Tunnel of Bones

June 15, 2019
The sequel to City of Ghosts (2018) takes Cassidy Blake to Paris. Cass and her parents travel from Edinburgh, a city of shadows, to the City of Light for the next episode of the paranormal TV show The Inspecters. First stop: Paris' catacombs, where, five stories underground, the remains of more than 6 million people lie beneath the feet of the city's 2 million living inhabitants. Here, in this tunnel of bones, the golden, glittering light of the metropolis above yields to an eerie dimness. Both Cass, who is a beacon for the dead, and her spectral best friend, Jacob, who continues acting as the voice of caution, immediately feel its psychic negativity. When Cass mistakenly frees a poltergeist from the catacombs, she and Jacob must race against the clock to stop it before it wreaks irrevocable havoc on all of Paris. From the the Tuileries to the Père Lachaise cemetery to the Paris Opera House, sense of place is tangible. Vivid descriptions of the catacombs highlight the morbidly fascinating nature of one of the world's creepiest locations. Knowledge of the previous book isn't strictly necessary, but readers will want to delve into Cass' first adventure before embarking on this one. The open ending will leave readers wondering where Cassidy's paranormal adventures will take her next. Assume whiteness except for Cassidy's Scottish Indian friend, Lara Chowdhury, who offers guidance via text and video. Another spine-tinglingly satisfying trek into the world of the dead. (Paranormal adventure. 8-13)

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13iamgroot - This book is the sequel to City of Ghosts, and it is even more spine-chilling, blood-curdling, hair-raising, and wait! don't go! it's not that scary! Just don't read it in the dark, or before bed, or anywhere, or anytime actually......Nope, never-mind we're going to start over...........this book is just the right amount of scary, you can still read it and get to bed just fine. After all, I usually don't like scary books one bit, but I loved this one. This time, Cassidy is traveling with her parents to Paris for their TV show on the most haunted places in the world. Jacob, her ghost friend, gets dragged along, naturally, but Cass notices something different about him. He is getting stronger, where before he could barely move something a centimeter after trying his hardest, he can now push something over with barely any effort. This worries Cass, but she doesn't have much time to worry about this, because she has awoken a poltergeist. Yep you heard me right, and this poltergeist is causing mayhem all over Paris. Cass, her parents, and everyone else is in danger, and Cass is the only one that can fix things. You see, Cass can cross from the world of the living to the world of the dead, and her purpose is to send ghosts on that are stuck in between, reliving their deaths, because they are too scared to move on. She tries to do this for the poltergeist but it didn't work, so she turns to her friend Lara, who can also see ghosts. Lara tells her what she needs to do in order to make things right, and Cass heads off on her hardest challenge yet. I absolutely loved this book, just as much as the first one, and I hope there will be a next book in the series. I recommend this for 6th grade and up, but if you get scared easily you may not like it, but I still encourage you to try it, since it isn't as scary as most. Definitely 5 stars.

August 1, 2019
Grades 4-8 There's a lot of darkness lurking in the City of Light, as Cass discovers on her parents' latest ghost-hunting assignment. Their reality-TV gig takes the family (and Cass' BFF Jacob, a ghost) to several iconic Paris locations, but their first stop at the catacombs becomes the epicenter of the story's action. There, Cass is besieged by restless spirits trying to pull her into the Veil, a sort of paranormal purgatory, and when they succeed, the ghost of a young boy follows Cass back into the living world. Soon, the increasingly dangerous accidents dogging Cass' steps reveal that she's dealing with a poltergeist, and the only way to send this disaster-causing boy on is to discover what happened to him in life. Schwab's sequel to City of Ghosts (2018) is another hair-raising romp for middle-graders ready to dip their toes into horror. Mystery and Paris history intermingle nicely, and a subplot involving Jacob's past intensifies readers' investment in the characters. Readers can jump straight into the series here, but have book one at the ready.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: That buzz you're feeling might be from spirit energy, or it's from the excitement the publisher is drumming up with a national author tour and a Halloween campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)