Title: The Dead Kid Detective Agency
Series: The Dead Kid Detective Agency #1
Author: Evan Munday
Genre: Middle Grade, mystery, paranormal
Publication date: October 2011
Published by: ECW Press
Source: The publishers via Netgalley (thanks!)
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Buy it: Amazon| Book Depository
Synopsis:
Thirteen-year-old October Schwartz is new in town; short on friends and the child of a clinically depressed science teacher, she spends her free time in the Sticksville Cemetery and it isn’t long before she befriends the ghosts of five dead teenagers, each from a different era of the past. Using October’s smarts and the ghosts’ abilities to walk through walls and roam around undetected, they form the Dead Kid Detective Agency, a group committed to solving Sticksville’s most mysterious mysteries. So when the high school’s beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, it provides the agency with its first bona fide case, putting them in the midst of a murder plot thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, and sociopathic math teachers, and sending them on an adventure that might just uncover the truth about a bomb that exploded 40 years ago.
October just moved to a new town with her clinically depressed father where she will be starting a new life at a new school. To make things worse, she’s only 13 and she’ll be entering high school already (yeah, she’s that smart! She skipped a whole grade at her old school). Because she has an affinity for the color black and she likes to read in the cemetery, she’s considered a “freak.” High school kids can be such jerks! But I like October :) She’s a pretty cool kid. Anyway, as she’s starting to settle in, there is a murder that takes place…and it is someone October was starting to know and actually like (I don’t want to give too much away ;))Even though it seemed like a very tragic accident, October suspects that there was more to it. And thus the Dead Kid Detective Agency was born! October and the ghosts of 5 dead kids around her age try to figure out who and why they committed the murder.
I was very aware that this book was aimed at kids around the middle school age when I requested to review it...but someone’s gotta review it, right? lol. Anyway, I thought this book sounded very interesting; I do like a good ghost story, you know ;) And I am happy to say that it didn’t disappoint!
I really liked the plot and the mystery behind it. Remember that murderer I was talking about? I sooo did not guess correctly who that was! In fact, I was so surprised when I found out who it was, that I had to read it twice! I really like books that prove my guesses wrong because in the end it’s a surprise…and I love twisty ends wrapped in surprises!
Anyway, the plot was great, the twists were great, and the characters I also liked. They were all very diverse, especially the ghost kids who each came from a different era. And all the weird names the characters had was fun :)
In general, I absolutely loved the book! I especially liked the few drawings it had throughout the book. That was different and definitely something I enjoyed. The book was beyond funny! Like my cousin says, “total hilarity, man!” At some points it had me in total hysterics and my dad kept giving me this funny look, lol. But a book that can make me laugh like that is always a plus. I also liked how the narrator kept referring to us—the readers. That actually something I don’t come across too often, but I enjoy it because it makes me feel like I’m somehow involved in the story too. There was one thing I didn’t understand however: it kept changing POV—from 3rd person to 1st person and back to 3rd. I truthfully didn’t notice it change POV until I was like halfway through the chapter, and it actually didn’t bother me, but it’s something that I noticed and don’t really understand why that was happening.
Oh! And any book that mentions Greek mythology gets another super special plus just for doing so (if you don’t know, I am a huge fan of Greek mythology): “October’s plan sprung out fully-formed, like the goddess Athena from Zeus’s head. Check out your Greek myths, kids. Those stories are messed up to the extreme.” Ha! I love that! And its sooo true! :D
I recommend this book for kids around the middle school age. My brother is actually in 8th grade and I recommended this book to him as I was reading it. However, I think anyone can read it, not just kids. Especially if you don’t mind the lack of romance…which I don’t.
This book is of course worthy of 5 stars. And this is a 19-year-old girl saying…I can’t wait for book 2! :D
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)
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