This review first appeared in Booklist on February 1, 2026.
After Brody, his best and only friend, appears to give him the cold shoulder following a visit to his modest home, Jermaine feels resentful and embarrassed—enough that he’s willing to change his slightly awkward, science-loving personality to fit in with the Turbo Jets, their school’s popular athletic group. It quickly becomes apparent that the posse prefers pranks over camaraderie, particularly after they lock Jermaine inside an infamously haunted burial vault at the local cemetery. There, he encounters the ghost of Dorcas Chase, a girl who died in nineteenth-century Barbados. Jermaine befriends Dorcas, coming to see her as a guardian and guiding presence. But when her protective streak turns sinister, Jermaine begrudgingly reconciles with Brody—the only other person besides him who can see the ghost girl—to find a way to stop her spectral rampage and, hopefully, set her free. Using alternating chapters of straight prose and free verse, Bourne explores themes of grief, friendship, and forgiveness, while vividly bringing to life some of the harsh realities of her homeland’s colonial history in this haunting, thoughtful narrative.
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