Review: Eighth Grave After Dark

Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson, #8
Released: May 19th 2015
Publisher: Piatkus
Length: 304 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums. 

Charley's been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.

While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….

Yes, it’s finally that time of the year – Charley Davidson is back with us, in all her glory, to amuse and entertain, to make us laugh and even break our hearts.

Charley’s world is becoming more complicated by the second. Eighth Grave finally offers some answers, but with them come even more questions and uncertainties. Darynda Jones knows how to give us just enough, intrigue us even more, and leave us begging for the next installment.


Eighth Grave is more static than the previous books due to Charley and Reyes being geographically limited. Instead of running all over the place and jumping from one case to the next, Charley is closed up in a convent, unable to leave the premises. This limits her ability to investigate, but she wouldn’t be Charley if she didn’t find ways around her. Mystery follows our girl everywhere, why should an abandoned convent be any different?

Eighth Grave may be a slower book, but it’s a game changer nevertheless. It’s one of the most emotionally charged Charley Davidson books to date and as usual, you can expect laughs and tears both. Most of us who read Seventh Grave already suspected that things would never be the same, but none of us could have predicted where Jones would choose to take it all in the end. The changes are scary for Charley and they’re very scary for us fans. For the first time since the beginning, even after all the hardship, the injuries and the losses, we don’t know how our beloved character might change.

The ending is not a cliffhanger as such, but it’s wide open and it gives us a clear idea of what to expect in the next book, which will undoubtedly be very emotional for all of us. However, the set up, the brand new situation our heroes find themselves in, will likely be a source of hilarity too. Things usually are where Charley’s involved. The release of Ninth Grave has been pushed to 2016, which I’m none too thrilled about, but I’d wait forever for Charley and Reyes. What’s nine months between friends?

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.