Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Series #4)

Ms. Harris has been spending too much time on Sookie

I can appreciate and admire Ms. Harris' success with the vampire series. What I can't appreciate is the half-hearted effort that she put into this book. Readers of this series have been anxiously waiting to find out what happened to Cameron. Although the mystery was finally solved, the culprit was a joke, as was much of the book. Save your money and wait for the library edition.

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Hope the next is better.

I love this series but I thought this enstallment was a bit of a let down. It was nice to have the interaction with Harper's family and some past issues resolved but overall I though the book was a little boring. #3 was much more entertaining and much more of a page turner. However, it was nice to get family things out of the way. Maybe the next book will move forward instead of backwards.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

enthralling mystery

Harper Connelly's childhood was a nightmare living with her mother and stepfather, who were addicts having dopers and paying Johns coming and going at all times for drugs and sex. Her rock was her stepbrother Tolliver who with his sibling Mark tried to earn enough money to keep the family together. Harper and her sister Cameron took care of their half-sisters Gracie and Mariella. A lightning bolt struck Harper enabling her to find the dead which led them to having a job. People go to her to find out where the dead are buried or to find out how they died. Tolliver is her business manager.

The step-siblings are in a small Texas town near their hometown of Texarkana because wealthy Lizzy Joyce wants to know how her father Rich died. She is shocked to learn that her father's caretaker died from bleeding due to childbirth. Rich died when someone threw a snake at him. Lizzy believes Harper and now knows her dad was murdered. While near their home, they go to see their half-sisters adopted by their aunt and uncle. They learn Tolliver's father was just released from prison and wants to see them to make amends, but he does not want anything to do with his dad. Harper is still trying to find out what happened to her sister Cameron who vanished without a trace while walking home from school. Someone is upset that Harper is asking questions and tries to kill her
.but Tolliver and a cop save her life taking a bullet each aimed at her.

GRAVE SECRETS looks back into the childhood nightmares of Tolliver and Harper, who have come a long way from their past because of their caring for each other, which turned into romance (see ICE COLD and AN ICE COLD GRAVE). Questions that have haunted Harper since Texarkana might finally be answered if she has the courage and survives long enough to figure them out. Although a major coincidence helps the story line, Charlaine Harris provides an enthralling mystery that mesmerizes the audience with an underlying soulful romance while Sookie appears on TV.

Harriet Klausner

3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

A little disappointed

The book was good, I just expected more from it. Plus I kind of felt like the author was cutting this series short, almost like she was bored of writing it. Just considering, most of her series are fairly long. The ending came abruptly and she seemed to sum up the series in a couple paragraphs. I was left a little disappointed.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Another Winner!

Charlaine Harris was a great find for me. I love her book and since I've been to New Orleans quite a few times and have friends that live in the South, I feel real at home when I read her books. They are very true to life and it's hard to believe, at times, that the characters are not real. I look forward to every book she writes.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Good Book - as always from Harris!

Such a great book! And I never would have guessed at that ending! You should read it!!

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Too boring, too coincidental, and a poorly conceived plot...this book is disappointing!

This was a perfectly awful book. I read the first three books in this series and enjoyed them, but this book was boring and predictable. The coincidence at the end is ridiculous. There's almost no mystery to this book at all. None. Mostly it is Harper wandering around and running errands. That's it. Readers almost always know what Harper had for lunch because Charlaine Harris always includes that mundane and not very interesting information. I get the feeling, as I did with her last Sookie Stackhouse novel, that Harris is writing these books just because she has to because she already accepted the advance. She wrote this one as if she had something more important to do, such as her laundry. The far-fetched and completely unbelievable (and oh-so-convenient) connection between their most recent case and the disappearance of Harper's sister Cameron is just ridiculous. None of the characters are interesting. The big ending, in which the bad guys reveal themselves, is almost exactly like one of the endings she wrote in a previous Harper book. When the overall mystery of Cameron's disappearance is solved, I'm irritated. It is too convenient and not believable. I'm extremely disappointed that I bought this book and will try to get a refund. Also, Harper continues to refer to and think of Tolliver as her brother even though they are a couple and have a sexual relationship---um, gross. Then she gets mad because people are confused and disgusted by their relationship. Uh, duh. The Harper and Tolliver in this book aren't the same interesting and compelling people they are in the earlier books. Don't buy this book. It is absolutely not worth the money.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing....

I have to agree with the other reviews that say Mrs. Harris' focus on the Stackhouse Series caused the quality of this series to slip*. There is a noticable decline in the quality of the storyline that begins towards the end of 'An Ice Cold Grave'(book 3) and continues throughout this book. I found myself at times struggling to care, and for the first time, forcing myself to finish the book. The pace was too quick and choppy at times, struggling to seperate the action sequences from the dramatic family related portions. There was so much coming to a head at the end of this book, plots stemming from this individual novel and others that have been rolling along since the start. The ending came on suddenly, without warning. It was a massive set up for a lackluster conclusion. I wasn't sure what was more absurd the final showdown with her case and clients, or with the conclusion of her sister's disappearance. The aftermath.... which entails her sisters and her relationship with Tolliver, are basically wrapped in a few measely paragraphs, almost as footnotes. Of course everything was loosely tied up, where it could stand as a finished series, or be re-opened down the road. *Note: I don't blame her for focusing her attention on the series that is making her money and bringing her fame, but it is apparent that this series, which was very good in it's own right, took a nose-dive towards the end.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Charlaine Harris continues to produce offbeast, loveable characters. . .

I have read all of various series Ms. Harris has produced and outside of Sookie Stackhouse (which I've read form the first volume), I believe that Harper Connelly is smartly written; an intelligent study of reactions that are possible after being struck by lightening.

The family dynamics are credible and in this fourth leap into the relm of paranormal mystery, truly a page turning adventure.

I couldn't put it down -

Thanks Charlaine for a wonderful romp. . .

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great

Love the complexity of the characters and plot. Great read.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Love this series!

She is one of my favorite writers and this book did not disappoint!

Wonderful ending to the series!

What a great ending to a good series. While most authors will continue series and let them get stale (just substituting killers or people for the same story line), Charlaine Harris decided to switch it up in this book. While I rather enjoyed the Harper Connelly series and think she could have squeezed a couple more out of it, I really appreciate the way she ended it. She tied up the loose ends with Harper and Tolliver's family, and gave us a totally different story line. I'm sad to be done, but thankful that I read it!

Interesting and ties up the story lines from the previous books.

As usual Charlaine Harris has produced an interesting book that provides, not necessarily a neat conclusion, but one that both satisfies and makes you want to read more about Harper Connelly.

Excellent

I loved Harper and how this plays out.

Mystery, intrigue, effed up families, love, crime, and a paranormal element wrapped up with a bow.

HARPER CONNELLY by Charlaine Harris. Don't get me wrong, I adore Sookie Stackhouse (the books, not the TV show), but this series was written with more repose. It has mystery and intrigue and effed up families and love and crime and a paranormal element all wrapped together with a nice bow. I really hope Harris puts out another of this series and soon!

Sad it's over

Loved this story. I kind of thought first part of the climax - there were sort of two parts - was weak, but the second was great. I loved the way things ended up for everyone. Well.... I wish some people had just been beaten to death instead of sent to prison. But hey, we have to observe the law, right? Sad the series is over, I really enjoyed seeing Harper step it up and give a little more than she takes. Yay for Tol and Harper!

Her Best Series

I've read everything Charlaine Harris has ever published. THIS, is my favorite series and I am thrilled she is continuing it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Loved, loved, loved it.

I love the Harper Connelly Series and reading this was bittersweet as the mystery of Cameron is finally solved, but it is the last of the series. Hat's off to Charlaine Harris for a wonderfully riveting and entertaining series.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

So dark & beautiful

I bought this book.

Harris' Harper Connelly series is my favorite from her, far more I'm a little sad to say, than her Sookie books. Grave Secret is the fourth in the series that follows a young woman and her stepbrother (now lover, sounds weird, and it is a little weird, but they aren't related and often it works well) as they try to find the missing dead (Harper can sense the dead, a gift she got after being struck by lightning).
With Grave Secret Harris dives deep into Harper and Tolliver's dark childhood. They return to Texas to visit with their half sisters amid a lot of stress and drama (mainly from their aunt and uncle who are very unsure about the effects Harper and Tolliver's visits have on the younger girls). Then while out with the girls Harper and Tolliver run into the last person they expect to see, Tolliver's father, now out of jail and looking to reconnect. The past comes flooding back, nearly emotional crippling Harper. But the present won't be ignored either, as someone who has reason to hate Harper and Tolliver shoots at them through the window of their hotel.
While Harper is functional, the rawness of her traumatic past and her desperate need for Tolliver's support and understanding is evident in every sentence of this book. Now with him in the hospital and someone still trying to kill her for an unknown reason (not that there are no reasons, there are too many for Harper to be able to commit to just one) Harper has to step up and be the one to save the day.
Where other series flirt with "the traumatic past", using it as a character shorthand to make more complex characters this series immerses itself in it, using Harper to explore "how does a person build a life after trauma" the way most urban fantasies explore "what if vampires existed".
I highly recommend this series, as a satisfying mystery series, with compelling characters that readers will be able to truly connect with. Harris' strength has always been in her character building, but in this one her storytelling skills are in full bloom, packing a powerful, unforgettable punch.

Loved it!!!

All of charlaine Harris' books are great. Cant put them down and cant wait for the next one.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.