A review by aecinf
Dead Is the New Black, by Marlene Perez

2.0

This was a silly young-reader I picked up for entertainment in between some hard-core study sessions. As prose, it leaves a lot to be desired. Exposition is delivered at break-neck speeds and plot holes abound. But since this is young adult fiction, I was willing to let a lot of that go. The author seemed to be deliberately dropping clues to let the reader play detective, but was un-artful about it. I was exactly 16% of the way through when I figured out who the bad guy was and what they were doing. I think I had seen the same plot on an episode of Smallville.

I love quirky names and this story delivers (for example, Mort Bone, the funeral home guy). There are plenty of fantastic magical antics reminiscent of a Disney channel show or old-school Nickelodeon. People who enjoy weirds-ville mysteries like those in Roswell or Eureka may like this book series.