Book review: Ghosters by Diana Corbitt
Kicking off the 2020 book reviews here on my blog is Ghosters, a middle-grade novel, by Diana Corbitt.
The Blurb
Filled with scares, mystery, and plenty of humor, Ghosters tells what happens to twelve-year-old Theresa Martinez and her autistic brother, Joey, when their mom suddenly dies and money problems force the family to move into a creepy old mansion.
Her dead grandmother’s creepy old mansion.
Enter Theresa’s new ghost-obsessed friend, Kerry. Eager to use her ghost-hunting technology, Kerry suggests they enter a reality TV show’s video contest. “If we win, we both get what we want,” she tells Theresa. “You earn money for your family. I record an actual ghost.”
And why not try? The place is definitely haunted.
Hey, what could happen?
My random thoughts on Ghosters.
Ghosters was a surprising story in many ways.
This is not a book about silly children chasing what they think is a ghost and it turns out to be shadows at the window, or something equally boring. Ghosters turned out to be an actual ghost story.
As this is a ghost story, there are some spine-tingling scary passages, although there are some funny bits too. However, it is the cast of well-rounded characters dealing with very real issues of grief and living with Asperger’s syndrome that makes this book stand apart from others: it wasn’t really what I was expecting.
I also didn’t see the twist at the end coming, and this added another (unexpected) layer to the story.
Whilst not wanting to give spoilers, I did wonder whether it would have been possible for the protagonist’s father to have kept the ‘secret’ without her suspecting, but I’m considerably older than the 9 – 12 years target audiences, so they probably wouldn’t be as skeptical as me.
All the characters were flawed and believable. Theresa was especially well-written. One minute she was taking on the role of care-taker for the family, the next she was doing things that made you remember she was actually only 12 years old. Good stuff.
Final notes
This is a great ghost story that I enjoyed. Diana Corbitt has three other books in the series too, so young readers can follow Theresa, Kerry and Joey on their adventures.
Happy Ghosting!
Suzie xx
Children’s Easter Book Bonanza
A very quick post today from a wet and windy Wales. I’ve teamed up with ten authors to bring you the Children’s Easter Book Bonanza. Yay!
Go to the Children’s Easter Book Bonanza
There are books for children between 0 and 12 years… and they are awesome. So, head over to the giveaway and download yourself a bargain. But be quick as this is a Four Day Event and the discounts end on the 2nd of April.
Even if the weather is as bad with you as it is with me, you’ll have your Easter reading sorted 🙂
Happy reading.
Suzie xx