Review of The Lonely Dead by April Henry

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Henry, April.  The Lonely Dead.  Henry Holt, 2019.

Adele Meeker has the paranormal ability of being able to see and talk to dead people.  However, for her whole life, she has been told that she is schizophrenic, just like her mother and grandmother were.  Adele doesn’t like how she feels when she is medicated, so she stops taking her pills. 

When Adele is walking through the park one late afternoon, she sees Tori Rasmussen, her former best friend, sitting on the cold ground and wearing summer clothes, even though it is wintertime.  She realizes that Tori is dead even though Tori does not know it.  Adele anonymously notifies the police but eventually becomes a suspect in this horrendous crime.  She realizes that the only way to clear her name is to try to solve the murder.  With the help of Charlie Lauderdale, a classmate and the son of a local police detective, Adele sifts through possible suspects, even, at times, blaming herself.

It has been a long time since I was so engrossed in a book that I could not put it down.   This happens every time I pick up one of April Henry’s mysteries.  She manages to keep the pace of the story moving and keep the reader guessing and the pages turning.  Call me naïve, but I didn’t guess who the murderer was until nearly the very end of the novel.

Adele and Tori are both such strong female characters.  Students have talked about Adele her whole life, calling her crazy, but she has ignored them.   Even when her Grandpa didn’t believe in her, she felt she could change his mind.  Tori is a wisecracking, blunt girl, and is known for putting people in their places.  She is never afraid to speak her mind even when she is dead.

April Henry does her research, and I love the way she deftly works in information allowing the reader to see how the forensic process works.  I always learn something when I read her books.  My favorite scene was the one in which Adele is on a school field trip and talks to Rebecca, the girl who died on the Oregon Trail.  That was a funny and insightful conversation!

Hand this book to fans of April Henry’s books and those mystery fans that are always looking for a page-turner!  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis.

Review of Thin Space by Jody Casella

Casella, Jody.  Thin Space.  Simon and Schuster, 2013.

Marsh Windsor loses his twin brother, Austin, in a car accident in which he is the driver.  He feels extreme remorse and guilt over what has happened and wishes he had been the one to die, instead.  After getting out of the hospital, Marsh begins to hunt for a “thin space”—a type of doorway where living people can enter the world of the dead and where the dead can return.  Mrs. Hansel, his neighbor, told him that she had a thin space in her house before she died.  Marsh’s goal is to find a thin space, go through, and change places with his dead brother.

Marsh has been looking for a thin space by going barefoot because that is the only way to pass through.  He has given up all his activities at school and is getting in a lot of fights.  His school counselor, Mrs. Golden, who also lives on his street, has taken an interest in him and his altered personality.

When a new family moves into Mrs. Hansel’s vacant house, Marsh feels like this is his ticket to get in and look for the thin space.  Maddie, his new neighbor, tries to help him by doing research on thin spaces because she would like to see her late father again.

The pair eventually find a thin space right when they are about to give up.  However, Mrs. Golden has already found the space and has crossed over to see her dead husband.

Thin Space, the author’s debut novel, starts out as realistic fiction and ends up being a paranormal story.  The novel is extremely character-driven.  The guilt and grief that Marsh feels for the part he played in his brother’s death is so thick that they practically ooze off the page.  He is insanely obsessed with finding a way to reach his brother in order to avenge his death.

Marsh’s new neighbor, Maddie, is a strong female character.  Although she seems vulnerable, she is more than able to take care of herself.  She urges Marsh to keep up his search, even as he is wavering.

There is a huge twist that happens at the end of the story that I did not see coming.  As I look back, all the signs were there, but I missed every one of them!   Additionally, the last line of the book is genius!  I highly recommend this novel for high school and public libraries.  I give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Break My Heart 1,000 Times

Waters, Daniel.  Break My Heart 1,000 Times.  Hyperion, 2012.

The Event, which caused sickness, environmental damage, and chaos, took the lives of between one and four million people, according to government estimates.  It has left heartache, ghosts, and ghostly holograms behind.  There is a boy teenage ghost living in Veronica Calder’s house, and her father’s ghost makes an appearance every morning at the same time.  More and more ghosts are showing up, and their presence is getting stronger by the day! 

Veronica, “Ronnie”, and her friend, Kirk Lane, begin investigating the ghosts for one of the teachers at their high school and stumble upon a set of related “cold case” serial murders.  What they also discover is that Mr. Bittner, another one of their teachers, has been waiting for his daughter’s ghost to show up for years in another girl’s body.  Kirk thinks he has set his sights on Ronnie to be the vessel to give his daughter another chance at life!  His dilemma is to convince Veronica and to keep her safe!

What a creepy, suspenseful ghost story Daniel Waters has written!  The meshing of the ghosts and their stories with serial murders was simply ingenious on his part!  I loved how Brian, the teenage ghost living in Ronnie’s house, played a large part in the story and was actually trying to protect her.  His story was just heart-wrenching, but tied right in with one of the murders and added a great twist in the plot!

Ronnie and Kirk are both strong, brave characters, even going so far as to hunt ghosts in the middle of the night in abandoned buildings!  No way would you catch me doing that!  It is Ronnie’s friend, Janine, who really grows and matures throughout the book.  Even though she is deathly afraid of ghosts, she ends up being courageous enough to overcome her fears and help Ronnie near the end of the book.

History teacher August Bittner, is a most deceptively sinister character.  He is obviously mentally disturbed, and is possibly both schizophrenic and manic depressant.    While his outward demeanor exhibits concern and passion for Ronnie, it is extremely obvious he has malevolent ideas.  He absolutely oozes creepiness!

Throughout the book there are a lot of complex theories about the afterlife and peoples’ memories.  There is also an abundance of foreshadowing, and many of the characters exhibit signs of mental problems, possibly caused by PESD, “Post Event Stress Disorder” (Daniel Waters’s term).

Break My Heart 1,000 Times is a real-page turner!  My disclaimer:  Don’t read it alone at night in the dark!  Readers who enjoy thrillers and ghost stories will love it!  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school and public libraries!

**Reviewer’s note:  The copy reviewed was an ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick

Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick.  Egmont, 2012.

The second installment of the apocalyptic Ashes series picks up where the first book left off.  Alex has left the town of Rule to search for Tom and Ellie and is taken captive by a group of “The Changed”.  This faction has adapted to their new lives by learning how to use weapons, cooperate with each other, and even ski!  However, they are still deadly, zombie-like killers. 

An elderly couple has given refuge to Tom; they are desperately trying to replace the void in their lives left by the death of their son.  Peter has been taken captive by a vigilante group who are performing experiments on “Chuckies” and “Spared”.  Chris, Lena, Kincaid, and Nathan are “rescued” on their way to the Rule jail and sent off, defenseless, to Oren.    Other citizens of Rule are actually traitors and liars who will say and do anything to keep their “Changed” children and grandchildren alive and support their own agenda!

The paths of the some main characters will soon surprisingly cross, culminating in a tense, exciting climax that will leave readers hanging and drooling for the third book!  I don’t want to give anything away, so that is much as I can reveal!

Shadows is a thrilling, gory, and exciting book!  However, if readers want to be able to follow what is going on in the plot, they might want to reread Ashes, especially the parts about Rule.  I read Shadows twice and made extensive notes about characters and plot in the second time through, just to keep track of everything!  In fact, I caught many things when I read it for the second time that I had missed on my first read.  Many of the characters are citizens of Rule, and while they are more developed, there are also new characters that appear briefly and then are killed off. 

 

Ashes alternated between the viewpoints of Alex and Tom, but Shadows contains numerous points of view, as well as many flashbacks.  The complicated plotlines are all going on at one time, so get ready to change personalities often!  This might be a little confusing at first, but readers will eventually get used to it.

There is plenty of action, blood, and gore for readers to enjoy.  There is even an orgy scene, although it is just alluded to, rather than described.  Readers who have read Drowning Instinct will notice a similarity between a particular scene in that book and one in Shadows.  In addition, the Amish culture and language is cleverly woven into this story. 

Revenge and retribution are apparently going to play a large part in the third book.  As with Ashes, there are plot twists and turns and a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers drooling for the final book in the series, Monsters, which will make its debut in about a year.

Ashes will be released on September 25, 2012.  I highly recommend this book for high school and public libraries!

*Reviewers note:  The copy reviewed was obtained at ALA MidWinter from Egmont in exchange for an honest review.