This lacked some of the quiet charm of the first book of the series. Joel is just a bit older and has some preteen gawkiness that is a bit hard to read about. He escapes unharmed from a bus accident and decides he must do a good deed for the miracle of not being hurt. This good deed turns into a series of missteps and problems that play up Joel's wonderful imagination but are also painful to read while you watch them go so wrong. I especially found the ending one that was headed for disaster particularly cringey. I'm curious to see where he goes with the series, I like Joel but his becoming a full teenager might be messy,

Esta vez Joel, que tambien fue protagonista de El perro que corria hacia una estrella, es atropellado. Como sale ileso, considera que ha sucedido un B+milagroB; y que debe realizar una buena accion. Pero que hacer y como llevarla a la practica? muchos seran los divertidos y curiosos personajes que se vean involucrados en esta nueva aventura: Gertrud, la mujer Sin Nariz, el Hombre Descalzo, el Hombre Caviar, o Simon Tempestad. Pero, a veces, por mucho que uno se empene y se esfuerce, las cosas salen mal...

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14155027

A young adult novel. I didn't realize it was until I started reading it. Normally I don't read YA books. I just like the author.

Joel Gustafson was a dreamer. Something of a loner, he spent a lot of time thinking. When he narrowly escaped death he thought he needed to pay back his good fortune. He set his eyes on people he knew, a man and a woman, and tried to manufacture a meeting. He was sure they would get along, would fall in love with each other.

His plans had a few faults. How he works through the various setbacks and mends broken fences shows what kind of person he is.
( )

I picked up this Mankell work, expecting a cop story...author must be working on career broadening because it just isn't the usual Mankell. Readers accustomed to Kurt Wallander will find this book lacking much of his trademark suspense...boring. Don't think that I'll do another in this series. ( )

Reviewed by Christina Tsichlis for TeensReadToo.com

SHADOWS IN THE TWILIGHT by Henning Mankell is written using the distinctive voice of the main character, Joel. This is a companion book to A BRIDGE TO THE STARS.

This is a story that asks philosophical questions and does it in a way everyone can understand. Best known for his crime novels for adults, Mankell will win the young adult reader over, as well. As the author is Swedish, it has a decidedly European flare in style as well as setting that the reader will find refreshing and honest.

Some of the questions addressed are faith, miracles, gender, and when to make the choice of staying silent or telling the truth. Told in the first person, the reader gets to see inside Joel's head and understand the questions and the changes in his life from the boy's perspective. It is a shrewdly told tale of a boy who thinks that he might have experienced divine intervention, and what happens when he tries to prove that he deserved said intervention through an elaborate scheme to do good.

Through the eyes of Joel we see a world created with magic, imagination, reality, and possible divinity. The reader becomes sucked into Joel's world to the point where nothing he says seems improbable, only interesting and special. It is a book that asks the big questions and does it creatively, beautifully, and interestingly. ( )