Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
The author of the explosive Way Past Cool now takes aim at a younger audience, offering another gritty, keenly perceptive portrait of inner-city life but framing it as a ghostly tale. Haitian immigrant Remi knows that life will be different in Oakland, Calif., where refrigerators, hot running water and TV are taken for granted. But when he and his parents move into an apartment in a ramshackle Victorian house, the last thing the 13-year-old expects is to be haunted by a recurring vision of murder. Every night, while his mother and father sleep, Remi (who has "always had a certain affinity for the supernatural") hears a "fantme" train "panting puffs like the breath of some huge jungle beast." From his window, he witnesses the ghosts of two railroad men, one white and one African American, acting out a deadly scenario. He and his streetwise neighbor, Niya, draw together to uncover an injustice half a century old. Containing more substance than most thrillers for this age group, this horror story is underscored by strong social commentary on poverty, waste and materialism. Ages 9-12. (Sept.)
VOYA
- Ann C. Sparanese
In a departure from the brutal realism that characterizes his adult novels, Mowry's first YA novel is a supernatural time-travel thriller involving two thirteen-year-olds who witness, enter and then solve a murder that occurred half a century before. Remi, a new immigrant from Haiti to Oakland, California, is awakened on his first night in his new country by a train roaring past directly outside his bedroom window. The train veers away from crashing into his building at the last moment and turns into what seems to be a foggy shipyard. Remi soon discovers that no train has run by his window in many years, and the shipyard closed long ago. The following night, the scene is repeated at exactly the same time, but this time Remi sees the murder. With his already established connection to the supernatural (his father is an expert in Haitian Voodoun), Remi has no problem in accepting the possible existence of a fantôme, and involves his new American friend, Niya, in the intrigue. They begin to put the pieces together and through their intervention, a fifty-year-old mystery involving their landlady's husband and son is unraveled. Niya and Remi are likeable enough, but underdeveloped as characters. The dialog sometimes has a stilted quality that interferes with the smoothness of the story. But the novel's strength is in its plot. From the opening scene, the suspense pulls the reader along to the climactic last chapter, where danger gives way to a satisfying resolution. An unusual weave of mystery, ghost story, Haitian culture, action and chaste romance for younger teens. VOYA Codes: 2Q 4P M (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8).
Children's Literature
- Rebecca Joseph
Thirteen-year-old Remi has just moved to inner city Oakland, California from Haiti. He wakes up his first night to find an out-of-control train charging toward his bedroom window. The next morning he discovers he was the only one to see the train because it is a ghostly emanation from more than 50 years before. With the help of his street-smart neighbor Niya, Remi tries to solve the mystery of a murder that took place on the train while at the same time adjusting to life in his new country. Written with wonderful detailed imagery and dialogue, Ghost Train grips readers from beginning to end. Not only is the ghost story fascinating, but so is the developing friendship between Remi and Niya.
School Library Journal
Gr 6-9-Old-fashioned suspense coexists with a modern-day setting in this short, easy-to-read, and very successful mystery. On Remi DuMont's first night in his new home, a train thunders past his window and he watches a murder being committed. Remi, 13, is a recent immigrant from Haiti to Oakland, CA. He shares his father's interest in voodun and the supernatural. He soon realizes that the late-night train is a ghost train and the murder reenacted on it nightly actually happened more than 50 years ago. As the boy and his new friend Niya investigate, they put together the pieces of an unsolved crime and an unexplained disappearance. They then step into the past to try to right a long-standing wrong. Niya introduces Remi to the slang and customs of the "hood" while he shares some of his knowledge of Haitian French and family history with her. Their conversations are realistically sprinkled with four-letter words never used by Joe Hardy or Nancy Drew (in English or French) and show an innocent, healthy appreciation of one another's sexuality, but also have moments of righteous indignation at the plight of poor minorities. Social concerns are swept aside as the mystery gains momentum and Remi, Niya, and readers are caught up in a hair-raising, life-and-death struggle with a murderer and with time itself. The ending is surprising and satisfying, but has a tinge of sorrow.-Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
