City of the Dead (The Haunting of Derek Stone, Book 1)
Grade 5–8—Fourteen-year-old Derek survives a horrific train wreck, but his father and older brother Ronny are killed. When Ronny shows up a month after his death, with no explanation, their uncle, who is taking care of Derek and the estate, accepts him immediately. But it's soon apparent to Derek that Ronny is not who he seems to be. Investigating the fact that there was a similar disaster 70 years ago at the same place involving a train full of murderers and thieves introduces Derek to the idea of translation, or dead souls possessing the bodies of the more recent victims. The book's title refers to one of the large cemeteries in New Orleans. The first title (Scholastic, 2009) in the series by Tony Abbott ends with a cliffhanger. Nick Podehl does a good job with Derek's first person narration, lending an immediacy and urgency to the story. What secrets lie ahead in the City of the Dead? Though it occasionally veers off into territory where suspension of disbelief becomes a heavy burden, this should be a good match for reluctant readers.—Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.