Out of Body (Court of Angels, #1) by Stella Cameron

Out of Body by Stella Cameron

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Half-way through this book I was convinced I had read it before. My memory is bad, but not bad enough to forget a book I read in 2010, the date of the copyright. So it was just 'one of those books I felt like I had read before'.

Out of Body is one of those typical cliché stories about a psychopath who kidnaps and brutalizes women. The only variation is that the psychopath is of the supernatural variety. He or 'it', is a member of the 'Embran family', but little information about this family is ever provided.

The main character is Marley. She is an antiques restorer. She is very close to her family. They all have their own psychic supernatural abilities and most of them have red hair, which is mentioned a multitude of times. I did not find Marley to be a believable character. This was not due to her 'abilities'. For one thing she seemed much older than her given age of 30. For another thing I found it odd that she has lived in New Orleans all her life, yet she appears to have no friends other than her family. I did not catch a mention of former love interests, or a best friend that calls every once in awhile... nothing. This is just yet another example of the lack of character development in this story.

For a paranormal romance there is also a lack of paranormal psychic activity, which would have been understandable if the writer wanted the story to be seeded in reality. I believe in 'real life' there are psychics or at the very least people whom are more perceptive than most. The story is already pushing the boundaries of reality with its transgressor, a 'supernatural creature', who doesn't share human DNA. Why not make the character's abilities seem a little more active and interesting ?

This story skips around a lot which kept me from getting completely bored. But this did little to mask the fact that very little happens.

One good thing I can say about this book is that the dog doesn't die. While Winnie was not my favorite fictional canine pooch, I was relieved she wasn't introduced to the story to be the hapless animal sacrifice like many other thriller stories seem to include.

Based on other reviews about this story, which mentioned this is not the author's best work, I am willing to try other books by this author. It is unlikely that I will read the rest of this series.



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