My So-Called Death by Stacey Jay

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

ISBN: 978-0738715438
Available: New
Karen tragically died from a major fall from the top of the cheerleading pyramid. Even more tragically, she has discovered that she is a genetic zombie and now has to live out the rest of her days slurping down animal brains and fearing maggot infestations. She’s even transferred to DEAD high, where supposedly she’ll learn how to cope with her new, long-lasting, but secret, un-life.

But high school, even undead high school, is cruel, and to make bad things worse, a full day into Karen’s new life a body of a student is found with her brain harvested by an unknown bad guy that just happens to be lurking around the school. Now perky, driven Karen is taking it upon herself to ferret out the killer before something really, really bad happens.

My So-Called Death weaves back and forth over the line between strong characterization and too much. As amusing as Karen’s ultramodern and perky inner monologue is, it, and the lack of strong characters outside of the lead, her best friend, and her boyfriend, is bound to annoy some readers who never saw the spirit behind similar tales, like the movies Clueless and Legally Blonde. It’s a perky-fun-gruesome mystery, horror-lite in terms of gore, violence and general darkness.  But it’s not without creepy, and almost-serious scenes, sort of like the dread one would feel at seeing a bedazzled pirate flag on an approaching ship.

As for its value to collections, there’s definitely an audience for Jay’s kind of creepy-gross-not-quite-dark humor. At the very least, adults could enjoy it for all the in-jokes about iconic 80s and 90s culture.

Contains: fried brain bites and giant maggots