POLTERGEEKS.

POLTERGEEKS by SEAN CUMMINGS (A giveaway win courtesy of Vivienne over at Serendipity Reviews - you can see her review HERE) was my 104th read of 2012 which can only mean one thing - YEAH!!!! Crack open the bubbly ........ with several weeks still to go until the end of the year I've reached my personal Good Reads target.

Anyway, onto my review .......

When 15 year-old Julie Richardson and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out of the front door of her home, it's pretty obvious to Julie that there's a supernatural connection.

After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie's high school, her mother falls victim to an arcane spell. Now it's a race against time to find out who is responsible - or Julie won't just lose her mother's soul, she'll lose her life.
.... Outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE (Chapter 1): Mrs Gilbert literally flew out the front door of her house.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 124): ..... "I'm an immortal soul; an amalgam of a variety of naturally occurring spiritual energy that exists in animals, plant life, the wind ..... You know what I mean. I've been here since the beginning and I will be here long after your bones have turned to dust."

MY THOUGHTS: Hmm, largely a very enjoyable read. The plot was perfect for this time of year (or any time of year come to that), humorous and full of adventure with some great twists, the characters, both main and supporting, living and dead, entertaining (I especially loved Betty in all her various guises) and the mix between the paranormal and everyday teenage stuff perfect ..... why then the slight reservation?

Whilst on the whole well written, I think the author got the balance between atmospherically spooky and too scary perfectly, I do however have some issues with his portrayal of main character, Witch-in-training, Julie. 

Not overly convinced that Mr Cummings always managed to get into the head of a 15 year old girl. Some of Julie's speech just wasn't convincing, at times (dare I say it?) even sounding as if it was written as how a middle-aged-man expected a teenage girl to speak which of course (though I'm guessing at Cumming's age) it was.

Not perhaps one of the classics of this genre but I do think Poltergeeks has lots to recommend it as an alternative read to many of the already 'witch' novels out there.

KEEP IT OR NOT?: Much as I enjoyed this I will be passing it on.