The Dreadful Revenge of Ernest Gallen

James Lincoln Collier's THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN tells of one Gene, haunted by a voice from the past that tells of something bad that happened in town - something Gene's grandfather and his friends wants to keep quiet. When Gene and friends decide to clear his grandfather's name, the voice becomes more dangerous in this story of secrets exposed.

Looking for a good mystery/ghost story? THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN will be a satisfying read. Young Eugene "Gene" Richards feels a tightness in his chest. Then there is a strange sensation, like a motion wiggling in his center. What follows is the scariest thing - a voice begins to speak to Gene from somewhere inside. Over the course of a few weeks, the strange feeling and the internal voice continue to visit Gene. The voice tells him a frightening tale. Gene learns that his beloved grandfather may have committed some unthinkable crime. According to the voice, back when Gene was very young, his grandfather and some other men in the small town of Magnolia got involved in a "get rich quick" scheme that ended in the lynching of a young man. It is beginning to appear that the voice haunting Gene's thoughts is the ghost of that young man looking for revenge. At the same time Gene is wrestling with the mysterious voice and whether or not to involve his good friends, Sonny and Sam, Sonny's dad is killed in a freak accident, and Sam's dad is injured in an equally strange car accident. As the trio begins to dig into the mysteries of the past, they find numerous reasons to connect their fathers and Gene's grandfather to the vengeful ghost. Although set in the years of the depression, readers will relate to the young detectives as they do their research at the local newspaper office and ask probing questions of reluctant relatives. Their persistence pays off as the mystery unfolds, and readers will keep turning the pages to learn the answers. THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN is an excellent choice for any middle grade collection. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"