Most of the time, when I write my reviews, I start with a bit of a story. Mostly because for me, when a book leads me to an author that has become a favorite, I will remember the book that made me a fan in the first place. I'll remember what I was doing when I found the book, what urged me to read it and the effect it had on me. The entire experience colors the impression I have of the author and it stays in my head, this memory that I always remember whenever another book is released from said author. That first book from Lindsay Currie for me was Scritch Scratch.
This book was released in September of 2020, and in between watching the news about the pandemic, I was scanning through the recent eBook releases from my library, hoping to find something to get my mind off the world for a little while. I have to give credit to the cover design because those colors caught my eye and held it, those blues and greens with that glowing yellow to highlight the bus on the cover are beautiful. And the title definitely made me think, let's see what this book is about. It's a ghost story about a girl, Claire, who helps her dad one night with his ghost tour bus only to find that a real ghost has followed her home. Claire has to figure out where the ghost came from and what it wants in order for it to be at peace and leave her alone. It sounded perfect to me since I love a good ghost story. What caught my attention and held it though was a moment in the opening few chapters. This book is set in Chicago and, as such, deals with a lot of the local history of the city. In particular, the ghost tour mentioned the SS Eastland, which immediately made me sit up and pay attention. You see, 26 years ago (oh geez, that number), I was a big fan of the show So Weird, and its very first episode was about the ghost of a boy that is haunting the show's lead and it turns out he died in the Eastland disaster. For those that don't know, the SS Eastland was a passenger steamship that capsized in the Chicago River without ever leaving the dock and it killed 844 people. It's not a well-known story but it is a tragic one, so the fact that I recognized it when it was mentioned immediately brought to mind that old show and also clued me in to a lot of what I thought I'd see in that book. The book even went into the fact that despite having lived in Chicago their whole lives, the kids in the book were unfamiliar with the history of that tragedy. And I loved reading that book because of that focus, the idea that stories like that deserve to be remembered and honored.
I've been reading every Lindsay Currie book I could find ever since. I jumped at the chance to read Currie's latest novel and I have already pre-ordered my copy for my shelves.
X Marks the Haunt follows Will Stone, whose mother works at the historic Graceland Cemetery. Will enjoys spending a lot of his free time at the cemetery, learning all the ins and outs of burials, mausoleums, and studying the old burial records of everyone who resides in the cemetery. When one of the crypt keys gets lost, things start to change at the cemetery. Trees start to die, the water in the lake starts to go down, and something starts to follow Will and his friends as they try to find the missing key. The kids realize that something has been set free in the cemetery and it is taking the life out of the cemetery. Will and his friends have to figure out who the ghost is and what they need to feel at peace before it is too late to save the cemetery.
First things first, this is another story set in Chicago and specifically focuses on Graceland Cemetery, which has sometimes been visited in Currie's other books. I love the fact that these books seem to be interconnected, it makes it feel more real in a sense, the idea that all these characters and their ghostly experiences are all somehow related to each other. Will even mentions a specific character from another book and what they are doing in the present, not by name but with enough information that if you've read Currie's other books, you know who it is he's talking about. As it is a real cemetery and because of the times I've seen it mentioned in Currie's books, I've done my own research on the cemetery, finding pictures of the many historical grave markers and statues incorporated into the stories. It's because of this use of setting that I find Currie's books so fascinating. I can find this information for myself and see the real headstones and the landscape for myself without having to imagine it and without having to go and see it in person. I swear, when I finished this book, I had half a mind to try visiting my own local cemetery to learn its history and read its records, all to see if maybe I would like to be a cemeterian, like Will and his mom, myself. It's not possible, I don't have the time or the energy to make a pivot in life like that, but that's what this book did, made me consider it for a night which is a plus for this story and the inspiration it can give. For that reason alone, I will encourage my kids to read Currie's books so that they too can be exposed to this history and so they can learn something new.
The characters are always well-written, thoughtful kids with their own issues they have to work through. Will is a kid with an interest in the history of Graceland cemetery and aspires to be a person who can help patrons when they come looking for deceased loved ones. He loves the research and he wants to be able to handle those mysteries on his own. But he worries about what his classmates will think of him because he spends so much of his downtime in a cemetery. Another classmate has a parent who works in a funeral home and has been teased by the class bully ever since. Will has only one friend but he really wants to be able to have more friends and his connection and interest in the cemetery might keep that from happening. It felt so real and I was proud and happy with how Will worked through these issues, understanding that real friends will be open to accepting all of him and that what sets him apart from his classmates is what precisely makes him the right kid to help a lost soul find peace in the afterlife. All of Lindsay Currie's characters feel like kids I could have once known or even been and I love that they are messy and realistic, they make mistakes and they try their hardest and in the end, they are more confident in themselves and what they can do. I read middle grade books a lot because when I find an author who writes an incredible book with a kid character like this, I know that they respect what kids can do, that they know that kids can handle serious issues like grief and loss. They are not talking down or lecturing their readers, they are giving them someone that they can see their own self in and for me, that is the mark of a great writer.
The story itself is something I had never heard of and I've done a little of my own research on it as a result. I would love to go into it more but it reveals too much of the mystery and since my own reading of this book is what brought this to my attention, I feel like other readers should learn about this issue for themselves. It's definitely an eye-opening occurrence that makes me grateful that I don't live in that time period, for sure. It is yet another kind of tragic story that has been lost over the years and my learning about this has allowed me to do some research to learn about this. Because of that, I feel like this would be a great book to give kids in the classroom, allowing teachers to delve into the history that is explored in these stories. I know I've learned new things all thanks to reading Currie's books. Also, Currie has a great sense of atmosphere and tension, writing scenes that can leave you a little on edge because I don't care what people say, what might be in the dark is still scary no matter what age you are.
I still have a few Currie books to finish. They're on my shelves and on my tablet, I just need to finally read them. If you are looking for a good ghost story, you can't go wrong with trying this book out. Currie has a great talent for telling a good ghost story and her books are always a fun, quick and sometimes chilling read. I'll collect all of her books for as long as she keeps writing and I can't wait for my kids to be old enough to ask me for a ghost story and I can give them these books.
Rating on my scale: 10 Stars. Seriously, I loved this book. I loved Will and his friends and the mystery behind the ghost. I've been researching images of Graceland Cemetery all morning and reading the stories about the place. If a book can make me do research, it deserves all the stars it can get.
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