Book of Souls

PARANORMAL: In this cleverly-plotted story, Jack Kelly is a 47-year-old happily married man with three children and a loving wife. When one of his kids gets deathly ill, he discovers a world straight out of nightmares: ghosts, demons, and creatures in the night. The spirits actually want Jack, not his son, so he sacrifices himself to figure out why. When he awakens, he is a 13-year-old student at a Catholic school in New York - with all of the memories of his adult self and his family firmly intact, and a propensity for cussing. He finds support in unlikely places, which puts him at odds with his conservative school. He ends up hearing snippets of thoughts from others, which works out well at times, and not so well at other times.

While there are many things to like about this book, there are some frustrating aspects as well. This audiobook is complete enough to be a full story, but isn’t totally finished in that there are unanswered questions; another volume is in the works that will presumably answer these questions. Additionally, there are several instances where a portion of the story is repeated from a different character’s perspective. This doesn’t add much but is especially useful when clarifying the role of Casper, a major character in this tale. There is also one instance where Jack knows something he shouldn’t know - when he recognizes an uncle that is part of Casper’s storyline, not Jack’s.

The listening quality is good for this recording. The only detracting issue is that it’s not always clear whose head listeners are in, as it sometimes takes a while before it is evident which character is speaking. Fortunately, the narrator has a pleasant voice. Although some of the minor characters sound similar, the major protagonists are easily distinguished.

Carey Sullivan