ghosts

Lincoln in the Bardo

By George Saunders
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Oct 24, 2018

Strange, fascinating, moving, disturbing, challenging, poignant, and human. Oh, so very human.

Lincoln in the Bardo is a book that delves deep into the human condition and the particular human penchant for storytelling. It presents a myriad cast of characters, each obsessed with telling his or her own story to others. And to living it out, over and over. They are stuck in their stories. Limited by them. Blinded by them. Stories of regret, sorrow, and unfinished lives. Unhappy stories.

For the characters are ghosts. Or spirits or phantoms or souls or what you will. Trapped in a limbo of their

The Haunting of Fabian Gray

By Barbiere, Frank J.

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Aug 18, 2017

The Haunting of Fabian Gray is a classic action and adventure story with some wonderful twists that are fitting for comics. The reader follows Fabian Gray, a treasure hunter, in search of his missing sister after a supernatural incident made her disappear and gave him special abilities.

Fabian Gray is torn, possessed by five ghosts: The Wizard (much like Merlin), The Archer (much like Robin Hood), The Detective (much like Sherlock Holmes), The Vampire (much like Dracula), and finally, The Samurai (much like, well, a samurai). He uses their spirits to enhance his own prowess. I enjoyed that

Coraline

By Neil Gaiman
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Sam S.
Oct 26, 2016

While exploring the new home Coraline and her family have just moved in to, she stumbles upon a small, mysterious door hidden behind wallpaper in one of the rooms. Through it, she discovers a world very much like her own, and yet very different, including alternate versions of her parents and neighbors. This alluring world turns dark when she finds that her parents have been kidnapped and she is slowly becoming trapped in a web of her Other Mother's making.

The Whispering Skull

By Jonathan Stroud
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Hilary S.
Mar 21, 2015

Lockwood & Co. is a paranormal investigative team comprised of three teens: Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins and Lucy Carlyle. Because only children can see and hear ghosts they are ideal hunters of the paranormal. In The Whispering Skull, second in the Lockwood and Co series by Jonathan Stroud, the team is hired for what seems a simple job in the cemetery. But nothing is ever simple for this trio. What's found in and stolen from the cemetery leads to a fast-paced and thrilling investigation into the late Dr. Edmund Bickerstaff, and his methods for contacting the dead. The skull jar introduced

The Screaming Staircase

By Jonathan Stroud
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Hilary S.
Feb 13, 2014

Jonathan Stroud’s latest book is a thrilling fantasy set in England in which ghosts roam the nights. Only the very young can see, hear, or otherwise sense spirits. As children near puberty, abilities to see or hear spirits surface, and they are thereby trained and employed by businesses whose sole purpose is to identify and detain or destroy the spirits. As teenagers age into young adulthood, their powers of detection fade, leaving whole corps of preteens and teens to carry out the work, risking their lives in the process.

Anthony Lockwood has no intention of toiling away for a company, barely

Apr 3, 2013

After the Event, people see the dead. They are as normal to life as breathing now, but Veronica wishes that life would return back to the way it was before. Now, the ghosts are becoming stronger and they want to return to their lives and become part of the living again. Veronica and her best friend Kirk decide to investigate what caused the ghosts to appear and how they might send them back into the afterlife.  Along the way, Veronica must battle with a nefarious former teacher who wants to try and use Veronica to bring his dead daughter back to life.

In this thrilling tale, the dead are no

May 5, 2012

For those readers who enjoyed P.C. Cast’s House of Night series here’s another young adult paranormal series by C. C. Hunter which is set at the Shadow Falls Camp/school.  At Shadow Falls all kinds of paranormals, not just vampires, learn not only about themselves and their unique talents and abilities but also about how they can learn to live among the human population.  Shadow Falls also fosters understanding between the different paranormal species in an effort to foster good will and peace within the paranormal community. 

Kylie Galen finds herself at Shadow Falls without any clue as to

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson


Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 13, 2011

Billed as a modern-day Rebecca, this gothic tale of love and mystery is set in a crumbling villa in Provence.  Eve and Dom, after a whirlwind romance, have moved in and begun the slow process of renovation.   The summer is glorious but at the advent of cooler weather Eve begins to have suspicions about Dom’s past and the disappearance or death of his ex-wife.  Three young women go missing in the area.  Seemingly insignificant, unexplainable events heighten Eve’s senses – a strange light and a shadowy figure in the night.  When bones are found during the rebuilding of the swimming pool and

Nov 24, 2010

The Devil You KnowFelix Castor, Fix to people who like him, is an exorcist. When he accidentally almost excises an old college buddy instead of the demon who has possessed him, Fix gives up the business. Hard times, however, draw him into a case in which he becomes interested in helping the ghost, instead of those who want to get rid of it.

Witty dialogue, interesting characters, and an element of mystery make this an appealing book for a wide variety of readers.

Nov 4, 2010

The Little StrangerIt’s always hard to write a review for a book you didn’t care for when it’s gotten rave reviews from pretty much everyone else. But that’s the great thing about books. There’s something for everyone, and if you don’t like it, you can always read something else. If you like unreliable narrators and murky endings, The Little Stranger will appeal.

Dr. Faraday, a country doctor who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps, is called out to Hundreds  Hall where his mother had once worked as a maid and where she had met his father. Faraday becomes fascinated with the Hall and insinuates himself into

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill


Rated by Hilary S.
Nov 3, 2010

heartshapedbox.jpgI started reading this book with a bit of trepidation. I expected the book to be pretty scary, or at least somewhat frightening. Initially I did find the story to be a bit creepy, but as the story continued, it lost its scare factor. Finding out the ghost is haunting Judas Coyne for a specific reason suddenly saps all the terror, and some of the events are pretty hokey: the ghost came with a suit, packed in a heart-shaped box that Jude stuck in a back closet. The ghost sends an email to Jude from the address box.closet.net. Truly un-scary and just too laughable. The plot is predictable, so

Rusalka by C. J. Cherryh


Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 1, 2010

Rusalka sadly suffers from a deceptively bad cover and worse descriptive blurb. There is nothing in either to indicate the exploration of the fantasy genre, the nature of humanity, or the price of having your wishes granted. What is presented as the cheesy love story of a man and a ghost is more accurately a chilling tale of murder, abuse of power, understanding of self, and learning how to live with people you can't possibly understand.

The story begins in Vojvoda, where Sasha the stableboy greatly admires the town's most notorious rakehell, Pyetr. Sasha works in silence under his miserly

The Ninth Ward


Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Sep 22, 2010

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker RhodesThe Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes is a J Fiction story about twelve year old Lanesha who lives in New Orleans' Ninth Ward with Mama Ya-Ya. Eighty-two year old Mama Ya-Ya isn't a blood relative but she might as well be. She delivered Lanesha and has cared for her all of Lanesha's life. Lanesha's 17 year old Momma died giving birth to her.

Lanesha was born with a caul, a thin, filmy membrane covering her newborn head, and Mama Ya-Ya says Lanesha's kin are scared of her because she has "the sight". Lanesha sees ghosts, has "since she was an itty-bitty baby. Ghosts. Here, now. Always. They

Beating Heart: A Ghost Story


Rated by Lisa J.
Mar 8, 2010

A Ghost Story by A.M. JenkinsSeventeen year old Evan, his mother and little sister Libby move in to a historic home following his parents’ divorce. The stately old home had been vacant for many years and the new occupants and their activity awakens the spirit of a young girl who lived and died in the house nearly a century ago. She confuses Evan with the boy she loved and left behind when she died.

Evan begins having strange dreams about a blond haired girl. When a box of old photos, letters and newspapers is discovered inside a wall during remodeling, Evan is able to put a name to the face of the girl in his dreams