THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN

Eugene Richards is rightly disturbed when a specter inhabits his body and tells him he must kill his grandfather to redress a wrong from many years ago. The specter has already forced Sonny’s dad to walk off a platform and plunge to his death, and Sam’s father to crash his car into a tree. An oil swindle, a lynching and a small town’s coverup of a murder involving several of their own make for a spooky Depression-era mystery. Another layer to the tale is provided by a well-developed friendship among the three young protagonists, who learn to come together and find value in one another despite of their differences. The first-person narrative, fast-paced prose and careful plotting make this a satisfying page-turner. A good match with Sid Fleischman’s The Entertainer and the Dybbuk (2007). (Fiction. 9-12)