I'm a bit behind on writing up my reviews for the Reading Challenge, but I'm at least on pace to finish my books. For this review, I needed to to a detective or true crime novel. I really dislike these novels though. My mother is an avid reader of detective novels, but I just never could get into them. So I decided to search out a book in a genre I typically like, that of the supernatural. And lo and behold, Amazon brought me to Jackaby. I didn't pay too close of attention to it before heading over to the library, and checking out the first three books in the series that they had. If I had, I would have noticed it was a Teen/ Young Adult series. Not that this was an issue. I often find these books to be good quick reads that don't try to be too smart with extra plots and an inexplicable page count. The three novels I read are Jackaby, Beastly Bones, and Ghostly Echoes. The Dire King was not at the library, but hopefully they will have it soon.
Jackaby is a detective of the paranormal, because he's also a Seer. He can actually see the true form of many supernatural creatures that hide in our everyday world. The novels are told from the point of view of Jackaby's assistant, Abigail Rook. She's newly entered into the job, fresh from Europe and a potentially stodgy life in England. Each novel reads easily and the stories follow a larger building story arc that should conclude in the 4th book. The culprits in each book are a little obvious for an adult reading it, but the plot moves along and doesnt ever get bogged down so reading isnt tedious. The first novel introduces the township where Jackaby and Abigail reside, and they work a case that introduces most of the main players. The second book reads easily and has several very funny bits in it, as well as a bit of drama. The third book continues the over arching story arc and brings in some other mythological components. The story takes places in the 1880s, which helps lend to some of the mysticism and creatures that exist before video capture and other recordings.
William Ritter did an exemplary job in creating his characters. Jackaby is a bit off, but not so much that a reader questions how he existed in the world before Abigail entered his life. For her part Abigail could have fallen into the trope of Damsel-Not-In-Distress, but rather has several vulnerable moments and an actual plot related reason to not want to only live as a Gentleman's wife back in England. The two match up quite well, and the other tertiary characters evolve along with them and make rational choices based on what we know about them.
Overall I enjoyed reading these books, and hope to find the last novel to finish it off. They are pretty easy reads (I maybe spent about 5 hours between the three novels). For many folsk the conspirator will be pretty obvious before the characters make the same discovery, but for someone that enjoys a bit of the supernatural this would be an excellent quick read. I'd also recommend it for its target audience, since it avoids a pitfall too many YA novels seem to hit now of trying to be overly edgy.
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