J. P. Hightman

Reviewed by Rebecca Wells for TeensReadToo.com

Blackthorne has always been haunted. A tiny town in Massachusetts, it has been abandoned since the Salem witch trials, when a group of unfortunates fled there only to be hanged as witches.

Now, in the heart of the Victorian era, one train is bound for Blackthorne, where a winter carnival awaits in an attempt to breathe life into the old town. The cars are full of the promise of fireworks, sleigh rides, and skating, but Tess and Tobias Goodraven, two seasoned ghost hunters, expect something much darker.

Though they came in search of ghosts, even the Goodravens didn't expect a witch like Old Mother Malgore - a ghost full of malevolence, who stalks the forests, snuffing out any spark of life. When the train derails and casualties soar, the Goodravens must move between past and present tragedies to have any chance of killing the witch, quieting the souls of the living, and setting to rest the ghosts.

SPIRIT uses the historical Salem witch trials as a jumping point, and leaps off into an eerie ghost story. The prose is lyrical and haunting, and the narration, led by Tess and Tobias, oscillates between richly romantic, unexpectedly terrifying, and acerbically humorous, all with a touch of darkness. As the story progresses, readers' expectations will be completely derailed as new revelations move the plot in altogether uncharted directions.

With an ending so unexpectedly chilling that I was actually frightened, SPIRIT is a masterfully done book that will haunt the reader long after its cover has been closed.… (meer)

ALL GREATNESS HAS FLAWS
Spirit by J.P. Hightman was a winter read. It was a book you would read to pass the time on a cold dreary winter night. Tess Goodraven is a married 17 year old Ghost Hunter who goes on Ghost Hunts with her husband Tobias Goodraven. The two met in a church shelter during the aftermaths of an orphan fire.

The story is taken place during the Victorian ages. The whole story is based around spirits and witches, hence the book name "Spirit". Tess Goodraven and Tobias are both sensitive towards ghosts and anything that involves entities. While Tess and Tobias were laying a spirit to rest by returning it's bones, the ghost passed through Tess giving her a message about the "Unseen ones".

After the incident Tess and Tobias's story unfolds into an intricately planned destiny. The story is fast-paced and action packed. I wouldn't call the story a page turner, but it does have positive attributes. J.P. Hightman has a very passionate writing style, but for me later in the story he lost his passion.

The plot seemed scattered and as if the author was brainstorming "What if" scenarios. The theme wasn't clear giving the book poor structure. I would have to say the theme, if anything, would be individuality because of the unique gift the two main characters obtain.

I would recommend this book to read. It's a quick but fun read. I wouldn't say the book is a complete masterpiece but the story was different in a sense of a demented Romeo and Juliet. I don't think the book is Gothic, but it's definitely, to me, different a way that will send chills down your back.… (meer)

I picked this up because I just couldn't resist the cover and the blurb on the back which promises secret tribunals to deal with the real witches of Salem and Victorian-era investigations into the paranormal. Creepy atmosphere, seances, and witchcraft. That's what I was looking for. But the cover blurb in particular is very misleading. So what's the story really about?

Tess and Tobias Goodraven hunt ghosts. Ever since they first met in the aftermath of a theater fire that orphaned them both, they have felt drawn to the supernatural, and they have developed an extra sense for people's emotions and the presence of spirits of the dead. So when the couple hears of a winter carnival being held in a small village near Salem where a Romeo-and-Juliet type tragedy occurred, and where a true witch of Salem may still lurk, the Goodravens can't resist the pull of the supernatural.

The Good: I loved the descriptions of Tess and Tobias' perceptions, especially the way they size up their fellow passengers. I liked their differing reactions to the tragedies that have made up their lives (although I'm not sure how I felt about their relationship, it was pretty weird). The use of the nursery rhyme as a guide to bringing down the witch is very clever, as are the twists and turns in the plot - most of which caught me unawares and were nothing like I expected. That's always a good sign.

The author has Tess bring up the ergotism theory of claims of witchcraft! (One of the explanations I find most fascinating).

The Not-so-Good:
First of all the back of the book is completely misleading. Not the author's fault, I know. But it bothers me.

So on to the actual book. I didn't like that the Prologue never ties into the actual narrative at all. I would have preferred the prologue to be the story of Wilhelm and Abigail under the circumstances. Since the story was so linked to the Salem Witch Trials, I wish there had been some sense of how those events tied into this story. Was the Widow Malgore responsible for the torment of those people?

There never seems to be a whole lot of investigation - so we never really find out much about the Widow Malgore - why is she evil? Most of the story centers around escaping the witch and her vast supernatural powers. And really, the main characters don't really seem to do a whole lot. Luck saves them, or others save them. And even the final showdown seems to go pretty quickly and without too much trouble from a creature who has been gaining malevolent power for two centuries.

There's a lot of action (which certainly isn't bad), there just isn't a ton of character-development or knowledge of motivations. This may be more of a gripe because of what I was led to expect of the book based on the cover blurb. It's certainly a personal thing - I prefer my horror stories atmospherically creepy (think Sixth Sense, The Others, Rebecca to some extent - candle light and creaking floorboards). I'm a big fan of the Gothic.

The Take-Away: What it boils down to is the manner of story-telling. Spirit is fast-paced and full of action. It's a good kind of spine-tingling scary. It's a fun read. But despite what you may expect from the cover and back blurb, it's not particularly Gothic.

Also posted at my blog… (meer)