Publication Date: 17th Sep 2024
Genre: Middle-Grade Paranormal Adventure
3.7 Stars
One Liner: A quick read
Twelve-year-old Charlie (Charlotte) moves to Florida with her dad and hates that she has to leave their little New York home. The Winklevoss Manor might be huge but is filled with dirt, unwanted items, and ghosts. Soon, Charlie finds out the house is cursed as well.
Ada, Arthur, and Gruff are three ghosts living in the Manor (and not by choice). They are stuck inside for stealing a dead man’s diamond which is still somewhere in the house.
Charlie, struggling to settle in a place and dealing with bullies, tries to find the diamond. Selling it would allow them to move back to NY. However, things are hardly that simple.
The story comes from Charlie’s first-person POV and third-person POVs of the ghosts (Ada, Arthur, and Guff).
My Thoughts:
This is a fast-paced book that combines many elements like ghosts, greed, bullying, loss, regret, mourning, etc. I think it would have benefitted from some illustrations of the interiors of the house, the diamond, Charlie, and a couple of important scenes.
Charlie is a flawed character with typical thoughts and actions of a pre-teen. She is not easy to like but we also cannot help but feel sad for her. Her arc is quite decent and realistic.
The father is present but doesn’t really make an impact (this seems to be a common element in MG books). Surprisingly, another older character does better despite having only four scenes or so.
The chapters alternate between the MC’s POV (present) and the ghosts’ POVs (present and past) which provide the backstory and their thoughts about the current developments.
While Ada and Arthur are easy enough to read, Guff is exactly the kind of ghost you want to avoid. His antics induce laughs and frowns. An annoying ghost but very much true to the character.
The mystery isn’t that well-developed but should work for the kids. A few reveals come together in the climax. I’d have it if these were spaced out a little more.
The difficulties of relocating to a new place, making new friends, being guilty, etc., are well done. The bullying track is decent too but we don’t have a definite ending. In fact, the ending is not neatly tied up and leaves space for interpretation or a sequel (not sure we need one but let’s see).
Florida is known for being a vibrant setting. However, since the MC hates the place, we don’t get much of the good stuff.
The ghostly aspects and the explanations are well done. I enjoyed these details (and would have liked to know more about the whys and hows of the curse).
To summarize, The Curse of the Dead Man's Diamond is a quick entertainer with ghosts, a secret diamond, and a girl determined to go back to her home no matter what. It’s a decent read but doesn’t exactly stand out (the cover and title are fab though).
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Children's (Delacorte Press), for eARC.
#NetGalley #TheCurseOfTheDeadMansDiamond
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