Haunted by Death by Dale Mayer [Review]

Haunted by Death (By Death #2) by Dale Mayer
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: December 5, 2013

By Death
1. Touched by Death
2. Haunted by Death - Paperback | Kindle

Dale Mayer
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Synopsis (Goodreads):

Death haunts anthropologist Meg Pearce...

In her last summer before college, an innocent camping trip ended in a friend's disappearance...and destroyed her life.

She lost everything. Her innocence. Her plans for her future. Her best friend and lover.

Seventeen years later, she returns reluctantly to the same area, hoping to move on. But a gruesome discovery sends her reeling back to that dark time.

Detective Chad Ingram has spent the last seventeen years trying to solve the mystery of that camping trip so he too can regain his life...and the lost love of his life.

Only death isn't done shaking up their lives...and this time they are in the crossfire.

Thoughts on Haunted by Death: This book had a few twists I didn't see coming. I wish I could talk about them but my aggressive anti-spoiler stance in reviews tells me that wouldn't be appropriate. Instead, I shall simply say "Well done, Dale Mayer. I didn't see that coming." (which, yeah, I said above. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE THINGS I WANT TO TALK ABOUT CAN'T BE SPOKEN OF!)

*ahem*

So. Meg and Chad -- in fact, their entire group of friends -- had to deal with tragedy. It helped shape them all in so many ways. Some ran, some fell into drugs and alcohol, and some became protectors so they could try to untangle the mystery of what happened that summer. But for all of them, the uncertainty behind what happened and the lack of closure has stayed with them.

When Meg stumbles over a body years later, it reunites old friends and puts them on the path of discovering what happened. Do you remember when I mentioned those twists? Yeah, this is where those came in. Because nothing's straightforward and Meg and Chad have to dig to uncover the truth. (Heh. Did you see what I did there? DID YOU? Oh, anthropologist humor. You never get old. *pauses* *stops self from making a crack about how anthropologists deal in old things* *steps away from this entire paragraph before the word-play overtakes me*)

Solid mystery with a nice romance. Meg and Chad are given a chance to rekindle their old love while putting the painful parts of their past to rest. Did I mention the twists? Oh, the twists.