Published By: Bantam
Pages: 384
Released On: 10/04/2025
People have a few ideas about Death, and the worst by far is a skeleton in a black potato sack. If she’s lucky, she gets a scythe. The truth: she’s just a woman doing a job and she’s very good at it.
Until she takes time off to live as a human and everything falls apart. Someone’s killing people not on her schedule (well, not yet anyway) and with no thanks to the Temp she left in charge, it’s up to her to make things right.
With the help of her oh-so-sanctimonious sister, Life, and a charming (sexy) parasitologist, Death must stop the killer before it’s too late. That’s if she can defeat her greatest challenge yet – human bureaucracy.
Who better to investigate a murder than Death herself?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I had read some quite intense books before this but it sound really fun, and even though it resolves around death, it looked quite funny and light-hearted.
It is narrated by death and she is instantly likeable. I loved this side of death. We all know the typical stories, images of death as a morbid, evil character dressed in a black down. But with this book, death is more of a vulnerable, flaws woman who is just trying her best. And it makes death not seem as frightening as we generally perceive it.
I also liked how it made me think of death. I have never actually been scared of death – dying, yes, but death, not so much. But the general feeling towards death in humans is fear, because none of us know what it entails, what happens to us, is there another life after this one. But this book gave us a more tender side to death, it is more peaceful and calming, and just sees like there is a beautiful afterlife coming. And so whilst it is a light-hearted, fun story, it does have these sort of philosophical moments that makes you think, which I wasn’t expecting.
There are lots of characters, but our main players are, of course, Death, and her sister Life, and the dashing parasitologist Marco. We also get bits from Death’s boss (God, one assumes) and the Devil. But this is really Death’s story. Life is a great foil to her and it’s a great exploration of their relationship which at times just seems like the everyday sibling relationship which was fun.
I did feel the romance was a bit unnecessary to begin with, a bit forced. But having finished it, overall I’d say it definitely added an extra depth, and Marco became one of my favourite characters, and his interactions with Death are fabulous.
It is a mixture of fantasy, murder mystery, comedy, and a touch of romance. At times I worried it might have felt too much but I think Veronika has found the right balance overall. On paper it shouldn’t work but it really does.
Whilst I came to this book for a bit of light-hearted fun, I came to really enjoy the mystery element of it, and it had me rushing through the pages to find out what happened. I read it in less than 24 hours, it was so addictive, and if you’re after a funny, light-hearted, but sometimes serious, book about love, life, and death, then definitely pick this up, I would highly recommend it.
Books By Your Bedside 