NRDS by authors J.P Rindfleisch IX and Jeff Elkins is a book about detectives, ghost detectives, and the agency designed to investigate spectral occurrences within the rural Midwestern city of New Richmond. Readers follow the agents employed by the National Recently Deceased Service to deal with this. We see them dealing with politics, spirits and their associated cases, literal briefcases, and piles and piles of paperwork.
I really enjoyed this book and got absorbed in the story very quickly despite my initial uncertainty as to what I was going to make of it as it’s not a genre I tend to read very often, though not through lack of enjoyment of it. I didn’t notice any spelling or grammar related issues with regard to its editing. Within a chapter I knew I wanted to continue reading, I got drawn in by the lovably confused, jock-type who is our main character, Ethan. I was intrigued to see where it could go and I also wanted to find out more about the backgrounds to each of these characters, the ways that they could interplay and work with each other. I can’t say I was disappointed with what I found.
Sometimes the dialogue was alright, it took a little getting used to personally, however, that isn’t a bad thing. I found the plot to be engaging and it was like a physical hook at times, taking me along for the ride. There were scenes where the team were bonding with each other, and outside of work where Buck would be with his husband, or when Ethan was with his family, and those I found to be a little slow, but it didn’t take away from the story as it was separate to the main investigation that was occurring in the workplace. Sometimes slow scenes can enhance the pacing within other aspects.
Ultimately, I became thoroughly immersed in the story and invested in the lives of the characters, and I eagerly await the next instalment of the antics of these characters and their next adventures.
I award this book 5 stars.
