Made for you by Melissa Marr

It starts with an unthinkable accident - someone has run down Eva Cooper-Tilling and left her for dead on the side of the road.  When Eva wakes in the hospital she has no memory of what happened in the moments leading up to the crash, but she does remember that her boyfriend left her stranded so she decided to walk.  When a second girl dies in a suspicious accident it looks as though Eva may not have been in an accident at all - that someone may have run her down deliberately.

Recovering from the near fatal accident has left Eva vulnerable and weak - and has left her with startling visions.  Whenever someone touches her bare skin Eva experiences their death, feeling everything they feel.  For some it is the painless death that comes with old age, or the ravages of cancer, but there are also some who are the victims of a killer.  When a third victim is found it becomes clear that someone is stalking the people that Eva knows, someone who seems to have a connection to Eva.  When you are injured and vulnerable like Eva is a killer is twice as scary and twice as dangerous.  Can Eva use her new found skill to find the killer before it is too late?

Made for you was an additive and twisted read from start to finish - the characters fully formed with all their faults and secrets.  Eva could so easily have come across as a spoilt little rich girl who has had an accident and fallen 'victim' to an obsession, but instead she is a strong voice not afraid to try and solve the mystery herself.  The world around her is full of people with their own little secrets and mysteries, and one voice in particular has motives and secrets that become increasingly dark and twisted.  The Judge is a character that lurks in the background for the first part of the story, teasing you to guess who they might be, and then forces his way into the second part of the story as he goes for what he wants.  

The backdrop of 'good old' Southern society is an interesting setting for the story because it provides a wealth of cultural references that make the story stronger without drowning you in detail.  This is not a story that could have happened in New York or California, it needs the history and the gentile world of the South to make it believable, and it adds a delicious flavour of small town secrets and what happens when everyone knows your secrets.  There was a lot to like here, the characters and the setting, but also the subtle teasing out of the psychological thriller of guessing who the Judge is before he can complete his plans for Eva and everyone she loves.

If you like this book then try:

• NEED by Joelle Charbonneau
• I hunt killers by Barry Lyga
• The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen
• The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Acceleration by Graham McNamee
• What waits in the woods by Kieran Scott
• Remember by Eileen Cook
• Furious Jones and the assassin's secret by Tim Kehoe
• Nearly gone by Elle Cosimano
• The naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Burning blue by Paul Griffin
• The Christopher killer by Alane Ferguson
• The naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• The compound by S.A. Bodeen
•  XVI by Julia Karr
• The barcode tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
• Proxy by Alex London

Reviewed by Brilla