Don't Fear the Reaper The Death Chronicles Book 1
Paranormal Fantasy
JET-Fueled Fiction
August 15, 2015
280
The day Nick Ramsay’s eighth-grade teacher drops dead in his classroom, Nick sees his first reaper. When another cloaked figure appears at his grandmother’s bedside, Nick issues an order for the vile creature to leave her alone.
This simple act of defiance creates a domino effect that brings Fate and Death to Nick’s door and reveals his true lineage, throwing his world into chaos. To make matters worse, a group of rogue reapers declares war on humanity and Nick is the only one who can stop them.
Review by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild review team
This book is quite different from the ones I have normally read, no vampires, werewolves or demons, just Reapers, Fate, and Death. Although a young adult book, it was written well and caught my attention from the first page.
What should have been just another average day in thirteen year old Dylan Nicholas Ramsay’s life, turned out to be a day that would forever change his life. Nick’s teacher, Mr. Sanchez, suddenly collapsed in class and was dying. If that wasn’t scary enough, Nick saw a skeleton in a black cloak. Not realizing what he was seeing, Nick screamed out to the creature to leave his teacher alone and to go away but Mr. Sanchez was gone.
Nick is convinced that what he saw was Death, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. He has no idea of who to turn to for the truth of what he has witnessed. Although his young girlfriend, Julia, keeps asking him who he was yelling at, he knows he can’t discuss it with her. When Nick gets home his mother is frantic, his grandmother has been brought to the hospital and when they arrive once again Nick sees a skeleton in a black cloak only this time Nick screams at the creature to get away and leave, which unbelievably it does. Nick’s action sets into motion a series of deadly events.
What Nick never expected was to arrive home to hear his mother and a strange man arguing. All he hears is his mother yelling; he wasn’t supposed to see them so early. The explanation that Nick gets completely turns his life upside down. The stranger is his father, who just happens to be Death. The other creatures he has seen are rogue Reapers set on laying waste to the world. These rogues are ready to kill people, whether they are on Fate’s list or not. Nick’s grandmother was fated to die, and when he changed it he set the way for a war with the Reapers.
All Nick should have to do now, at thirteen, is plan for dates and college. Now he learns that when he turns twenty-five, he will take over his father’s position as Death. He is one of the Royal Bloodline, the most revered Angels born of human blood. Of course, the fact that Nick must die before he becomes Death doesn’t sit well with him. When Nick’s father doesn’t return from correcting Nick’s error, things go from bad to worse. His father is in Purgatory, the waiting room between Heaven and Hell, and now Nick not only has to stop a war, but also rescue his father.
Nick also finds himself in trouble with Fate for stopping his grandmother’s death and causing all this trouble. Fate tells him that if he doesn’t correct the situation, she will destroy most of his town as punishment.
The rogues are killing those closest to Nick starting with his girlfriend. Is she killed? Can he save her? How can a thirteen year old destroy Reapers? Can he save his father? He loves Julia, but do they have a future together especially if she finds out he is Death?
This book is very interesting and there are so many surprises, such as what did the event of 9/11 play into all of this. I recommend this book; it was very good and I look forward to the next one in the series.