#ReadAllTheBooks's Reviews > Night of the Living Deed

I'm calling it. I really, really wanted to like this since I love Amanda Ronconi and I think in other hands I'd have given up long ago. I'm going to put this into two parts: what I liked and what I didn't. If you have seen my reading progress notes you can guess what will be in the second part.

What I liked: Amanda Ronconi does an amazing job as narrator. She's a talented woman with a gift for voices. It's why she's able to bring Molly Harper's works to life. I also liked the basic mystery here and I kept reading/listening enough until I learned "whodunnit" and the info about the MacGuffin (no spoilers on this end since it's one of the things I liked about the work and don't want to ruin that for others). I also more or less liked the police officer, one of the few characters I did like in this book.

What I didn't like. Hoo boy. Buckle up.

I really didn't like the ghost characters. Part of the issue here is that they just weren't portrayed as very nice or likeable characters, despite the author telling us that we should like them.

Paul was narrow sighted and didn't seem to care about anyone or anything, as long as the case got solved. I mean, there's a scene where (view spoiler)[ our narrator was detained by the police after discovering a dead body. In an office she broke into because Paul told her to, in order to make a copy of her deed. When she got home it's clear that SOMETHING bad happened, but does he bother to ask her if she's OK? Nope. He immediately starts pestering her about the deed and when he learns that the police confiscated it, he scolds her. And, by the way, she was also surrounded by people who presumably didn't know anything about the ghosts or the fact she could see them. There was every reason for her NOT to respond right away, as for all she knew, they could have sent her right to the hospital to check for a mental break. For all his self-praise for his detective skills (despite only ever having one client, Maxie), he didn't even think of that? (hide spoiler)]

Then there's Maxie. From the start she is hostile to Alison. Hostile because she's there. Hostile because she's alive. Hostile because Alison doesn't want to immediately investigate the murder. The only person she's actually nice to is the daughter, but we don't really see any of that because it's all done off camera since we only see what Alison sees. If we're supposed to sympathize with her, then we actually need scenes of her being sympathetic, as opposed to just people telling us that Maxie is having a hard time.

Then there's her sexual assault of Tony. From the moment she saw him, Maxie starts acting like the animated horn dog. All she needed was an "awooga" horn and her tongue rolling out. However it's made clear from the start that even if he knew she existed (in ghost form) that he would not reciprocate because he was a very happily married man. Alison even tells Maxie this. But does Maxie care? Nope. All that she cares about is Maxie. So at one point in the book she gives Tony a very passionate kiss. I wouldn't be surprised if tongue was involved, given how it's described as a super passionate kiss. It was generally played off for humor and while Alison is upset, it's repeatedly stated that Maxie is oh so upset that Tony didn't enjoy or appreciate the kiss. So we're supposed to feel sorry that the man she sexually harassed and assaulted didn't appreciate her unwanted advances (that up to that point he was unaware of).

Now, here's the thing: if Maxie was "Max" and Tony was "Antonia", this scene would have likely been written far, FAR more different. "Max" would have been scolded up and down for his unwanted romantic/sexual advances. Especially if he made the comment "When I kiss them, they STAY kissed", something Maxie herself says. Something else to take into consideration here is that the book also apparently mentions sexual harassment earlier in the book, as it's where Alison got her payout - she had been sexually harassed by her boss. Yet at no point does Alison (or the author) mention that sexual harassment against men is also bad.

Why does this make me so heated? Because this is just another example of the trope "It's OK if it's female on male". It's a gross, disgusting trope that needs to die a terrible death and go away. I'm aware that this was written in 2010, before #METOO became a thing and before more candid discussions of sexual assault were made. But it's also not like it was written back in the 80s or 90s, when stuff like that was frequently played for humor. Now, I'm aware this is fiction. That it's unlikely to make someone make light of sexual harassment and assault against men. But the thing is, men already have a hard time being taken seriously when they report rape, harassment, and assault. It does seem to happen less frequently, but keep in mind that just as women are blown off or ridiculed by police, so are men, which is why they too are less likely to report assault to the police. It's not the author's job to raise awareness on this exactly, but I do think she and others need to do better.

Plus the whole reason the scene happens? To show to Tony and his wife that ghosts exist. However there are a ton of other ways this could have been accomplished. It didn't need harassment/assault to occur to prove it.

Maybe the series gets better. Maybe at some point we're given actual reasons to like Maxie rather than the author telling us (via the main character) that we should feel back for her and that she's not a terrible person. Maybe the author even realizes that she handled this poorly and goes back and calls out Maxie for sexually harassing and assaulting Tony. But I'm not going to read future books to see if this is ever revealed. I refuse to read a book where sexual harassment (some may debate the kiss being assault) is played for humor, especially if earlier in the book there's mention that the female lead experienced it herself. And when she expresses any displeasure she's told to lighten up and how sad Maxie is and how the lead is "mean" for not treating a horrible garbage person nicely. I'm aware that the loss of a single reader isn't going to make the author lose any sleep, but I have to at least say my piece.

It's just a shame, as the mystery was pretty decent.