Review: The First Time I Died

The First Time I Died by Jo Macgregor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have read a couple of Joanne Macgregor’s young adult contemporary books – Hushed and The Law of Tall Girls – and have since found myself more than willing to dive into the author’s other work. In fact, I find myself curious about all her work and plan to one day devour them all. As it currently stands, however, I started through taking a step away from the young adult contemporary books and decided to read one of the thrillers written under the name Jo Macgregor. As a big thriller fan, I was extremely eager to see how The First Time I Died played out.

From the very first page, I was sucked into this story. It quickly became a book I was willing to devour in a single sitting, finding myself sucked deeper and deeper into the story. There were so many elements of the story I wanted to find out more about, so many theories I had, and I could not wait to see how each played out. Were any of my theories correct? Had I managed to work out who was involved? Did I fall victim to the countless red herrings thrown throughout? My mind was amassed with such questions, at the same time trying to puzzle out the details.

I will be honest and say I did work out some of the elements of this story, but much of the bigger picture remained a mystery to me. As someone who reads a lot of thrillers, it’s always nice when I fail to work out every detail. In fact, such are the kind of thriller books that are my favourite. It quickly becomes boring when you’re reading the same kind of story over and over – which is certainly not the case with The First Time I Died.

Not only was this book a great thriller, one that kept me guessing in regards to the mystery, it also included one of my favourite elements – a bit of the paranormal. I love it when thriller books have a paranormal edge, but I also find myself disappointed by such an element more often than not. Fortunately, The First Time I Died did the supernatural element really well, making it a great paranormal thriller. Don’t worry for those who dislike paranormal reads, as it is not one of those stories where we’re buried under masses of supernatural information – it’s well interwoven, ensuring you’ll be hooked to the paranormal elements of the story in addition to the mystery and thriller elements.

There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be reading more Jo Macgregor thriller books in the future, as this one was a fabulous read that has left me desperate for more.

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