Nightmare

By Robin Parrish
       

      Maia Peters is the daughter of TV's most famous pair of ghost hunters, but all she wants to do is study and join the police where all her mysteries will involve live people. But when she is begged by vastly wealthy fellow student Jordin Cole to give her a supernatural experience, she gives in and takes her all over America during the vacations to the most haunted places. At each place the pair have an exceptional encounter with the paranormal – can one of them be a ghost magnet? When Jordin goes missing and is spotted in a hot new theme park called Ghost Town Maia suspects foul play. She finally has an investigation to follow, but one that will surely involve a lot more than ordinary human beingsc

Recently novels about the supernatural invariably involve people falling in love with a variety of magical beings, or being assisted by benign entities to find out who murdered them. So this is a true rara avis, a ghost story involving the sort of supernatural encounters that are intended to be – and are – scary. I have always loved stories like this, and enjoyed the update on a traditional type of story that taps into our fears not only of malevolent restless spirits, but also of science without ethics. Maia and Jordin get to tour a number of the most haunted places in America, complete with photographs and Ms Parrish treats the reader to some truly eerie descriptions of what can be found there and why. But this is more than just another straight ghost story, as Maia is helped during her search for her missing friend by Jordinfs boyfriend Derek who is training to be a minister. The pair have many discussions about the paranormal, with Maia defending her own experiences as a ghost hunter in the face of Derekfs pure, unwavering faith. Maia has to find out what she truly wants from life and grow beyond a rebellion against everything her parents stand for, and Jordin has to realize that what she wants cannot be found this side of death. It is a powerful and thought-provoking tale of the best kind, and made me wish fervently that there was more of this sort of thing around these days. One to read and savor