Gabriel Matthews has always been able to see the Grim Reaper when death is near. Silent and imposing, the Reaper has lingered as a terrifying yet fascinating figure in the teen’s life. 
Until now.
When unexpected tragic news arrives, the Reaper offers Gabriel a terrible choice, one that demands everything he has to give, and that will thrust him into a nightmare far worse than he ever imagined.

An Interesting if predictable take on the Grim reaper. I did enjoy even though I kept finding myself losing interest now and then as the story slowed.
It wasn't the best horror story I have yet read this year but it is worth giving a chance if you don't like your horror too gory or bloody.

Recommended for young adult audiences or those new to the genre. Published date FEB. 26, 2025
Thanks to @netgalley and Book Whisperer for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

The premise of Grim was intriguing and any book featuring the Grim Reaper is usually a hit with me.

A teenage boy making a deal with the Grim Reaper to spare his mother’s life should make a gripping story but I had to force myself to keep reading. I found the majority of the characters, especially the main character, unlikeable and I really couldn’t get invested enough to care what happened.

Although I didn’t I’m sure there will be a lot of people who will really enjoy this book.

Excellent! It had a good pace, interesting characters and I loved the premise. Would definitely read other books by this author!

This book had a lot of potential... Interesting concept However it really fell flat towards the middle and I just found myself wishing it was done.... The ending didn't redeem it...

I really wanted to like this book. The description sounded so interesting, and I wanted to learn more about the Grim Reaper. However, I got 25% of the way into it and couldn't finish. The writing was juvenile, and the dialogue was trite. The main character, a boy who starts in elementary school, didn't speak at all like a small child. And when he gets to high school, it felt more like how a middle aged man who wasn't cool assumed "bad kids" spoke and acted. The parents were... lacking. Conflicts felt forced and contrived, and I wanted the grim reaper character to be more somehow. Maybe it got better, but I could not bring myself to spend more time on this story.

Because children can see otherworldly creatures due to their innocence, Gabriel found it easy to see the shadow that hung around when someone passed away. He was too young to understand what he was seeing and the entity could not speak. Gabriel eventually realizes he is communicating with the Grim reaper. I had some very mixed feelings while reading this book. I guess I had questions as to why Gabriel could see the Grim reaper but not anyone else. He almost seemed to like being friends with Grim. Once his mom became sick, the reality of what Grim did was weighing on his mind. The contract, once laid out, should not have been offered to a child. Manipulative behavior was constructed as a way to help instead of being what it was…a trap. Unfortunately for Gabriel he did not know the full scope of what he was about to do and the consequences of his choice. This book was very dark and bleak.

First off Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book to read.

To look at the cover of this book I wasn't a 100% sure this would be my thing.  But as I continued to read about gabe his "friends" and the story around his family. And the situation he found himself in I found myself hooked. I'm yet to read a story like this, the concept of death and the grim reaper I found interesting. I wanted to know what would happen to Gabe and Irene (his mum). I would recommend this story to others. Thank you David for writing a genuinely interesting and fascinating read.

Well, it is an interesting topic, which has also been used quite a bit. While I was trying not set myself up for any reconceptions, it was difficult not to compare the book to Mort, Scythe Trilogy or The Reaper Chronicles.

Out of all them, this one is probably the darkest and most depressing. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's a dark topic and even though authors often want push for humour way of looking at it, there is also a different side to it. I couldn't say that it was my favourite of the similarly themed reads... it went on a scale of "okay". Not bad, not brilliant either.

The chosen language is easy to read, so unless you're bothered about constant gnawing doubts, self guilt and other morale issues plaguing the main character, you probably will breeze through it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book to review.

3.5 stars

This was an interesting read! I haven't read many books dealing with the grim reaper, so this one felt pretty unique to me.

Unfortunately this one was just okay. It was pretty slow at the start, but got a little more interesting as it went along. It felt a little more 'thriller' than horror, so that took away from the story a bit for me, as I was expecting more horror.

Overall though, pretty interesting and worth a read.

This book had me at the edge of my seat, very good, twists and turns. Will be ordering this book for my collection.

I liked the book. I thought the plot and characters were interesting. I found it less horror, and more dark suspense? I think the premise is interesting though and it was enjoyable.

Grim by David Cinella
3.5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐

Gabe sees a black hooded figure constantly lingering around him after his father's death. He's the only one who can see it. He is bullied a lot in school so he befriends the figure, or the Grim Repear himself. Now Gabriel is all grown up but the repear still as his friend. Until one day he receives a devastating news. Then me makes a deal, with the death itself to undo the happenings. But what would this deal cost him???
For the plot, it wasn't exactly horror like, but it did question a lot of moral values of the characters. How far can one go to save the person they love. It was really interesting to read how Gabe's choice affected him and what happened of him. A 4 for the plot.
For the characters, I love Gabe's development. As the story progresses we see how he loses all his human morals to reach his one goal.

Overall it was a good read with excellent pacing, story development and the overall theme and idea, putting yourself into Gabe's shoes gets you thinking.
Thanks yo Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you netgalley for providing this arc.. sorry im reviewing a bit later than anticipated .. life does that sometimes.

It was a very interesting series of events. Some things i guessed but the ending, as per usual cuz i cant predict everything, was kinda unexpected but i loved it. It reminded me of death note and when a monster calls when i started reading it .. i love both so i continued reading with ease. The clues and nuggets dropped in sugarcoated the unexpected ending. I was still shocked but not really surprised either. It felt good to have a well rounded ending. I like those. Feels like huge full-stop yk?

Recommend!! Hoping everyone that reads this enjoys it like i did, if not more.

ARC Review ✨️

♡Gabriel & the Reaper♡

Grim is a fascinating dark tale. The author was not wrong when they said the writing would haunt you! I completely love that!! I'm a horror fanatic, so the darker the better! 😈🖤

Gabriel can see the Reaper whenever death is near. He's always kept to himself until one day he gives Gabriel a choice. The cost is ultimately his humanity. Gabriel quickly finds out that death isn't the scariest part, but instead, it's only the beginning of where horror truly lurks.

The writing and the character building were written flawlessly. The whole concept around this book was highly intriguing. The suspense that kicked in when you know there's about to be a major plot twist was perfectly executed. I highly recommend this story to any fans of the horror world!

Thanks so much to the author, Book Whisperer, and Netgalley for the ARC!

It’s the last Wednesday of February! You know what that means… book review time! This month, I decided to try a little horror (not that I needed it with the state of everything, but yeah). Grim by David Cinnella is being released via The Book Whisperer today (the 26th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

Grim follows Gabe Matthews from childhood into those angsty teenage years. As a young boy, he loses his father, but discovers a secret silent friend dressed in black robes and carrying a scythe. The problem is that no one else can see this being. At 17, his mother is diagnosed with cancer. In a desperate attempt to save her, Gabe makes a deal with his friend. But can Gabe pull off his end of the bargain and save both his mother and himself?

The plot. It’s a pretty standard “deal with Death” scenario. Gabe’s a momma’s boy and doesn’t have the coping skills to deal with her potential death. He’s a bullied outcast in a small town. So, he talks to his Grim Reaper friend and ends up making a deal that doesn’t go as planned. There’s nothing new or surprising about it. Some of it doesn’t really make sense. Gabe’s leap to “I must murder people” instead of “I have to temporarily take over this dude’s job” when he sees the contract is weird, but I put it off to the whole being a teenager thing. The contract itself is pretty straightforward, so the ending felt like a giant leap. I mean… you wrote the contract. You can’t just randomly add something to it in order to create a plot twist. It feels like author interference rather than a natural progression of the story and that’s not good. It knocked the plot from a solid standard but not bad, down to mediocre.

The characters were mostly fine. I didn’t really connect to Gabe because he was pretty stupid for a supposedly smart kid. I had no idea where his anger at his stepdad came from. Basically, there were far too many things that I had to attribute to his being a teenager rather than being shown why he was the way he was. It was all very surface level. His stepdad was awkward but nice enough. Mom was the perfectly imperfect mother in the hopes that the reader would empathize with Gabe’s plight. Everyone played the role they were made for without much work to flesh them out. They were solidly standard which isn’t bad, it’s just not memorable. And that’s fine.

I’m going to be honest. I finished this book about a week ago and I don’t remember much about it. I remember the parts that didn’t quite make sense and the general story, but nothing really sticks out. Which means I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. Nothing about the writing sticks out. I’ll forget it entirely in a few days. A lot of books are like that.

Ultimately, Grim is a thing that exists. It’s neither good nor bad enough to hate. It just is. I’m not going to go looking for more books by Cinnella, but I won’t actively avoid his stuff.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Actually, 2 and a half. I don’t think you’re missing anything if you skip it, but it’s not something I’ll tell you not to read. Unless you take issue with the whole “killing off/harming a woman simply to motivate the hero/villain” trope. Then you should probably steer clear of this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I was expecting a little bit more from this one. I overall enjoyed the book and was happy to read all of it, but what I had expected it to be and what it actually was didn't really align.

I think the book was a good exploration of morality and raised a strong question of how far would you go.

I think that if this book sounds interesting to you then you should give it a try, but it might not be everyone's style.

Beautifully written with a very dark message.

I really felt for Gabrielle and his desire to save his mother, and the levels that he was willing to go to in order to do that.
I was hooked into this from chapter to chapter, with each one being different and yet skilfully driving the narrative forward.

Unfortunately I really couldn’t get into this story. I found the protagonist to be quite unlikeable and wasn’t invested in his progression through the story.

The Grim Reaper wasn’t really a novel portrayal either, and so this book didn’t really stand out to me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
I was extremely excited to start this novel based on a young boy, turned teen and a horrific deal he makes with the grim reaper.
The story had promise but for me went down hill about half way.
The character building was good as I felt for characters and the life situations they were in.
For me this book was very sad and depressing.
I’m not sure to what audience I would recommend this novel …

A good horror with a twist. Gabrielle sees the Grim Reaper when death is near and begins to view him as a friend. When disaster strikes he offers him a deal, but at what cost. Gabrielle's life is filled with unexpected twists and devastation. I received an ARC copy for free from Bookwhisperer, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.