Haunted: A Tale of the Mediator FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
Bestselling author Meg Cabot (also known as Jenny Carroll) continues her Mediator series with this fifth compelling book -- a fabulous stand-alone novel, too -- about a girl who can speak to the dead.
Suze Simon is a popular high school girl with plenty of boy troubles. The thing is, Suze's beyond ordinary, and her boy troubles are supernaturally strange: The guy she likes happens to be dead, another boy at school has previously tried to kill her and himself, and she has a new homicidal spirit to contend with! Needless to say, Suze's life is confusing and chaotic, especially now, when the dangerous (and hot) Paul Slater is trying to convince her that her mediator's skills are greater than she knows. With the studly Jesse (a ghost) always there to keep her head on straight and her heart fluttering, Suze has no trouble steering clear of Paul, but when the heartthrob turns the charm up to romantic levels, she begins to wonder if he's really the monster she thought he was.
Blending otherworldly elements into a lively romance style all her own, Cabot serves up another Mediator entry that will leave fans swooning. The tension between Suze and Paul is thick enough to cut with a knife, while plenty of unexpected surprises will keep you glued to the page from one chapter to the next. The author has proven herself to be a master girl-meets-boy storyteller, and with Haunted keeping up the Mediator's dive into the other side, Cabot's popularity is sure to remain alive and kicking. Shana Taylor
ANNOTATION
Sixteen-year-old Susannah Simon is a mediator, one who communicates with the dead, and she also happens to be in love with Jesse, a nineteenth-century ghost.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
My name is Susannah Simon, and I am a mediator — a liaison between the living and the dead. Yes, this does get in the way of my attempt at a normal sixteen-year-old life. At least I have Jesse, the ghost of a nineteenth-century hottie, haunting my bedroom.
But there's also this other guy. A live one, who has the same gift of gab with the undead I have. In the same way I'm after Jesse, this guy is after me. And he knows how to send Jesse to the Great Beyond. For good.
So I guess you could say I'm haunted. I just never thought it would be by someone who isn't dead.
About the Author
Meg Cabot is the author of the best-selling, critically acclaimed, immensely popular Princess Diaries novels, as well as All-American Girl, Haunted, and two Regency novels, Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and the Rogue. Meg was born in Bloomington, Indiana, and her childhood was spent in pursuit of air conditioning, of which there was little at the time in southern Indiana. A primary source proved to be the Monroe County Public Library, where Meg whiled away many hours, reading the complete works of Jane Austen, Judy Blume, and Barbara Cartland.
Armed with a fine arts degree from Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City, intent upon pursuing a career in freelance illustration. Illustrating, however, soon got in the way of Meg's true love, writing, and so she abandoned it and got a job as the assistant manager of an undergraduate dormitory at New York University, writing on the weekends, and whenever her boss wasn't looking.
Meg lives in New York City with her husband, Benjamin, a poet, financialmarket writer and fellow Hoosier, and their one-eyed cat, Henrietta.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Judy Silverman
What happens when a death comes leaving a life incomplete? Leaving tasks unfinished, relationships unfulfilled, questions unanswered? Who will-who can-help the soul out of Limbo to the final place waiting for it? Why, a Mediator, of course. A Mediator can be of any age, sex, or race. No one applies for the job, and no one who has it knows why he or she was chosen for it. What is worse, at least for the Mediators, is that no one knows they exist. Even they themselves are surprised to have been chosen. There are no instruction books, and they sort of learn the ropes "on the job." One of the oddest things they need to get accustomed to is how to distinguish the dead from the living; no one else can see the dead, but quite often even the dead aren't aware of their altered state. That makes difficulties when a dead man finds his Mediator very attractive. Once the reader accepts the total weirdness of the story, the book is fast moving with interesting people, living and dead, and a fascinating premise. 2003, HarperCollins, Ages 12 up.
VOYA - Sherrie Williams 006029471X
Suze Simon has a very different kind of boy trouble. Most teens lament that the object of their affection is not aware that they are alive, but Suze has a crush on Jesse, who has been dead for more than a century. Suze is a Mediator, a liaison between the living and dead who helps ghosts resolve their fates in the afterlife. She has fallen in love with the ghost of a young cowboy killed in her room long ago. Jesse seems confused about his feelings for Suze, which are further complicated by the unexpected return of another Mediator, Paul Slater. Paul's motives are unclear, and Suze finds herself both attracted to and terrified by him. A love-hate triangle soon develops, which endangers Suze and all of those around her. The fifth book in the Mediator series follows Shadowland (Pocket Books, 2000/VOYA December 2000), Ninth Key (2001), Reunion (2001), and Darkest Hour (2001), all written by Cabot under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll. This book has strong appeal for teen girls because of its mix of the romantic and supernatural. The plot is engaging, and readers do not need to have read the previous books to enjoy this one. Fans of the series, however, will revel in learning more about Suze, Jesse, and the other Mediators. Disney recently purchased the film rights to the series, with future projects likely to increase interest. This book is highly recommended as a popular choice for public as well as school libraries serving grade six and up. PLB
School Library Journal
Gr 7-10-Suze Simon, a mediator who can see and communicate with the dead, begins her junior year of high school in Carmel, CA. On her first day, she runs into Paul Slater, another mediator who is the drop-dead-gorgeous new guy at school, and the subject of Suze's nightmares due to the fact that he tried to kill her over the summer. The protagonist has other things to contend with as well: her boyfriend happens to be a ghost who lives in her room because that was the site of his murder 150 years ago. He has been standoffish lately and Suze can't understand why. Also, her stepbrother brings a new friend home from college, and the friend's dead brother tags along. Suze has to help him to come to terms with being dead. This fifth installment in the series (the first four of which were published under the name Jenny Carroll, Cabot's pseudonym) is full of high school concerns (student elections, friends, cliques, homework) and family issues (stepsiblings, getting grounded) while also dealing with the supernatural and Suze's powers. Cabot successfully melds these strands into an interesting story with enough romance and suspense to keep readers turning the pages-and leaves enough unanswered questions for the next book. Fans of the series or of Cabot's other work will enjoy this title.-Kimberly L. Paone, Elizabeth Public Library, NJ Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
AudioFile
Susannah Simon is not a normal 16-year-old. As a mediator, she can talk to, touch, and even have a crush on ghosts . . . a certain nineteenth-century ghost in particular. Classmate Paul Slater, who shares her talent but is of dubious moral character, insists that Susannah hang her heart on the living, specifically him. This harsh abridgment leaves too many background and plot holes to keep listeners satisfied. Alanna Ubach bears this burden well and delivers a great teen protagonist. While she depicts promising character variations, she needs to work on pacing. The ability to sound like a teenager without compromising narration is a true narrator's challenge. J.M.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Heroine Suze Simon copes with a homicidal ghost and juggles two love interests in the fifth installment of Cabotﾽs Mediator series, written under the name Jenny Carroll. Suze found out that she could see ghosts when she was six after her recently deceased father "came back for a little post-funeral chat." In fact, 16-year-old Suze is a mediator, a person who helps spirits trapped on Earth move along to the next phase of awareness. In this story, Craig, an angry ghost who was an incredible swimmer and sailor, is earthbound because heﾽs convinced that his sickly brother, who was with him when a storm capsized their catamaran, should have been the one to drown, not him. In fact, Craig is so angry that heﾽs now trying to kill his brother, a situation that Suze is desperately trying to prevent while figuring out how to get him into the great beyond. Concurrently, Suze has to contend with two potential romantic partners: Jesse, a morally upright hottie who was murdered 150 years ago, and Paul, a high-school student who is handsome, twisted, and very much alive. Despite the fact that Suze has severe reservations about Paul, she is tempted, especially since Jesse has all but ignored her since they kissed some weeks ago. Although Cabotﾽs heroine speaks in a voice that is funny, flippant, and pure teen, Suzeﾽs repetitious obsessing gives the material a padded feel, and the perfunctory plot barely hangs together. (Fiction. 12+)
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