Dead and Kicking
by Wendy Roberts
(Obsidian $6.99, NV) ISBN 978-0-451-22862-8
****
After Sadie Novak’s brother Brian committed suicide, she started a business cleaning up crime scenes. She also developed a talent for seeing and talking to ghosts and helping them cross over, whether it is just convincing the person they are dead or delivering one last message. While it is something Sadie doesn’t necessarily enjoy doing, she knows she is performing a valuable service. When she is confronted by the ghost of her father, who has just died from a heart attack, she is more than a little reluctant to help him cross over. Neither Sadie nor her father can figure out why he is still hanging around, but experience and her gut tell her she will figure it out soon enough.  

Sadie has also hit a rough patch with her boyfriend and employee Zack. Sadie’s gut is telling her all is not well between them.  She is less than pleased to learn Zack has taken a job on behalf of the firm cleaning out the house of his ex-girlfriend’s mother. Paula’s mother was a hoarder and there is barely room to move in the house. There is also something that Zack can’t see, a very angry ghost who causes him to have an accident, breaking his ankle. 

A box with a mummified baby is uncovered and Sadie can’t help but wonder if it is connected to the house of horrors or whether Paula’s mother picked it up as part of a junk shopping spree, not knowing what was in the box. Now the police are involved, including Sadie’s friend Dean Petrovich, and interested to learn who the baby belonged to and if the baby is connected to anyone in the house. 

The evil coming from the house is more than Sadie has ever felt, and she feels there is some evil and danger coming from a person who is still alive. She must put her personal problems aside and gird herself if she hopes to get her life back on track and put all these things behind her.  

Sadie has always been very kind helping families and loved ones of the deceased and now that she is in need, she is not sure where to turn. Her mother and sister did not know of her talents and do not react well when they are told.  She normally can count on Zack, but learns he may have reverted to some of his old habits that he must address before he can help her.  Her relationship with Petrovich has always been one of close friends, but she knows he has his own demons he is fighting and doesn’t want to stand in the way of his progress. 

The investigation into how the baby ended up in the house and the identity of the ghost is well-plotted and offers several twists to keep readers guessing. The conclusion of one of Sadie’s clean-ups during this time may not be entirely satisfactory, but it is during this clean-up that Sadie manages to put herself back together.  An unusual young woman with an unusual occupation and talent, Sadie Novak learns to let others help her this time out where she is normally used to helping everyone else.  Dead and Kicking is thoroughly enjoyable.                                                              

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry


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