Unbroken

January 1, 2013
In this second installment of the Ruined series, New Yorker Rebecca Brown heads back to New Orleans, where new mysteries--and new ghosts--await. Rebecca--sure that her dealings with ghosts had ended with the breaking of the family curse--is hoping for a haunt-free return trip to New Orleans to enjoy spring break with her father and her best friend, Ling. But when a handsome, blue-eyed boy named Frank appears to her, explaining his need to retrieve a locket from an old, abandoned house in Treme, Rebecca knows she has to help. Since Frank was supposed to be delivering the locket when he was murdered, he must complete the delivery soon or else be trapped in the ghost world forever. Retrieving a locket sounds like an easy task, until Rebecca realizes that there's another ghost, the very one who murdered Frank, plus Rebecca's flesh-and-blood nemesis Toby Sutton, trying to thwart her at every turn. New Orleans is richly evoked, with accurate details, believable local characters and (slightly overdone) dinner-table discussions of gentrification. Rebecca's love interest, Anton, has a regrettably small role; readers may find themselves wishing for more romantic interludes and less unnecessary recapping of the plot, but this is a small quibble. A solid and satisfying paranormal mystery, this offering will please existing fans and may win over some new ones to boot. (postscript) (Paranormal thriller. 12 & up)

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May 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-In this sequel to Ruined (Scholastic, 2009), Rebecca is back in New York maintaining a long-distance relationship with Anton; hanging out with her best friend, Ling; and trying to put last year's horrors in New Orleans behind her. But the ghosts can't seem to leave her alone. She soon learns that she is the only one who can see Frank, and he begs Rebecca to help him find a lost locket that he hid in the final moments before he was brutally murdered centuries ago. The locket, Frank affirms, is under the floorboards of a house in New Orleans that is scheduled to be demolished. If he cannot recover it and return it to its rightful owners, he will be stuck haunting the city forever. Rebecca is not in a hurry to start helping another ghost, but then her father surprises her with a trip to New Orleans for spring break. Once she returns to the magically haunted city of her past, Rebecca can't resist helping Frank. Love-interest Anton is more concerned about the resurfacing of Toby Sutton, Rebecca's nemesis from last year who is now obsessed with revenge. Morris's tale culminates in a just and satisfying ending, but all in all, there are too many plotlines, too many characters, and too much action. The highlights of Unbroken lie in Morris's descriptions of the city neighborhoods, traditions, and diverse people.-Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ

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