a wholly likable protagonist

Summers crafts a charming, lightly scary middle grade ghost story with an enticing mystery at its center and an engaging modern twist.

Twelve-year-old Simon’s voice is authentic, approachable, and infused with relatable humor as well as moments of reflection on loss. Summers skillfully reveals information without relying on exposition, and dialogue is well crafted and believable.

Summers’s novel pays homage to classic ghost stories and integrates more than a few familiar tropes: relentless bullies and their comeuppance, a spooky house, and a ghost with a message to deliver. He handles these elements handedly, though, and adds freshness by setting the story in the era of social media.

Simon is a wholly likable protagonist readers will root for. Summer fills out the cast with an endearing love interest, bullies with a degree of humanity, and a ghost with a compelling tragedy to unravel.