This book jumped out at me from the library’s “New Fiction” shelf and I’m glad the flashy orange font on the spine grabbed my attention. A riveting read with an easy enough, without getting boring, plot.

The characters are likable yet fallible, not so much a tightrope to walk in this genre but Shepherd does it well. There were some plot holes and character inconsistencies but it didn’t entirely take away from the book or make a mess of things: a few jumps that would make sense in a suspense-kissed fantasy novel where not everything has to make sense because reality is…literally suspended.

The spooks are earned with the depth of the story. It would have been more fulfilling if the readers had a chance to peek behind the veil a little more: the brief descriptions in the beginning of every chapter were really, really cool but we’re still at a loss of really interacting with some of the more sinister bits and pieces of the story. Ending was a tad cheesy and a little YA but all in all this was a blast to read.

4/5 for the neat-o haunted “Pagemaster” vibes