From Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-A collection of wonderfully creepy, chilling, and occasionally funny stories that will be perfect for readers who have outgrown R. L. Stine's "Goosebumps" (Scholastic) but aren't up to the horror of Stephen King. In Ad?le Geras's "Rowena Ballantyne," a girl at a posh boarding school glimpses the ghost of a past student attending a lecture given by the dead girl's now-adult nemesis. In "Incident on the Atlantic Coast Express," Dennis Hamley tells of a grown man who finds himself on a train carrying his parents on their honeymoon with a tragic outcome. In Laurence Staig's "Love Letters," computer messages from beyond lure an unsuspectingly cocky boy into terror and death. And in Francis Beckett's "A Separate Peace," the ghost of a World War I sergeant major finds peace after temporarily possessing the grandson of one of the men he sent to death in battle. The introduction states that a third of the stories-many of which have a decidedly English feeling-were written for this volume. The pen-and-ink illustrations are appropriately dark and enhance the mood created by these tales. A fine anthology to be enjoyed at Halloween, or anytime.
Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Captivating stories... The writing is consistently good.... The collection is appropriate for a wide range of YA readers with a taste for terror."--
Booklist"A collection of wonderfully creepy, chilling, and occasionally funny stories that will be perfect for readers who have outgrown R. L. Stine's "Goosebumps" but aren't up to the horror of Stephen King.... The pen-and-ink illustrations are appropriately dark and enhance the mood created by these tales. A fine anthology to be enjoyed at Halloween, or anytime."--
School Library Journal"Some of the ghosts in the stories are kind, some are destructive, and some lend a hand when least expected. Ghost story enthusiasts of all ages will enjoy this collection."--
Book Report
