About book The Revenge Of The Wizard's Ghost (1997)
The thing I love the most about the John Bellairs books is the artwork by Edward Gorey. This story is a bit patchy, but fun to read aloud. Our 'hero' Johnny Dixon spends much of this story in a coma (possibly from some sort of demonic possession, and Fergie and the professor are the heroes in this tale. Set in 1952, the language used is quaint, the towns of New England a creepy, gothic, historical backdrop to the supernatural mysteries being investigated. Like Stephen King meets the Scoobies plus a Latin lesson for adolescent readers. I mention Buffy, because in reading these last two stories, I have noticed in the simplicity of the plot and details left out save a few interesting puzzles they solve (although I solved them first, probably because I had read them before and they actually stuck in my memory), a likeness to a television episode. The characters have a new Big Bad to face each novel. Another series to follow up on and finish.I am rereading some of these books to see how they look from an adult/future perspective, and I have found some things stick out now. In every chapter of the book, the professor is smoking an imported black and gold cigarette! Parents nowadays would have serious concerns of that many references to an unhealthy habit. Of course, not all parents would want their kids reading about Catholic exorcism and mysticism and magic either. And certainly it might be viewed with a tiny bit more cynicism sending your 13-year-old boy on a road trip with a cranky old chain-smoking professor (or with a middle-aged Irish priest as Johnny did to save the professor in the novel before).However, the characters are believable and very different personalities, brought together by friendship. It was a simpler time then, when to while away a Sunday night you got together to play chess or cards, ate chocolate cake, and relaxed with a baseball game on the radio. (also, you had to ride your bike to a payphone to call an ambulance... so some things may be an improvement?)A quick read and very enjoyable to revisit a part of my past.
Ghosts! Possession! Mysteries! A mostly-abandoned haunted estate! Vaguely religious artifacts! Occult stuff! General creepiness! I might have read this more than any other book when I was in the 10-ish-to-13-ish age bracket. It terrified me, but I loved it, and I kept going back to it. I didn't realize until recently that this book is a sequel, and I never read its prequel when I was a young reader. I know now that the overarching story does make more sense when you've read the prequel, but clearly it is not a prerequisite for enjoying/understanding the story.Upon reading this now, I see there are some plot holes that I missed (or perhaps didn't care about) when I was younger. Still, overall, a fun one to return to.
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