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Book Review By Debbie
Darkest Hour by Jenny Carroll

It's Suze's 16th summer - her first in California - and she was all set to spend her time sunning on the beach and just generally hanging out, but her stepfather insisted that everyone work or go to summer school. So Suze is trapped working as a babysitter at the Pebble Beach Hotel. This is not as bad as it would seem because she does make $10 + tips and can get a killer wardrobe for school the next year. Too bad this total loser keeps requesting her as his babysitter. Well, its not that Suze doesn't like Jack, its that she doesn't like his older brother, Paul, seeing her in her stupid pleated khaki shorts that make her butt look like a wide load, but Suze is trying to make the best of it.

Suze is finally able to pry Jack away from the TV and down to the pool where she discovers that Jack is a mediator, like herself. Suze figured out when she was really young that no other adults could see the dead people so she just didn't mention it to anyone - not even her mom. Jack hadn't figured this out at quite such a young age and so had spent a lot of time in therapy. Unfortunately, Suze wasn't able to spend as much time as she would like with Jack because Maria de Silva, a woman long dead, showed up in the middle of the night holding a knife to Suze's throat and threatening to kill her if she didn't stop her father and brother from digging the hole in the backyard. As if she is going to give into some hoop-skirted skank who ordered Jesse, the hot ghost who haunts her room, killed 150 years before! While trying to get Jack to act normal, convince Jesse that she wasn't in love with him, really, get revenge on Maria de Silva and avoid Jack's creepy, but hot, brother Paul, Suze finds herself in for a very interesting summer vacation...

This is the 4th book in The Mediator series and it is just as good, if not better, than its predecessors. Suze is an awesome main character and readers will identify with her right away (aside from the seeing dead people thing, that is). She is hilarious, but always has a very rational reason for doing what she does. Too bad no one else ever understands what is going on inside her head but herself. Anyway, this makes for some very interesting choices on Suze's part and it is fun to see her interact with the other, not-really-normal characters in the book. If you haven't read any other books in the series, you can start with this one, but the series is so good that you should run out and buy them all for yourself!


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - upbeat
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Kids: - solving crimes (scooby doooo!)
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over
Is this an adult or child's book? - Age 11-14
Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Has magical powers? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
United States Yes
The US: - California
City? Yes
Misc setting

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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