Another One Bites the Dust: Jensen Murphy, Ghost For Hire

Medium Amanda Lee has a unique ally in exploring the supernatural: a ghost named Jensen Murphy. After the tumultuous events surrounding their first team effort, they hope their new case will be less daunting: investigating a woman’s boyfriend with anger issues. But Amanda and Jensen will both face dire consequences if they don’t get this one right. Because others are watching them with great interest… and bad intentions.

Another One Bites the Dust is the sophomore entry in the “Jensen Murphy, Ghost For Hire” series, and features a lot of the same pluses and minuses as the previous novel. Green has done an excellent job tempering the awkward tonal shifts that plagued the first book, but some sections remain terribly clunky (particularly the hamfisted dream interpretation discussions). This is unfortunate, as many other moments in the book are effective and engaging, like Jensen’s struggles with accepting her new identity, her encounters with Fake Dean, and her interactions with her ghostly comrades.

The plot twists are sharper and the dangers are darker and worthy of the reader’s time. Although the “case of the week” is lacking a bit, the complications wrought by events in the first book make up for it.