Catherine Jinks has shown she is brilliant at historical fiction (the Pagan series), murder mysteries (The Inquisitor), even picture books (You’ll wake the baby).  Now she has turned her hand to ghost stories.

Eglantine, Eustace and Eloise are three separate books about Allie Gebhardt’s encounters with ghosts.  It starts with Eglantine when Allie and her family move into a decrepit terrace house because her embarrassing hippy, artist’s model mother adores the vibes.

Those vibes turn scary when ghostly writing keeps appearing on the walls of her brother’s room. Paint and Feng shui both fail, and a pair of paranormal investigators are stumped.  So Allie starts investigating the story of Eglantine, who had starved to death a hundred years before trying to write a story of tragic lovers.  Does her ghost now want help, or a death for her story?  Allie has to find out, quickly.

In Eustace, on a school camp at an old mining town, Allie has to deal with more tragedies from days gone by – stories of a sick child and a hermit, even the land itself - but this time some class mates disappear as well.

Eloise takes Allie’s encounters still further when she is caught up, unwillingly, in a séance.  While dealing with all the ghostly problems raised by emanations and lost children, she must also confront issues much more personal and close to home.  She discovers that ghosts from your own past can be just as troubling as those that haunt houses.

All three books are quick moving, full of suspense and keep you guessing to the end. They are all told by Allie and, while the first two are very good, Eloise stands out with more depth and personal emotion that builds to quite a climax.

Catherine Jinks writes for both adults and children, with these three exciting reads aimed at early teen readers. She has a great ability to present believable characters in unusual situations, so that we concentrate on them, rather than the fancy historical or horror backgrounds.  While these stories might not be quite as intense as her wonderful Pagan series, they are consistently entertaining.

Other books by this author:
The Inquisitor (Pan Macmillan, 1999)
The Pagan Chronicles ( Pagan's Crusade, Pagan in Exile, Pagan's Vows, Pagan's Scribe ) (Hodder Headline, 1992-7)

Review by David Beagley

© 2004 David Beagley