Monday, August 06, 2007

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison

Gilda Joyce, age 13, is in for a boring summer. Her best friend Wendy is off to music camp, and her mom has had to work long hours since her father's death a couple of years before. Desperate for something exciting to do, she gets herself invited out to San Francisco to visit some relatives she barely knows.

Once Gilda arrives, she sets about annoying her relatives by poking her nose into the intriguing story of a suicide that took place several years earlier. You see, as the title suggests, Gilda has decided to become a "psychic investigator" and she is hard at work learning about the paranormal. The idea of living in a haunted house and actually communicating with a ghost is thrilling for her. Gilda uncovers more and more "family secrets" as she tries to find out what the ghost is up to.

While this book was cute and quirky, it didn't make me want to rave about it. Gilda is a little bit too unique; she doesn't always seem realistic. (Is any thirteen-year-old girl *that* confident in her weirdness?) Apparently the sequel is better, so I'll give it a shot before I dismiss Gilda altogether.

No comments: