Review: The Dead and Buried

Title: The Dead and Buried
Author: Kim Harrington
Publisher: Scholastic Point
Release Date: January 1, 2013
Format: eBook via NetGalley

Jade loves the house she’s just moved into with her family. She doesn’t even mind being the new girl at the high school: It’s a fresh start, and there’s that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade’s little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade’s jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn’t.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who’s seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade’s school — until her untimely death last year. It’s up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer?—via Goodreads

I had some concerns about reading this book, given my three month I’M SCARED OUT OF MY MIND streak from seeing that God-forsaken movie, but I figured, “You know, I’m doing better lately. I’ve been sleeping with the light off. I can read this book.”

So I did!

And I didn’t have nightmares!

This is why I love YA. Because I can read a ghost story about an angry mean girl that is haunting her old house and still think that the book is cute and fun and not be worried about sleeping at night.

And, okay, the ghost isn’t really angry, but the ghost was a mean girl when she was alive and all she wants is to solve her murder. Well, she wants Jade, the girl who moved into her house, to solve her murder for her, so she throws her ghostly mean girl weight around to get her way.

So really, this book is more of a murder mystery than it is about a haunting. Although, there are a few creepy scenes involving possession and a child, but we’re not going to think about that.

In the end, this book was a good time. I liked Jade and the supporting characters in this book. Their personalities were very varied—the hot, smart jock who doesn’t come from a wealthy home, the manipulative popular girl who is mourning her best friend, the misunderstood, hot, artsy guy mourning the loss of his girlfriend while trying to protect her secrets, and the competitive brainiac who doesn’t understand or care to understand social cues—which kept the book feeling realistic and gave it a lot of personality.

Overall, this is a very fun, quick read that will satiate your desire for a nice, high school-set murder mystery with some ghosty action. Sort of like if Cordelia had that apartment with the ghost in it on Angel, but in an episode of Buffy. Except Jade isn’t a vampire slayer. In fact, there are NO vampires in this book. I repeat NO VAMPIRES. So, pretend that Jade is Willow and that there is no Buffy and no vampires. Cool? Cool.

Now go read.