Review: Managing Death by Trent Jamieson - 5 Qwills

Managing Death
Author: Trent Jamieson
Series: Death Works 2
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Orbit (January 1, 2011)
Price: $7.99
Language: English
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9780316126298
Review Copy: E-Arc provided by Publisher via NetGalley

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Cover and Description:

It's not easy being Death. For starters, people keep dying. And then, they keep getting up again.

Steven de Selby got promoted. This makes the increasing number of stirrers (and the disturbing rumors of a zombie god rising sometime soon) his problem. That time management seminar he keeps meaning to take would also remind him that he's got a Death Moot to plan, a Christmas party to organize, and an end-of-the-world thing to avert.

Steven must start managing Death, before Death starts managing him, or this time the Apocalypse will be more than Regional.






My Thoughts:

Please note that this a bit spoilery for the first book in the series.

I am totally in love with this series. I enjoyed the first book Death Most Definite, but Trent Jamieson has raised it up more than a notch for, Managing Death. Steven de Selby is a now Regional Manager (RM)  for Mortmax Industries meaning that he is Death for his part of the world. He became RM after a Regional Apocalypse in his area, which seems to be a normal way to change RMs. de Selby does not have a handle on his job at the start of Managing Death. He's relying heavily on his Ankou (2nd in command), Tim, and his head psychopomp (Pomp), Lissa, who is also his girlfriend. The Pomps send the souls of the dead to the Underworld. They also stall Stirrers who are not good for the world at all. The Death Moot he's to host is coming up. A Death Moot is a gathering of the worldwide RMs and is very important. The Stirrer god is coming. Bad things keep happening. Things are just not going well for Steven de Selby.

Managing Death is a terrific book. Steven de Selby is an incredibly interesting flawed character. The interactions between de Selby, Lissa, and Tim ring true. I like the Underworld construct in this series a lot. Both primary and secondary characters are well developed. The story kept me completely engaged from start to finish. There is, of course, plenty of dark humor. We are reading about Death after all. I did not see the end of this story coming though I knew something was coming. I was completely surprised by the exact events at the end. I had a definite "Wow" moment followed quickly by an "I can't wait to read the next book" moment.  Managing Death is a book I will read again.

I give Managing Death 5 Qwills.

Prior books in the series:

Death Most Definite
Book 1

Steven de Selby has a hangover. Bright lights, loud noise, and lots of exercise are the last thing he wants. But that's exactly what he gets when someone starts shooting at him.

Steven is no stranger to death-Mr. D's his boss after all-but when a dead girl saves him from sharing her fate, he finds himself on the wrong end of the barrel. His job is to guide the restless dead to the underworld but now his clients are his own colleagues, friends, and family.

Mr. D's gone missing and with no one in charge, the dead start to rise, the living are hunted, and the whole city teeters on the brink of a regional apocalypse-unless Steven can shake his hangover, not fall for the dead girl, and find out what happened to his boss- that is, Death himself.