Review: Skull Creek Stakeout by Eddie Jones

September 15, 2013

Title: Skull Creek Stakeout
Author: Eddie Jones
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Pages: 185
ISBN: 978-0-310-72390-5
Publications Date: August 6th, 2013

Synopsis:
The good news is...vampires aren't real. The bad news is...you can't believe the news.

 After solving the Deadwood ghost story, Nick lands a job as a roving reporter for The Cool Ghoul Gazette, a website on paranormal disturbances. When the editor sends Nick to investigate a murder, Nick finds a corpse sporting fangs, bite marks and a gaping hole in its chest, courtesy of a wooden stake. Will Nick unravel the truth behind the 'blood covenant, ' or will his new job suck the life out of him?

 Nick Caden has a 'supernatural' knack for finding trouble. He's a normal fourteen-year-old who attracts ghosts, vampires, and the undead---or so it seems. But Nick's relentless search for truth leads him into worlds of darkness with grave consequences, where the dead, dying and deranged walk... on really hot coals.

Review:
When I saw this book, I thought it would be a cool take on the supernatural stories that are flooding the book stores. I was interested to see how this story would play out.

The start of Skull Creek Stakeout started off interesting enough, but when I was a couple of chapters in did things start catching my attention. The idea for the story was a good thought and I think I would have clicked with the character if he was just a little older. With all that Nick did in the story, I kept picturing him at least sixteen, instead of the fourteen he said he was. If he was those couple of years older, I wouldn't have a problem with Nick's parents letting him fly by himself to go look into a story for a blog he wrote for.

One of the positives of the book I did enjoy was Nick's great aunt Vivian. She was a funny and spunky lady, who loved adventure.Anytime out of her retirement center, Viv considers an adventure, and spending the time with her great nephew makes it all the better.

There was one part of the story that brought it's rating down the 1/2 point. It was the part where Nick wanted to see the deceased's body and after a little bribery from his aunt, Nick is brought back into the ME's area and is allowed to view the body. My mind was just screaming at me "No! The autopsy hasn't even been done, he isn't family, he isn't a worker, he is a 14 year old boy!" My field of study is Criminal Forensics and everything in this part of the chapter goes against everything I've studied. A boy shouldn't see that, even if he is writing a report. Plus, the detail of the body was a bit much for a kid.

So, for me, this story is...
2 1/2 out of 5

About the Author:
Eddie Jones is the author of nine books and over 100 articles. He is a three-time winner of the Delaware Christian Writers Conference, and his novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2011 Selah Award in Young Adult fiction. He is also a writing instructor and co-founder of Christian Devotions Ministries, and his He Said, She Said devotional column appears on www.christiandevotions.us. When he’s not writing or teaching, he can be found surfing in Costa Rica or some other tropical locale.




Thank you to Zonderkidz and DJC Communications, I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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