DYING FOR A LIVING

Jesse Sullivan sounds prickly, but then who wouldn't be in her shoes? In this horrifying urban fantasy, she must die over and over so that others can live. Jesse is a "necronite," one of only 2 percent of the population who take the places of those who are dying. Hollie Jackson deftly portrays the dying Jesse as she spends a final day with each person for whom she'll be a substitute when she's regenerated. As Jesse's "customers" and fellow necronites, Jackson sounds equally intriguing. The action escalates when community churches step up their opposition to the practice of regeneration and become surprisingly violent. Listeners will enjoy Jesse's gallows humor and mysterious past, which is almost as startling as her present life. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2014]