What the Dead Want

Gr 8 Up—Gretchen is a high school student looking forward to a summer in New York City when she receives a letter from her estranged great-aunt Esther. She discovers that she has inherited her family's mansion. Gretchen's mother mysteriously disappeared a few years earlier, and the teen hopes to find some answers by traveling to the Axton mansion. Gretchen is unexpectedly left alone in the house and begins to encounter ghostly visions. This tale is mostly a ghost story but also has aspects of historical fiction, as Gretchen uncovers the truth about her ancestors. She finds stacks of pictures and letters that help her piece together that her family were abolitionists who aided slaves escaping their masters. The narrative becomes a bit of a mystery as Gretchen and her new neighbors, Hawk and Hope, try to get to the bottom of what happened on the site of the mansion and why there are sinister, creepy characters in the house. The haunting truth is exposed after two hectic days, which strains credulity. Readers will be wondering why Gretchen's mother and aunt couldn't figure it out in 40 years. Fans of Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will enjoy this horror tale. Interior art often opens each chapter and is peppered throughout, adding to the haunting effect.