Dead Voices

Dead Voices

Juvenile chiller
"Ollie, Brian, and Coco had outwitted the smiling man. They'd
survived the world behind the mist and come home...It was December
now, and they were together, and on vacation. All was well."
Um not really. R. L. Stine doesn't endorse books that establish
normalcy on page eight unless it's an illusion soon to be shattered.
Ollie's father had won a week for five at a brand new ski resort
that had formerly been a school. They'd invited her best friends,
Coco and Brian, and Coco's mom. As the book opens they're driving in
a humungous snow storm. Their car is practically the only one on the
road.
They arrive at the resort to find the electricity out and
generators not providing much illumination. A fire is the only thing
lighting the lobby. They seem to be the only winners who made the
hazardous journey.
The next morning a journalist specializing in ghost stories
arrives, sure he's on about to discover a haunting. The school had
doubled as an orphanage where children were treated cruelly. After it
closed people started reporting mysterious lights.
At the resort things continue to go downhill. The building has
become icy cold. Despite full propane tanks the heat is off. The
generators go out and can't be fixed. The phones are down-- way to
contact the outside world. And the blizzard is still raging.
In other words they're trapped in a very ominous place. The
taxidermied animals in the lobby seem to be moving. The haunting
hunter has spotted a sinister ghost named Mother Hemlock. Ollie and
Coco have seen her in terrifying nightmares.
The adults decide that everyone, owners and guests, will sleep
in the lobby around the fireplace. Most of the adults quickly fall
into deep slumber. Only the children and the ghost hunter remain awake.
The ghost hunter is not who he claims to be. The kids are about
to be thrown into a terrifying high stakes game--one from which they
may never get out alive.
Katherine Arden's Dead Voices is perfect for the many fans of
Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street series.
On a purrrsonal note, I had sort of a strange weekend. Eugene was at
camp bird hunting. I did a bunch of writing including the paper I had
for homework. Tobago and I attended zoom church. The service was
hybrid: both in person and virtual. It was the first communion since
oh, snap, pandemic began. I wasn't about to go to the kitchen for
fear that Tobago, who was paying enthusiastic attention might knock
over the laptop. So I let the pastors consecrate what I had in the
studio: bottled water and a Devil Dog. When I went to the shed to get
more winter clothes I decided to clean the whole thing since Emily has
promised to take the stuff I no longer need to the thrift shop. I
actually made good progress. I made homemade lasagna for Eugene and
me for supper. (Jules).
It's started to get cold at night. It's a good thing I haz nice, warm
hoomans to sleep with. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our Eugene.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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