Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

Daisy Giordano is the only one in her family without psychic powers. This normally doesn’t bother her that much, but there’s something irritating about how Daisy’s mom enlists Daisy’s older sister Rose’s help in solving a teenage girl’s recent death because there’s nothing Daisy can do to aid her mother—Daisy can’t provide the psychic support her mother needs. But that won’t stop Daisy from investigating, especially when strange and unexplainable illnesses strike several girls at her own school. Plus, the head cheerleader Samantha Devereaux’s new look is enough to arouse some suspicion; her style has taken goth to its extreme. Now, it’s only a matter of making it onto the cheer squad and convincing her friend Ryan to help her to further this investigation and crack the case, although a little romance or some psychic abilities would be helpful as well.

Interesting and fun, this paranormal mystery is a quick and enjoyable read. Dead is the New Black delves into only some of the secrets of Daisy’s hometown, Nightshade, primarily its supernatural side or psychics, vampires, and werewolves galore. This provides for a unique mystery that mostly kept me guessing. I like how Perez smoothly integrates the supernatural with everyday life as it makes the story seem more plausible and provided for quite a bit of amusing entertainment. I can’t say that anything about this novel is particularly excellent, but it is satisfactory. The characters are realistic with only the smallest inconsistencies, but lack of development in the minor characters is disappointing. It would also have been nice to have more background information about Daisy’s life and the town of Nightshade, because while several past details are mentioned, they aren’t elaborated on; the only way this would work for this story is if newly uncovered secrets are incorporated in later novels. Fast and humorous, Dead is the New Black is a cutesy and innocent paranormal read.

Fans of You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay, Revealers by Amanda Marrone, Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer, The Otherworldies by Jennifer Anne Kogler, Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley, and the Midnighters trilogy by Scott Westerfeld will also like this supernatural novel. I look forward to reading its sequels, Dead is a State of Mind and Dead is So Last Year.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from personal collection