
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Utopia, Iowa is not your typical Midwestern small town. It was built on sacred ground—constructed, perhaps, by gods—and so it should come as no surprise that many in the town possess certain gifts (or curses, depending upon your perspective). Jack Bell possesses the gift of being able to see dead people. Normally, this doesn’t hinder his day-to-day existence, but recently he has been contacted by not one, but two murdered girls, and this makes him a person of interest in Detective Bloodsmith’s books. With the help of his best friend, Ash, his little sister, Amanda, and his Gram, Jack discovers that he is being targeted by an ancient evil that everyone else has so far been powerless to stop.
On the whole, this was a cute, fun read, but there were some things about it that were jarring. Jack’s apparent obsession with screenwriting led him, as narrator, to constantly interrupt the flow of the story with screenplay ideas and movie references (complete with the date, writer, and stars of the movie). In addition, the plot line surrounding his parents’ fights and possible divorce/separation/breakup seemed awkward and unimportant to the story.
Recommended as optional for gr. 7-12.
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