Chase J. Jackson

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

Adrian Ramirez has just finished college and returned to his hometown with his girlfriend. He's been hired as a teacher at the prestigious Finley Academy and can't wait to make the most of this opportunity. But when his girlfriend is hearing things in their house, he's experiencing strange and vivid dreams, and there seems to me more to two of his students than meets the eye, there's a question about whether things are going to be as great for him as he anticipated. Past mistakes can haunt us; this is something Adrian might have to learn firsthand.

For fans of young adult paranormal, this is a find. It's an interesting story, a quick and easy read, and suspenseful enough to keep a reader glued to the pages. One thing I appreciated is that there wasn't much in the way of extraneous material. This book focuses on the story it's meant to tell. And it's just on the unsettling side of eerie.… (mere)

Sigue hacia abajo para encontrar la reseña en español.

I got this review copy from NetGalley.


I didn't like this book. The premise sounded interesting, but the actual plot was far from good and the writing wasn't particularly good either. Everybody accepts the possibility of ghosts far too easily and without any questions and the book lacks emotion. It reads more like a list of facts in a school paper rather than a story. I suppose that it's meant to be at least a bit scary, but the way it's written takes all the fear away. Also, the ending was absurd. A certain character goes from wanting to kill the main character to forgiving him in just a few sentences. Teenagers change their minds quite often, but this was too much.

It doesn't take long until the mystery starts to become real for the main character (about fifty pages), but with barely more than one hundred pages, it doesn't leave much for the rest, so everything was too rushed. It didn't help that the subplots were rather short as well and some things were left unexplained, even though the explanation would have been interesting. For example, there's a ghost who died while she was a baby, but the ghost is a teenager. I would have liked to know how a ghost can "grow up" like this. Also, there are security cameras, but nobody seems to watch the tapes, because certain ghosty activities are only noticed when one of the characters thinks of checking the tapes for paranormal events.

I feel that the adult characters were more than a bit off. They're in their late twenties and some are even older, but they behave as if they were still teenagers.

In general, a great premise, but it's not a book that I would recommend to anybody.

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No me gustó este libro. La premisa sonaba interesante, pero el argumento real se quedó lejos de ser bueno y la forma en la que está escrito tampoco fue particularmente buena. Todo el mundo acepta la posibilidad de que haya fantasmas demasiado rápidamente y sin hacer preguntas y al libro le faltan emociones. Se lee más bien como una lista de hechos en un trabajo para el colegio que como una historia. Supongo que la idea es que fuera al menos un poco escalofriante, pero el modo en que está escrita hace que desaparezca todo el miedo. Además, el final es absurdo. Un determinado personaje va de querer matar al protagonista a perdonarlo en sólo unas frases. Los adolescentes cambian de opinión muy amenudo, pero es excesivo.

No pasa mucho tiempo hasta que el misterio empieza a hacerse real para el protagonista (unas cincuenta páginas), pero con sólo algo más de cien páginas, no deja mucho para el resto, así que todo estuvo muy acelerado. No ayudó que los argumentos secundarios fueran también más bien cortos y algunas cosas se quedaran sin explicación, aunque la explicación hubiera sido interesante. Por ejemplo, hay un fantasma que murió cuando era un bebé, pero el fantasma es el de un adolescente. Me hubiera gustado saber cómo puede “crecer” un fantasma. Además, hay cámaras de seguridad, pero no parece que nadie vea las cintas, porque determinadas actividades fantasmales sólo salen a la luz cuando a uno de los personajes se le ocurre revisar las cintas para ver si hay algo paranormal en ellas.

Me pareció que los personajes adultos eran un poco raros. Están al final de su segunda década de vida y algunos son incluso mayores, pero se comportaban como si todavía fueran adolescentes.

En general, una buena premisa, pero no es un libro que recomendaría a nadie.… (mere)

I just finished a mystery called Whispers in the Dark by Chase J. Jackson. Adrian Ramirez has returned to his home town, Newnan, Georgia to start his first teaching position. He is living in the house he inherited from his grandmother (who raised him) with his girlfriend, Lea Flores. Lea is from Miami, Florida and she wants to be an interior designer. Adrian will be teaching eighth grade English at Finley Academy (a prestigious school for rich kids). Adrian and Lea have been hearing strange noises in the house, but when they investigate no one is there. Adrian remembers hearing the same strange noises growing up in the house.

Adrian is excited to start teaching. His first period class contains the smart-aleck, the quiet one (that was me), the clown, and the fashionista. There are twin girls in the class, Raven and Robin (she is the quiet one). The other students call them jailbirds. Dorian is particularly nasty with the girls. Two students left school last year and he blames the girls. One of the students was Dorian’s friend. Something spooked them and they were never the same.

Adrian is at his desk one day after school when he hears a group of students in the hall kicking a soccer ball. When he investigates, there are no students. Just a soccer ball in the hallway. There is no way the students could have just disappeared. When something happens to Dorian, Adrian starts to investigate with the help of the school secretary, Denise. What is going on at this school? Are the noises in his house related? Who is behind it?

You will have to read Whispers in the Dark to find out! I give Whispers in the Dark 3 out of 5 stars. It is interesting, but I felt it needed more work. The main character was very unlikable. Adrian was very selfish. It had a lovely girlfriend at home, but spent most of his evenings and weekends with his two friends drinking and playing pool (great example for the students). Adrian did not like her complaining, but I do not blame her. I did not understand why she would move with him to a different state where she had no chance of a career (I can understand if he is her one and only but that is not how it comes across). There love (at least on his part) did not seem real. The storyline is interesting and there is a great twist (which really highlights Adrian’s selfish ways).

I received a complimentary copy of Whispers in the Dark from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are strictly my own!… (mere)