Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace (review)

A year ago, Breezy ended up a murder victim after walking home alone from a party where her advances toward her best girl friend were rejected. Now she wakes up clawing her way out of her grave and kills with a single touch the man who happens to be standing over it. Horrified but also curious, Breezy figures out what she has become: she does not need to eat, breathe, or sleep; she cannot be killed; she sees dark shadows behind people who have committed murder; and she is able to kill those people with a touch. She initially believes that the man showing her attention at a rundown café just has a thing for Asian girls, but it turns out he leads a cult that hunts monsters; she is tempted when he offers to expel the darkness from Breezy, but the compassion and generosity that have been offered her by the other monsters she has met make her question his condemnation. Instead of traversing the well-worn path of ghostly vengeance, the story offers a portrait of a girl grieving her former life and wrestling with her new existence. While Breezy is able to see the monstrous acts of humans, she’s no longer certain of who’s good or bad and what those terms means in a world where the flesh-eating ghouls are a source of great kindness. In the end, Breezy must reckon both with the monster who killed her a year ago and the one who wants to kill her now, if the cult has its way. Dark humor laces Breezy’s narration, making this a perfect readalike to Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood (BCCB 12/11).