Haunted: More teenage drama than plot

Haunted by Meg Cabot

Haunted (2003) is the fifth novel in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series. You’ll want to read the previous books first: Shadowland, Ninth Key, Reunion, and Darkest Hour.

In my review of Darkest Hour I said that the series was getting more complex after we meet a guy named Paul (super rich and super hot, of course) who is also a mediator but who, unlike Suze and Father Dom, has no qualms about using his powers for his own personal gain. I liked that twist and was eager to see how the story deepened after this possibility occurred to Suze.

Cabot does use Paul to make the world of mediators a bit more complex, but mostly Paul is used to create a love triangle between Suze, Paul, and Jesse, the hot (of course) ghost in Suze’s room. Both boys are “warm for her form.” (Is this a California teen expression? It’s awful.)

In Haunted, Paul transfers to Suze’s Catholic high school so he can be near her (this was the first of several totally unbelievable plot elements). Then he dangles the promise of Mediator knowledge in front of Suze and uses it to lure her to his bedroom where they can study Mediator lore together.

Paul threatens Suze, too, saying he’ll exorcise Jesse if she doesn’t comply. Suze is torn between Paul, a (hot and rich) guy who is a total jerk, and probably evil, and Jesse, a sweet old-fashioned (hot) guy who’s dead. (Meanwhile I am yelling at Suze to choose option three — NEITHER! — but she didn’t seem to hear me.)

There’s a subplot involving the ghost of a boy who drowned and feels like his brother should have died instead. His plotline eventually intersects with the love triangle in a dramatic (but sloppy) hot tub scene.

The ghost plot is minor. The focus of Haunted is on the relationship between Suze and the two boys who are “warm for her form.” Teenage girls who swoon over love triangles will like this a lot better than I did. Haunted has been rated over 33,000 times on Goodreads and it scores an impressive 4.15. But readers who are looking for more plot than teenage drama will be disappointed in Haunted.

Audiobook readers should note that this instalment has a different narrator. Alanna Ubach does a nice job, but she’s different than the previous narrator and many readers (including myself) don’t like it when narrators change. Fortunately Haunted is short (only 2 hours in audio format) and our regular narrator, Johanna Parker, returns in the next book, Twilight.