Spirit Seeker

by Joan Lowery Nixon

Overview

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Spirit Seeker from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.
 
        Holly Campbell’s life has suddenly become a newspaper-headline nightmare. The parents of her friend Cody Garnett have just been found in their home, brutally murdered, and Cody is the main suspect. Holly’s father is the police detective in charge of the investigation, and even he thinks the evidence points right at Cody.
         Holly knows it’s up to her to prove what she believes it the truth: Cody is innocent. Against her father’s wishes, secretly crossing the barrier of police tape and television reporters that surrounds the Garnetts’ house, she begins her own investigation. Computer files, an odd neighbor, and a mysterious psychic—each might have the evidence Holly needs to help Cody. Or they could all be red herrings that will waste Holly’s precious time.
         A teenager seeking justice and her interactions with the spirit world make this spine-tingling new novel from the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award a surefire winner for mystery fans.
 
“Tightly plotted.” –School Library Journal
 
“Enriched with family troubles, guilty secrets, and a whiff of the supernatural, this page-turner will please.” –Kirkus Reviews
 
“Readers will enjoy.” –Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307823519
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/25/2013
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	884,636
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Joan Lowery Nixon was the author of more than 130 books for young readers and was the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Young Adult Mystery Award. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, and The Other Side of the Dark, which also won the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction included the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures, Orphan Train Children, and Colonial Williamsburg: Young Americans.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6-8-Holly thinks her homicide-detective father is entirely too preoccupied with his work and should spend more time at home. Her attitude changes, however, when her boyfriend becomes the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his parents. Unable to believe that Cody could be guilty, she sets out to prove his innocence. A strange neighbor who claims to be clairvoyant, a spirit seeker, tells Holly that she, too, possesses supernatural sensitivities. As Holly revisits the scene of the murder and spends time alone with Cody, suspense builds. Then incriminating evidence against him is found and only at the last minute is the true murderer revealed. The situation here is highly charged and emotional, but the characters never quite convey the horror of the situation. Cody grieves and is upset, but never to the point of heartfelt anguish. Holly's attempts at detective work are intriguing but don't always ring true. At one point, she looks in the dead man's computer files to discover questionable business dealings. This is a step the police would surely not overlook themselves. In the last few pages, everything is neatly-if not too realistically-wrapped up. The supernatural elements in the story, while at times significant, are kept low key. In the end, Holly is left feeling more self-confident and dismisses any ``super powers'' she may have. This thriller is tightly plotted and moves like a made-for-TV movie. Middle schoolers will devour it and never notice the few aforementioned flaws.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC

School Library Journal

Nixon's latest pits Holly Campbell against her police detective father in a race to discredit a growing mountain of evidence and exonerate her friend/boyfriend, Cody, before he is charged with the grisly double murder of his parents. Holly is engaging, her investigative techniques are realistically within the capabilities of a teenager, and her crisis of confidence over Cody's innocence is endearing. Younger readers will enjoy her and her friends; older teens will probably find them all a bit too "good" to be true. Nixon has a nice, easy style and manages to keep the pace up even when it seems that not much is happening. The interactions with the spirit world are strained, especially since the author discredits them in the end, and the villain is far too obvious from the first moment he walks on stage, but the story is an easy, light, not-too-scary read for those attracted to the genre.

Jean Triner

Four-time Edgar Award-winning author Nixon is definitely in her element when she turns to mysteries, and SPIRIT SEEKER will bring you to the edge of your seat, even if that seat is a car seat or an exercise bike! Young Holly Campbell has to decide if believing in a friend,. no matter what the evidence seems to say, is more important than getting along with her prickly policeman Dad. Narrator Christina Moore makes you feel every spooky minute with an understated reading that strengthens a strong story. M.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 01 - AudioFile