Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Pumpkin Roll


Pumpkin Roll
By: Josi S. Kilpack

That looks like a delicious roll of stomachache (I’m lactose intolerant, and all that cream would make my stomach to backflips and somersaults at the same time).  That’s exactly how Sadie’s stomach feels as she delves deeper into her first ever ghost mystery.   There’s only one problem: Sadie doesn’t believe in ghosts. 

Summary
Pete and Sadie are babysitting Pete’s grandsons in Boston for a few days when the neighbor across the street starts digging in her front yard and makes weird hand motions.  Pete’s grandsons say she’s a witch.  Sadie doesn’t buy it even when strange things start happening in the house.  Sadie attempts to meet her neighbor, thinking she is causing the strange things to happen.  Soon Sadie is delving into a mystery that may be too big for her to handle.  After all, how to you solve a ghost mystery when you don’t believe in them?  Things get really tricky when the witch lady is found injured in her home and Sadie becomes a suspect.  Further, Jane keeps popping up, wanting to help Sadie.  Sadie is still reluctant to let Jane into her life after she printed the article that sent Sadie’s reputation spiraling downward.

A Different Twist
This is the first book in the Sadie Hoffmiller series where there isn’t a dead body.  It’s more than just solving who killed some stranger (as it has been since book two).  It’s about what is happening in Sadie’s life.  Things are happening to Sadie and company rather than to someone else, which made the story more intense.  As the book winds down Sadie must use all her mental strength and wit to survive.  In the past she usually had to endure physically until help arrived. 
A past character, Jane, shows up and plays a significant role in Pumpkin Roll.  Jane changes Sadie’s life, therefore changing the series and the story line of all books following Pumpkin Roll. 
Pete and Sadie’s relationship is also explored more fully in this book as well.  In the past books Pete popped in and out at various times.  In this book he is in the entire thing.  We get to see Sadie and Pete interact in almost every chapter, watching their relationship strengthen. 

Personal Review
Pumpkin Roll had my stomach doing somersaults.  It probably helped that I read it in October, which made the creepiness ooze from the pages.  Even if I hadn’t read the book in October I still would have enjoyed it.  I loved how it wasn’t a murder mystery book and how the things happening throughout the book directly affected Sadie.  This was one of my favorite books in the series.  

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