Prologue
The first time Ethan James nearly died was at the age of six. He’d stumbled into a hornet’s nest and gotten stung twenty-three times before his sister Olivia had dragged him away. The next time, he was ten. He went into a brief coma after reacting badly to anesthesia during surgery on his leg. No one thought he’d pull through, but lo and behold, he did. Close shave number three came when he was twelve and he’d decided that climbing a tree with his leg in a cast would be a good idea.
The brushes with death didn’t stop after he’d—despite the setbacks—survived childhood. Over the course of his career as a private investigator, a few more near-death experiences followed.
By the time he was about to turn thirty, he’d almost gotten used to the idea of flirting with the Grim Reaper.
