Fifteen-year-old Julie Richardson has never led a normal life. Her mom, a powerful witch, has been training her in her powers since she was very young – and it’s all quite common-place to her.
Though her mom almost never lets her do anything without calling her first. Annoying.
But when Julie and her best friend Marcus (who’s been in on the secret for years) witness a poltergeist literally throwing a little old lady out of her home – Julie figures it’s time she take care of something herself.
Unfortunately, it appears there’s more behind the supernatural attack than a plain poltergeist – instead it’s starting to feel like a targeted paranormal assault, one that becomes increasingly personal as a full-out display of vengeance is unleashed on Julie’s high school, resulting in a tragic event.
And once Julie no longer has her mother’s experience to rely on, is it even possible she can fix everything on her own?
Poltergeeks is an awesome title. It drew me in from the get-go. Sadly, for me, the writing and Julie’s narration came across as more juvenile than I’d prefer. Though I can’t deny that the beginning was certainly a rip-roaring, fast-paced, ghostly start!
Yet things kinda went downhill from there, in my opinion. Peppered with an unnecessary amount of swearing and violence that didn’t propel character development or plot, it felt scattershot. Plus, it was difficult to really root in the story when Julie as a main character is really just not likable. She rubbed me the wrong way throughout the entire book. For me, she came across as smug, immature, rude, sarcastic, and unrealistic.
Sean Cummings is clearly a lover of pop culture sci-fi references, which I love and appreciate, but it sadly wasn’t enough to help me connect when I was having so many other issues with Poltergeeks. It was a lightweight narration style that never worked for my personal bibliophile tastes. I ended up having to skim once I was more than halfway through and still disliking Julie and not feeling an interest in the story at hand – which I feel bad about.
This could maybe be a good read for younger readers (those who wouldn’t be shocked by the language). There’s a surprise at the end that many are sure to enjoy. I’ve been seeing several positive, shining reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, etc. There’s clearly going to be a lot of fans of Poltergeeks that will disagree with me – and I’m glad! As I’ve said before, every book deserves a champion! In this case, it’s not me.
Unfortunately, I would much rather read what I consider to be a superior version of a similar genre from the likes of Rosemary Clement-Moore, Kim Harrington, and Meg Cabot (among others).
I feel like I “should” have liked Poltergeeks better than I did – but we all have such varied opinions and tastes, and books are most definitely polarizing at times!
Do try Poltergeeks out for yourself – if only for the potential of such an awesome title – and find out what you think! If you’re a fan, you’ll be happy to know there will be a second book called School Bodies.
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