved the way Author Daniel Sherrier wrote this. Ripley (RIP) joins forces with Serissa, then later Kalli. The group becomes a ghost killing Trio.

At first Ripley had no intention in embracing his newly discovered abilities. He wanted no part in it in fact. Serissa is Ripley's ghost angel, and Kalli is his best friend from high schools ex girlfriend. This was a page turner to the point that I finished it in less than a complete day. A feat for me, as I am a very busy author myself. I put my own story off for to finish this. Not because I had to but because I was so wrapped up in the what happens next effect.

There is also a lesson to be found here in being able to embrace your special "gifts." My 10 year old grand daughter needs to read this. Accept who, or what you are motto. Great!

The twist? You will have to read this to see the twist!

Great Job Daniel Sherrier!
Profile Image for Nicole.
Author 53 books37 followers
November 11, 2013
This book was fantastic. It pulled me in from the very first line. This isn't your typical "ghost story" it's an action packed adventure.

Rip lives a normal life...or at least he thinks he does. Until one day he starts seeing ghosts. He doesn't realize they are ghosts until he meets Serissa and she tells him everything that is happening to him and that he is one of the seven. From there is life spirals out of control.

Until an old friend comes back into his life. From then on it's the ghost fighting trio.

What happens to Rip when he rights ghosts? Read RIP vol 1 to find out!
Profile Image for Tressa.
Author 1 book2 followers
December 13, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Another little gem on this year's reading list. It's such a delight to find something different; I don't regret this purchase at all.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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