Jenn's Book Reviews

Bryn Davis, an army veteran living in California, knows that working for a funeral home isn’t all that glamorous, especially for a middle aged woman. But at least Fairview Mortuary offers stable employment. That is until she discovers that her bosses are using a drug to resurrect the clientele as part of an extortion racket. Now, Bryn must face death herself instead of just witnessing it. But with the help of double-agent Patrick McCallister, she has a chance to take down not only her bosses, who killed her, but also the pharmaceutical company Pharmadene, who created the drug and treats death as the ultimate corporate loyalty program. Bryn must take them down quickly or else become an undead slave, in other terms, a real working stiff.

Working Stiff is an adult fiction novel written by Rachel Caine, author of the best selling MorganVille Vampire series, and is the first in the Revivalist trilogy. What had drew me to read this novel, seeing as I enjoy more the Young Adult genre of fiction compared to adult fiction, was the plot twist involving the death of the main character, only to later become undead. The Part that sucked me in was the fact that this was no ordinary zombie novel, no apocalypse, no hunger for flesh or brains, etc. Bryn Davis, the star of this series, is a strong independent women, formerly an army soldier, who seeks steady employment at Fairview funeral home. The down side to the job? This is where she meets death. Luckily for her, a couple of Pharmadene employees are there to save the day and revive her with their special new drug, which causes the dead to become undead. Now being dependent on this new drug to keep her from rotting alive, literally, Bryn has to take on employement withe Pharmadene, to hunt and track down her old boss' supplier of the drug, which he'd been selling to make cash on the side. Not only does her employer plan to let her rot once the job is done, but to make matters worse, she's fallen in love with Patrick McCallister, a double agent who works for Pharmadene.
The slow start had made this novel a long read, but once the plot thickened, and the story and characters became more complex, I was completely hooked. The action and mystery involved kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. The growing relationship between Bryn and McCallister, and reading as it bloomed into one filled with passion, made this novel all the more exciting and interesting of a read.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this introduction to the trilogy. The only downfalls, in my opinion, was some minor flaws I found with the story line, the slow and agonizing start, and the fact that I'm not a fan of zombies. This influenced me to rate this novel a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. With the amazing ending, I cannot wait to read what comes next for Bryn, in the sequel, Two Weeks' Notice.