The Collector Review

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

I have to be honest and tell you that when I first heard about The Collector, I was scared to read it because the plot sounded just like Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers (which by the way, is one of my favourite books).  I mean, a hot, arrogant soul collector from hell who is the best at what he does is sent on an assignment to collect a good girl’s soul (and she just happens to have some sort of significance) and guess what?!  The more time Dante spends with Charlie, the more he starts to care for her.  Yeah, that sounds like Personal Demons all right but you know what?  Time and time again I think of something that Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver and The Scorpio Races) once said - that just because two people have the same idea, it doesn’t mean that it’s the same book and it’s all down to the execution of it.  She’s a wise woman is Maggie. I am pleased to tell you that The Collector IS a different book to Personal Demons and definitely just as enjoyable if you give it a chance.

Now it’s time for confession number two.  When I first started reading the book, I HATED Dante.  I thought he was an arrogant, selfish jerk and the way he talked? Who talks like that?!  I almost stopped reading as I thought this was not the book for me.  And then something magical happened.  Slowly but surely, as I got to know him better through his interactions with Charlie and Grams, I saw that beneath the shiny exterior, he’s actually a somewhat decent guy and I actually grew to like him.  I have the utmost respect and appreciation for books that can make me change my mind and that my friends, is purely down to the talent of the writer.

Dante is the main protagonist in the book but most of the focus is on Charlie, a sixteen year old girl who lives with her Grams.  At first, I thought she sounded a lot younger than her character but I’m going to put that down to the fact that she’s led a somewhat sheltered life and never goes out to parties or socialises with “the cool kids”.   She’s not the prettiest of girls on the outside but she has an inner beauty that makes her a really decent person and she has two loyal best friends in the form of Annabelle and Blue, the latter being a boy who secretly holds a candle for Charlie.    I liked the fact that Blue was the only one who saw the inner beauty Charlie had and as she became more beautiful on the outside, it sort of didn’t matter as much to Dante at that point as he’d already fallen for her.  They seemed like such an unlikely partnership in the beginning and you’ll just have to read the book to find out if they can make it work.

I will say that there is one particular question (not the one above) that isn’t answered fully at the end of the book, an unresolved plot point if you will and this niggled me a little BUT it paves the way quite nicely for a sequel. I really enjoyed the book, it was fun and laugh out loud funny at times but there were also heartfelt moments that will touch even the coldest soul.  A fantastic debut from Victoria Scott, my pre-ordered copy should be arriving any day now and all I have to leave you with is...POW ;)

The Collector was published on 25th March, 2013.  To find out more about Victoria Scott and her books, please click here to visit her website.