In this far-fetched yet engaging novel by LaFaye (Strawberry Hill; The Year of the Sawdust Man), her customary lyrical language takes a backseat to original plot twists. Ebon Jones feels like a boring misfit in his idiosyncratic and creative family of storytellers, sculptors, set designers and costumers. The boy usually acts as audience and gopher for his beloved and playful dad, but when his father has an accident while constructing the local Halloween haunted house, Ebon takes on a different role. While everyone else tries to cope with the tragedy in his or her own way, only Ebon can make contact with his dad's "spirit" and solve the puzzle to bring him back from a coma. Ebon, who is not yet a teenager, musters the courage to temporarily leave his own body behind to save his father's, in what his father later calls a "reverse séance." All the characters are quirky yet warmly believable, including Ebon's mom, who is simultaneously the pillar of the family and the sculptor of "fire-spitting" gargoyles. LaFaye creates enough curiosity about Ebon, his family and their predicament in the first couple of chapters to hook young readers into a story that is at once realistic and fanciful. Ages 8-12. (June)
