cheating death is for the birds

Nora Bird is a very careful person. She is careful about what she eats (no questionable dyes), she understands the importance of sleep, she doesn’t take unnecessary chances. She knows things about death. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a child, and now she works in S.C.Y.T.H.E., the Secure Collection, Yielding, Transport, and Handling of Essences. As an administrative coordinator, she would come into the office early and go through the files of imminent deaths, dividing the folders and distributing them to their appropriate departments—Natural Causes, Murder, or Accidental Deaths. She likes her job, and she has a natural affinity for getting the right jobs into the hands of the right agents.

As someone who collects facts about death, Nora knows that statistically speaking it’s more likely for you to die on your birthday. And it is her birthday. But she’s not prepared when she opens the file to see that one of the deaths of that day is that of her twin brother Charlie.

Even though they barely speak, Nora immediately grabs her brother’s folder and leaves the building. He’s scheduled to get hit by a car at 11:15, and she can’t have that. She can’t lose another member of her family. She jumps into her car and drives to his house immediately. He’s surprised to see her but always up for an adventure, so he packs up his bird Jessica and the twins head on a road trip. On the road, Nora explains that the trip is about cheating his death, and when they look at his folder, his death time and cause have changed. But it’s still imminent.

To try to escape death and S.C.Y.T.H.E., since Nora knows that they will be tracking them, the siblings decide to go to Virgo Bay, Nova Scotia, where their father grew up. But once they get there, they just find more questions about their family and their father, and they find that death may still be stalking Charlie. It will take all of Nora’s knowledge of death and Charlie’s good luck for the twins to stay alive for another future birthday.

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death is an unusual, darkly funny about escaping fate and finding family. It’s part of a series, but the character that holds the series together is S.C.Y.T.H.E., so each book is a standalone. I thought this book was clever and intelligent, and I could definitely empathize with Nora’s anxiety about the many things that could cause death. I thought Nora, Charlie, and Jessica were a great team, and I was rooting for them the whole time (especially Jessica, because who doesn’t love a talking bird that’s well acquainted with cursing?). This is certainly not a typical cozy mystery, but if you’re looking for something with a little more bite to it, then A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death may be just what you need.

Egalleys for A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.