about the book
Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby’s nickname in school is Tyrannosaurus Lex. This should tell you something: namely, she is a monster. She has punched one-too-many other students, and her parents and teachers are fed up with it.
To teach her a lesson, Lex’s parents send her to work with her Uncle Mort on his farm for the summer. A few months of dirty farm work ought to whip her into better manners… But farm work is far from Uncle Mort’s mind. His real job would shock Lex’s parents—he is a Grim Reaper. Yes, there are many of them. How does that make you feel? How does it make Lex feel?
Lex feels that it is awesome! She can’t wait to start her own Grim training—for she has the family gift as well, which explains a lot about her behavior. Lex finally feels like she has a place to belong—the town of Croak, where everyone is either a Reaper or a Reaper in training, like her.
But when criminals start dying with no apparent cause—before any Reaper is assigned to them—Lex’s training takes a turn into mystery. Unless, of course, it is she who is responsible for taking justice into her new-found Grim hands….
about the author
Gina Damico was raised under four feet of snow in Syracuse, New York. People who visit the city think it is part of Canada; it’s that cold! She grew up with a fun-loving younger sister, who helped, unwittingly, to murder their two hamsters—through neglect. Gina still regrets this.
She did not grow up wanting to be a writer. Gina was a reader for longer than she can remember, but she really didn’t want to write. That desire only came along once she hit Boston College and joined the Committee for Creative Enactments, “the awesomest student-run murder mystery troupe ever” (her words). She wrote a script for one of their terrible, terrible plays, and it actually got produced!
When Gina graduated from college, she once again lost the desire to write. She worked a number of ho-hum jobs—yarn hawker, office troll, telemarketer, museum tour guide, and scenic artist. She was even a movie extra for The Departed. But no writing.
Only when she landed the “exciting” temp job at the HR department of a large hotel did she begin writing again—out of boredom! On one slow workday, she just sort of stumbled upon the idea of a Grim Reaper teaching his niece how to do his job. That idea blossomed into Croak and…Presto! She became a writer!
Gina lives near Boston with her hubby, two kitties, one pup, and way too many black hoodies!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Miss Literati
Author interview : Jean Book Nerd
Also by Gina Damico:
Rogue (Croak, Book 3). Graphia. 2013.
Scorch (Croak, Book 2). Graphia. 2012.
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Adelice has a gift: the ability to bend the very fabric of reality. When her parents find out they try to hide her ability, but the Guild finds out and takes her. Now Adelice is being trained to weave reality for the lives of the people of Arras—the world after the Earth—but a net of lies and a dangerous romance get in her way.
Reaper Man (Discworld, Book 11) by Terry Pratchett
After spending some time pondering the existential, the now squeamish Grim Reaper decides that he no longer wants to provide the public service of Death to the residents of Discworld. Chaos and unrest ensue, especially for the likes of Windle Poons, who was looking forward to a good afterlife! Fed up with humdrum life, Windle goes off to convince the Grim Reaper to come out of retirement.
Scorch (Croak, Book 2) by Gina Damico
Lex has become scary, even to her fellow Grim Reapers. She has the ability to damn souls, a power none of the other Grims seem to possess—until Lex accidentally gives the power to the psychopathic Zara, who has begun killing people just to damn them. Zara has given Lex an ultimatum: Lex will find a powerful book for her, or she will not stop her killing spree.