I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. It is a book with a ghost and two children protagonists investigating what is happening to the other ghosts set in Victorian England. I briefly began reading it to gain a feel for it and became caught up in the story, choosing to continue reading it rather than returning to another book I had started previously.

I appreciate the quality of the descriptions. Here are two examples from chapter three:
"Mr. Thornton had been a cruel and strict disciplinarian who deployed a heavy wooden ruler on the backsides of his pupils, hitting them in time with each remonstrating syllable he uttered."
and
"Short, plump, with perfect porcelain skin and auburn hair that fell in ringlets, Alice was everything Lapsewood looked for in a girl and everything he had failed to find in life."

I enjoyed reading the book. ( )

middlegrade/teen fiction (murder, ghosts, hell hounds, and mystery/adventure). Multiple characters, some of them ghosts, with lives and afterlives that are woven together very neatly. Would definitely recommend this one, along with Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, to folks who enjoy darker stories. ( )

Ghosts in London are being exterminated and a single ghost must work with 2 humans to prevent further exorcisms.

This is quite a bit out of my normal type of reading, to the degree that I don't really have a good category to put it in or much basis for comparison. In the world of this novel, ghosts live constrained, often boring "lives" within the world of living humans. When resident ghosts of Victorian London begin disappearing, ghosts and human "Talkers" (people who can see and talk with ghosts) must find a way to cooperate in order to save both the living and the ghostly inhabitants. I thought the book had a clever premise and some very funny parts. However, some of the violence, particularly right at the beginning, seemed a little graphic for a ten year old (lower end of the suggested reader ages). I would suggest caregivers read a bit of the book before deciding whether a particular young reader would enjoy this. Some would probably love it and others might find it disturbing. ( )

I got this Proof in a Goodreads first reads giveaway. The premise seemed intriguing, and I did like the book. That being said, I'm not very picky, and I did spot a few things that might cause other people problems. Some elements seemed more appropriate for older children, while the writing seemed directed more towards a younger audience; the book was never very suspenseful or unpredictable; and the ending was, well, slightly anticlimactic. However, I felt like the characters were all pretty spot on, they had unique voices, despite the fact that there were rather a lot of them; The story had, as I said before, an intriguing premise, and even though I don't usually like it very much when the pov changes a lot, it was very well done in this novel.
So there you have it, I wasn't absolutely thrilled, but I liked it well enough!! ( )