The Shadow Cabinet

Starred review from November 15, 2014
Transplanted Southerner Rory must once again save London, but this time her foes aren't all completely dead.Upon a less-than-graceful exit from Wexford, her posh London boarding school, Rory is now on the run with the Shades, a clandestine band of police who attend to supernatural phenomena. Stephen, a member of the Shades (and her last kiss), hangs in a precarious state between life and death. With her amplified abilities to both see the dead and possess the power of a mystical stone, Rory could help Stephen. Unfortunately, Jane, a crazed occultist and Rory's ex-therapist, wants to harness Rory's powers and use them to perform the Rites of Demeter in hopes of defeating death and resurrecting two powerful magicians. Rory's London is one where death is but tenuously separated from life, and she must use her abilities to save not only her own friends, but now the city at large. This deftly plotted and richly developed third installment skillfully weaves together the plotlines from its predecessors, creating a carefully and engrossingly built world. Moving away from what could have easily been a predictable, cookie-cutter ghost-busting template in every book, the series has gracefully evolved into a heady mix of ghost story, myth, conspiracies and history.Creepy, tense and wonderful: Don't expect to put this down once it's begun-but be sure to begin with The Name of the Star (2011). (Supernatural thriller. 13-18)

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January 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-This latest series installment picks up right after the events in The Madness Underneath (Putnam, 2014)-the leader of the ghost police squad, Stephen, has just died. Rory was holding his hand, believing that her touch could keep his ghost nearby, but it's nowhere to be found and she's starting to despair. Then his body disappears. Meanwhile, Rory's classmate Charlotte has been kidnapped by their shared therapist, Jane, who turns out to have a colorful past as a member of a cult obsessed with the Eleusinian Mysteries, mystic rites that blur the lines between life and death. Johnson introduces new villains and expands her world's mythology as Rory, Callum, and Boo try to rescue Charlotte, navigate the Stephen situation, and eventually get caught up in saving the world. Enough background is given that the book could work as a stand-alone, but that would mean readers would be denying themselves the pleasure of the first two titles. Heavily laced with humor and genuine creepiness, this well-crafted thriller is a winner.-Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Grades 8-11 The startling cliff-hanger of The Madness Underneath (2013) receives a worthy response in this thirdthough seemingly not finalbook in the Shades of London series. An intro set in 1973 introduces the best characters in the series so far: twins Sid and Sadie, Bowie-esque London scenesters of such bored, aristocratic magnetism that their followers will do anything they sayincluding die. The twins' plan to defeat death by means of a mystical stone is uncovered in the modern day by Rory and her gaggle of ghost busters (including new motor-mouthed inductee Freddie) as they try to locate two of their own: the kidnapped Charlotte and the not-quite-dead Stephen. As before, the squad and its overall organization feels half-sketched, and the romantic pairings are a bit pat. The plot, though, is among Johnson's finest and incorporates creepy bits of backstory, fascinating historical asides, and truly ghoulish side characterstake, for example, a lumpen cemetery ghost that is just a glob of people pieces mixed together. Lots of juicy setup here for the next outing.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The best-selling previous volume ought to propel this one onto fans' radar, as will a major prepub buzz campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)