In the latest Haunted Mystery, The Smoky Corridor, Chris Grabenstein delivers another spooky mystery that deftly combines creepy ghost story with humor and a perfectly captured portrait of middle school life.
Picking up not long after the ending of Zack Jenning’s chilling adventure in The Crossroads, Zack is about to start sixth grade at the Horace P. Pettimore Middle School in North Chester, Connecticut. He’s got no friends, is already the target of the school bully, is on the bad side of the Assistant Principal, and he has a creepy feeling about the old school. All too soon, Zack again starts seeing ghosts who warn him about danger everywhere: a brain-eating zombie below the school, a ruthless man searching for a long-lost treasure, and an evil ghost wanting to take over a new body. But despite these threats, things aren’t going too terribly because Zack makes some new friends, Malik and Azalea, and even has a great new math teacher who understands him and his friends. Together, Zack, Malik, and Azalea plunge into the maze of twists & turns and secret codes that point to a mystery that started just after the Civil War and has deadly consequences today.
Grabenstein is proving himself again to be the master of creating a creepy atmosphere, believable story, and heart-pounding suspense that captures readers from the very first page. He writes with a great sense of timing and pace and I appreciated seeing the main characters gain confidence in themselves and each other while the villains revealed greater depths of wickedness and ruthlessness. I am looking forward to more adventures with Zack as The Haunted Mystery series continues.
- Posted by Cori