Note that this review refers specifically to the audio download version, so readers of the print copies should basically ignore comment about the reader. :)
The author of the John Ceepak and Christopher Miller adult mystery series branches out into young adult fiction with this book, I would tend to call it a paranoramal fantasy/horror story, a ghost story.
Zach Jennings and his father and new stepmother are moving into their new home in rural Connecticut. Fortunately, Zach gets along well with Judy, his stepmotherhis real mother had died of lung cancer and actually doesnt sound like a nice person at all. When they arrive in the small town where Zachs dad grew up, theyre met by a whole parcel of ghostsalthough they dont realize it at first. They also meet nasty old Mrs. Spratling, who keeps a Monday morning vigil at a large tree in the corner of the Jennings property where her boyfriend met his demise fifty years previouslyalong with about fifty other people who died in a Greyhound bus accident. What emerges is a twisted, sordid tale of secrets, lusts and greed close to the surface of small-town life. Told partly from the view of Zach, and from several other of the characters, too.
This was an excellent story, very suspenseful, and probably quite scary when read or listened to by the pre-teen/young teen audience that its intended for. Grabenstein certainly makes the crossover to YA fiction very well and tells the story with his usual easy-reading style and enough light humor to offset the scarier parts. Very well done, and it is apparently going to be a series--I've already added the second one to my wishlist!
The author of the John Ceepak and Christopher Miller adult mystery series branches out into young adult fiction with this book, I would tend to call it a paranoramal fantasy/horror story, a ghost story.
Zach Jennings and his father and new stepmother are moving into their new home in rural Connecticut. Fortunately, Zach gets along well with Judy, his stepmotherhis real mother had died of lung cancer and actually doesnt sound like a nice person at all. When they arrive in the small town where Zachs dad grew up, theyre met by a whole parcel of ghostsalthough they dont realize it at first. They also meet nasty old Mrs. Spratling, who keeps a Monday morning vigil at a large tree in the corner of the Jennings property where her boyfriend met his demise fifty years previouslyalong with about fifty other people who died in a Greyhound bus accident. What emerges is a twisted, sordid tale of secrets, lusts and greed close to the surface of small-town life. Told partly from the view of Zach, and from several other of the characters, too.
This was an excellent story, very suspenseful, and probably quite scary when read or listened to by the pre-teen/young teen audience that its intended for. Grabenstein certainly makes the crossover to YA fiction very well and tells the story with his usual easy-reading style and enough light humor to offset the scarier parts. Very well done, and it is apparently going to be a series--I've already added the second one to my wishlist!
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