Title:  Dead Rules [Indie Bound] [Amazon]
Author: Randy Russell [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre:  Paranormal, Satire
Publisher: Harper Teen
Series: N/A
Format: Paperback (ARC)
Source: Provided by Publisher’s PR Rep
Parental Advisory: drugs, alcohol, criminal activity, death, murder
Teachable Moments: faith, trust, priority setting

“Jana wished someone knew how many demerits it took for a Riser to become a Slider.  If she had to do five hundred things against the rules, she would do them all tonight if she could.  Since she had earned only three demerits for skinny-dipping, she knew she needed to do something much more extreme.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Jana Webster and Michael Haynes were destined to be together forever.  Of that, Jana was sure.

But Jana just died — in a bowling accident.  And when she finds herself in Dead School her carefully planned future begins to unravel.  All she can think about is reuniting with Michael, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and bring Michael to her.  And nothing — not even handsome, mysterious Mars Dreamcote and his irresistibly warm touch — will distract Jana from making her dreams come true.

Opinion:
Dead School is the story of a teenaged version of purgatory.  When Jana Webster dies and finds herself a student she tries desperately to make her new existence mirror her old.   Most particularly she needs her other half, boyfriend Michael.  Whether that means she finds a way back to him or makes it so he can come to her.

Russell has created a book that is strong in both plot and character.  A well rounded cast navigating an interesting and only slightly predictable mystery made for a fun read.  Having said that, even the most predictable part of the story was ultimately revealed early on so it wasn’t a detractor in the long run.  There was no pointless waiting or sifting through obvious clues.  This point had to be provided early on as it drove the remainder of the story and for that I was thankful.

I will say that there was one point (which I won’t reveal here so as to not spoil you) that I though for sure played an important role in the story overall that really wasn’t something that mattered in the least.  In fact, the focus on this point ended up distracting me from the overall plot of the story needlessly.  Or at least I thought it was needlessly because in actuality it really was more a form of misdirection.  I was so busy thinking about figuring out the who and what that I was unable to think about what was *really* going on.  As such the author was able to keep a pretty big piece of the puzzle hidden from me until he wanted it revealed at the end.  Bravo!

As a character Jana is pretty straightforward.  She’s all me, me, me!  She wanted to get back to her life pre-death, wanted to have her boyfriend back even if it meant killing him to bring him to Dead School too, and she wanted Mars to help her achieve that goal. There were glimpses of selflessness as she and Mars got closer to achieving her goal but in the end what everything came down to was her wants and needs.  Factoring into that was a bit of the forbidden fruit syndrome. Jana knew that Mars was the key to getting her to Michael.  This in itself should have made him appealing but the fact of the matter was she was also experiencing a growing attraction to him.  For his part, Mars was elusive, mysterious and charismatic.  He had answers to questions she was asking but only let her in on it all when it suited him best.  Some would describe him as cocky, me, I’d describe him as devious.  I’ll leave it at that.

Russell also crafted unique and interesting secondary characters to fill the story out.  As part of Jana’s journey to regain the glory of her previous life she makes friends with a variety of Dead School students.  These students were each part of one of the following two groups –  Sliders (those on their way to hell) or Risers (those on their way to heaven).  What this means is that there are steps each must go through to work their way up or down the ladder.  This fact plays a significant role in Jana’s quest to be with Michael as she is doing her best to change her already predetermined fate.  Anyway, these characters are showcased primarily in their interactions with Jana as they describe how they died and became part of their designated group.

As I mentioned this story centered primarily around Jana’s death and her quest to get back to her boyfriend Michael.  But part of that was the mystery surrounding the circumstances of her death.  Masterfully devised Russell put the pieces of the puzzle together in perfect timing.  I was able to experience the enjoyment of the ride as the details of Jana’s demise were lowly revealed through recovered memories.

Told with a satirical tone Dead Rules definitely made me laugh both from humor and incredulity.  It’s got a bit of the absurd and isn’t short on the morbid undertones, but ultimately It’s a fun entertaining read.