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The Undead series has always leaned more on humor and romantic tension than plot, but even so, UNDEAD AND UNRETURNABLE is particularly thin. In this Christmas vampire romance (a phrase I never thought I would write), Betsy is planning her much-delayed wedding to Sinclair and writing an advice column for the newly dead. These pleasures are offset by the birth of her half-brother and the random ghosts that pop up asking her to pass on their final messages to those left behind. There's also a serial killer running around town grabbing women out of their own driveways, raping and murdering them, and dumping their naked bodies in mall parking lots. With so much going on, it's surprising how little actual action or character development there is. And that's the problem. Although I have really enjoyed the fluffy silliness of the previous three Undead books, I had no patience with this one. Even with an enlarged font and plenty of white space, this tiny book barely reached 250 pages because nothing really happens! Previous plotlines are raised and dismissed in a paragraph or two. It's been two books since Sinclair grimly went to 'fix' things in Europe, but we still don't know exactly what happened or when that heavily-foreshadowed plot complication will finally come to fruition. George makes one more miniscule step towards sanity and is promptly forgotten. The devil's daughter takes a step away from humanity, but that is also dropped because new tensions are glossed over equally quickly. I wouldn't mind the tease if there was some pay-off, but I'm starting to lose faith. Nothing is resolved in this book -- not the wedding, not the personal issues, not vampire politics, not undead reaction to the column, nothing. The only plot that goes anywhere is the the ghost/murderer storyline. When the TV week starts with Medium and ends with Ghost Whisperer, that's a poor choice. UNDEAD AND UNRETURNABLE was indistinguishable from any generic episode of either show. I hope the next book will bring a stronger plot, answers to a few questions, and more of the features that made this series unique.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, November 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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