Ghost and Bone

May 15, 2019
A boy with the powers of death chases a murderer whose ghost terrorizes the lands of both the living and the dead. Twelve-year-old Oscar Grimstone discovers his power to shift his form from living flesh to ghost when a masked figure in a wide-brimmed hat attacks him at his family's mortuary. This ability defies all the rules of the Ministry of Ghosts, but Sally Cromarty, a ghost detective with unresolved secrets of her own, joins forces with Oscar against her orders to track down his attacker and solve the mystery of his powers. In this supernatural thriller, Prentice imagines an afterlife mired in bureaucracy with indifferent, paper-pushing ghosts. This sense of humor undercuts the elements of horror and lightens the story's atmosphere. Londinium, the invisible land of the dead, overlaps the living London, so Oscar uses his ability to flip back and forth between the two. As a living boy, Oscar needs a crutch to walk due to injuries sustained as an infant, but not as a ghost. At first, he's thrilled to throw out his crutch, but by the end, he decides his crutch is part of him. The resolution ties up the loose ends of Oscar's mystery enough for the story to stand alone, but an undefeated villain leaves room for further adventures. Characters both living and dead are assumed white, with the exception of two very minor ghost characters who wear Indian garb. Fast-paced and suspenseful, with an intriguing setting and a lighthearted take on death. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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