Ghouls Gone Wild (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, No. 4)

M.J. Holliday can communicate with the dead and that ability has led her to a role in a cable TV series called "Ghoul Getters". For the first show M.J. and friends travel to Scotland to investigate some haunted caverns. This will be one of the toughest gigs M.J. and fellow medium Heath Whitefeather have ever been on - someone has let loose the witch that haunts the caverns and she is determined to harm the ancestors of the people that killed her and one of those ancestors is a dear friend of M.J. "Ghouls Gone Wild" is the fourth book in Victoria Laurie's Ghost Hunter mystery series - a series that gets better with each book. The series seem to have really hit its stride now that it focuses on the Ghoul Getters TV series. M.J. is a great character - talented, a good friend (if a bit of a diva), and willing to face danger if it means helping ghosts to cross over. I'm glad the book focuses more on her relationship with Heath rather than Stephen because Stephen never quite seemed to fit into the series. I'm also glad that Laurie didn't have M.J. immediately switch her affections to Heath but instead fret over her growing attraction to Heath while trying to be loyal to Stephen. Her friendship with Gilley also helps shape her character as it does Gilley's - I love the fact that he is afraid of ghosts! The paranormal aspects are well done (with some cute nods to Harry Potter) and the book is a nice mixture of scary events in the past intermingling with scary events in the present. The mystery aspects are also well done - while it is not too hard to figure out who the bad guy is there are still some twists that the reader won't see coming. The book has plenty of deliciously scary moments that will make readers glad they aren't the ones doing the ghost hunting. "Ghouls Gone Wild" is a nicely done paranormal mystery.

Victoria has outdone herself again! For me, this is the best book yet in the Ghost Hunter series. It was hard to put this one down. It has action the whole way through, and was enjoyable to the very last page. It give you a bit of a cliff hanger with her relationship with her fellow psychic Heath. This wonderful adventure in Scotland, intermingled with the tragic and cruel history of the plague, some tidbits of "helpful hints" for ghost hunters, a possible new love in her life, and a scenario with a mortal teaming up with ghostly witches, makes this novel a "must read" for everyone!

My caveat is, I'm not the most analytical reader - I read books to take me to a different place and entertain me for a while. This book excels at it! The book took me to ghoul infested Europe, through some caves (love caves!) and started killing people off in a way that made me worried about the main characters. The nice thing is, the language and scenes were also appropriate for my young teen daughter, and she loved it, too!

I didn't like the first book in this series AT ALL. But then I picked up the second at the used book store and read it and enjoyed it enough to continue. Number three was very good, but I think I enjoyed "Ghouls Gone Wild" number four best yet. My biggest complaint was always M.J.'s boyfriend Dr Stephen and his annoying accent and habit of saying "How you say?". In "Ghouls Gone Wild" the gang goes to England to investigate a local haunted area. Dr Stephen stays home! Whoopee! Off to a great start already. The story here is very interesting also. M.J. and crew are faced with the most dangerous, intense spirits they have ever an into. Even their normal magnets and grenades don't stop the ghosts from getting a little too close. And then there is the matter of a couple murders. The ghosts are a couple of witches who were murdered centuries ago, yet every hundred years they come back to take their revenge on their killer's descendants. But this time they are back early. Why are they so strong? Why are they back early? The book is very fast paced, easy and fun to read. I love Gilley, M.J. best friend. He is a hoot! My one complaint is that all the main charcters use "honey", "sweetie", "baby" to end their sentences and I found that very condenscending and unrealistic. Still a small complaint in the big picture. Otherwise the book is well planned out and reasonably well written.

M. J. Holliday is a psychic with her top skill being a medium who can communicate with ghosts. She gives readings and makes her grateful clients feel good by telling them the truth; unlike the numerous charlatans. She and her partner are also ghostbusters who send evil spirits back to where they came from. They are now on Briar Street, the most haunted street in Scotland. Under the street is the close (several caves and catacombs) where victims were sent to die from the plague. While they are on Briar Road, the interest of the hundreds of spirits make M.J. and her co-worker medium Heath Whitefeather almost insane. Inside the close the same phenomena happens with the ghouls of the plague screaming. They would love to leave immediately, but they are contracted to Bravo TV to film what they find at this location. To make matters worse, the centuries dead witch Rigella who cursed the village of Queen's Close because they murdered her and her sisters are brought back by a villager to murder seven descendents of the families that killed them. When their tech expert is attacked by ghouls, M.J. and her crew becomes the target of a mortal who is in league with the witch because brake lines were cut, which means the witch has a human helper. When another villager dies, M.J. and company investigate determined to find the witch and her mortal assistant. Victoria Laurie is the queen of paranormal mysteries as her fourth ghostbusters whodunit brings the reader into her world (see DEMONS ARE A GHOUL'S BEST FRIEND and GHOULS JUST HAUNT TO HAVE FUN). Ghouls Gone Wild is a hauntingly good whodunit filled with plenty of action above and below the street. The cast is solid even the spirits while the two protagonists are fully developed especially when the supernatural haunt their senses. With plenty of humor including with a Potter meets Bedknobs and Broomsticks battle of flying brooms, fans will enjoy ghosts, ghouls, and witches, oh my. Harriet Klausner