Love this series! Great for middle grade readers who are into creepy, horror, ghost stories. ( )

Harper goes with her family to a very haunted Caribbean island and must break a curse. I found this more gory than the first one and slightly less creepy. However, the sacrificial deaths on the haunted island are pretty dang terrifying. Glad to have the gang all back together and working on a new adventure. Love the continuing exploration of Korean Shamanic powers. ( )

I hate to say it, but I was disappointed by this sequel. It lacked the emotional depth of the first book, which dealt with Harper's mental health, her family relationships, and the possession of a young child by evil ghosts. Now that Harper and company have overcome those challenges, this story felt pale in comparison.

There is one "emotional" scene at the start of the book. But it happened before I could really get my footing and honestly had almost no impact. I think that event would have been better saved for halfway through or even the end of the book.

Without the character development, what's left is a solid ghost-hunting mystert. Harper builds up her Scooby gang, as she figures out the grim and grisly past of the island her family is vacationing on and moves to stop it. I guessed the "villain" as soon as it was clear there was one, though I wasn't trying to. Those of you who actively think about what's happening in a mystery will probably figure it all out immediately.

There is quite a bit of gore mentioned, so be aware if that's something you'd like your middle-grade reader to avoid. There's also a ton of infodumping too. Harper is privy to visions from the past and they're basically all big chunks of exposition. Some of the same information was repeated several times, which was tedious. The ending also felt like a big, convenient rush to wrap everything up in a neat bow.

I think there will be more in this series, and I'll certainly keep reading, but I've adjusted it expectations. I'm on board for a growing gang of kids becoming spirit hunters and solving ghost mysteries, I just won't expect any more of the depth the first book had.

To end on a really positive note, the cover art is still gorgeous and I can't wait to see more of it. ( )

I really liked the first book in this series. It was rather gory and definitely creepy, but also fascinating and very satisfying. Alas, I didn't get as many kids to check it out as I'd hoped. "Too creepy!" My voracious younger readers told me. "Too long!" My reluctant, wanting-scary-books-with-pictures older readers told me. Sigh. Still, I enjoyed it myself and was pleased to finally get around to the second book.

After the events of the first book (Harper's little brother, Michael, was possessed by an evil spirit) life has gone back to normal. Sort of. Harper now has the tacit but uncomfortable permission of her parents to pursue her training as a shaman with her Korean grandmother, she's finally back together with her best-ghost-friend Rose and... of course things start going wrong.

SPOILERS

After a run-in with a terrifying monster, Harper is devastated to lose her ghost-friend Rose. She's even more reluctant to accompany her family on their vacation to a tropical island - one that is giving both her and her grandmother a really bad feeling. However, there's no way to get out of it and off she goes. Her worst fears come true when she discovers horrible, monstrous demons, rakshasas from Hindu mythology, inhabit the island. And there are even darker secrets lurking in the grove... and they're not all in the past.

Harper must draw on all her courage, strength, and the help and guidance of her friends if she, and her family, are going to survive their tropical island vacation.

This is gory - there are disemboweled corpses. Just so you know. But not described in extreme detail, so I personally didn't think this was as scary as the average horror movie that kids watch. It's mostly atmospheric horror and the mounting pressure of secrets and Harper's family's refusal to acknowledge what's happening, even after the events of the first book.

Verdict: If you have readers who loved the first book and like atmospheric, skillfully written horror, they will be eager to read this satisfying sequel.

ISBN: 9780062430113; Published September 2018 by HarperCollins; Borrowed from another library in my consortium