Darkest Hour by Meg Cabot fantasy book reviews YADarkest Hour by Meg Cabot fantasy book reveiwsDarkest Hour by Meg Cabot

“You really have the most alarming way, Susannah, of getting yourself into scrapes.”

Darkest Hour is the fourth book in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series. It’d be best to read the previous books, Shadowland, Ninth Key, and Reunion before picking up Darkest Hour. While each short book has a stand-alone story, the key characters are the same and there are some overarching plotlines including Suze’s crush on the ghost who lives in her room.

Suze is on summer break and she’s got a babysitting job at the local country club where she meets an eight-year-old boy who is a mediator like her. Meanwhile her stepdad and step-brothers are doing a construction project in the backyard. In the process, they dig up some old artifacts. When the ghost of Jesse’s ex-fiancée appears and threatens Suze’s family, Suze suspects they may be about to dig up Jesse’s body. If they do, does that mean his ghost will disappear?

Darkest Hour will please MEDIATOR fans. Plot-wise it’s more solid than the previous book, though Suze again makes some really dumb choices in this story and this time Father Dom goes right along with her.

But the entry of a new mediator is intriguing and there’s a surprising twist in Darkest Hour that should make the series a little more complex and interesting in future installments. Plus, there are several touching moments that fans will love. I’m eager to find out what happens next in Haunted.

Here’s a reminder that Johanna Parker‘s narration of the audiobook versions is fabulous.

Published in 2001. What – or who – is buried in Susannah’s backyard? When the nineteenth-century ghost of Maria de Silva wakes her up in the middle of the night, Suze knows this is no ordinary visitation – and not just from the knife at her throat, either. In life, Maria was the fiancée of Jesse – the same Jesse who was murdered a hundred and fifty years before. The same Jesse Suze is in love with. Maria threatens Suze: The backyard construction must cease. Suze has a pretty good idea what – or rather, who – Maria doesn’t want found. But in solving Jesse’s murder, will Suze end up losing him forever?

Author

  • Katherine Hooper

    KAT HOOPER, who started this site in June 2007, earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and psychology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and now teaches and conducts brain research at the University of North Florida. When she reads fiction, she wants to encounter new ideas and lots of imagination. She wants to view the world in a different way. She wants to have her mind blown. She loves beautiful language and has no patience for dull prose, vapid romance, or cheesy dialogue. She prefers complex characterization, intriguing plots, and plenty of action. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Richard Matheson, and C.S. Lewis.

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