Book Review: The Taken & The Lost

We're going to discuss the first two books in Vicki Pettersson's newest undertaking, the Celestial Blues series, together since I read them back to back and I canNOT wait for the third to come out.

Griffin Shaw is the male protagonist of this series. He and his beloved wife Evie were murdered in Las Vegas in 1960. Apparently Grif didn't take being ripped from this mortal coil all too well because he was not successfully incubated in the Everlast (what we like to call the afterlife) and is still too emotionally damaged? burdened? to enter Heaven. As a result he's been assigned to the role of a centurion, or an angel responsible for escorting newly departed souls safely to the other side. On his most recent mission he broke one of the cardinal rules of being a good angel and interfered. As punishment he's tossed back to Earth and locked into his flesh. Griffin Shaw is alive again: half angel, half man, half a century displaced. Then he goes and interferes again and saves Kit Craig from fated death.

Kit is a modern day girl in love with the past. She's a bonafide rockabilly chick. And believe me, Vicki's description of the rockabilly lifestyle and clothing will have you wishing to join up. Kit is also a reporter who, perhaps naively, believes that truth will always win. Despite Grif's protests that she is putting herself in danger by pursuing the criminal kingpins (and queens) of modern day Vegas, Kit manages to drag him right along in all of her journalistic pursuits. She also teaches him the importance of a good manicure and getting your hair done along the way.

The two make an engaging team and a unique romantic pairing. The thrilling plots of the individual books will leave you a bit shocked at the depths of depravity that human beings are capable of reaching. These are definite page turners. They also have a nice dose of fantasy with the whole angel dynamic. Vicki has concocted a very unique view of the afterlife and I'm enjoying the novelty of it all. I'm also in love with the vivid fashion descriptions that having a 'billy heroine allows. And like I said, I cannot wait for the third installment in this trilogy so I can finally watch Kit and Grif figure out the answer to "Who killed Griffin Shaw?"