DANGEROUS WISHES

The supernatural events that plagued the Kamen family in The Spirit House (1991) haunt them still when they journey to Thailand. Although Dom's parents are preoccupied with the sociological research his mother plans to conduct, menace surfaces when she is hurt in a freak accident and when Dom's beloved computer crashes. Lek, a neighborhood vendor, befriends Dom, and tells him that he believes the family has somehow offended the spirit in the house where they are staying. Although Lek ekes out an existence selling food from his street cart, he attributes his good luck to Duan, a deceased young woman whose spirit grants his wishes, but at someone else's expense. Dom dismisses Lek's belief as superstition until the coincidences become too strong and frequent to deny. Both Lek and Dom are likeable, intelligent, and enterprising teenagers; the pair soon decide to take a risky journey to Lek's village, located on the Cambodian border. In an exciting chase to the finish, they must overcome their fear of a ghost and return a jade statue to its shrine. Readers will relish the frightful surprises Sleator provides in this credible, intelligent sequel. (Fiction. 11+)