![](\"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ghostprision.JPG\")
Sourcebooks Fire, 2013<\/p>\nSourcebooks Fire, 2013<\/p>\n
ISBN-13: 978-1402293184<\/p>\n
Available:\u00a0 Hardcover (preorder)<\/p>\n
\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I received\u00a0The Ghost Prison<\/em>\u00a0as an ARC in egalley format through NetGalley.com.\u00a0\u00a0The Ghost Prison<\/em>\u00a0was initially a short story, but has been expanded into an illustrated novella here. Author Joseph Delaney makes every word count. The story is narrated by Billy, a fifteen year old orphan who has taken his first job as a night guard in a haunted prison. \u00a0Setting and atmosphere are established through dialogue and exposition as the head guard takes him on a prison tour, complete with descriptions of the hauntings and warnings of places to avoid.\u00a0 He\u2019s specifically told to avoid the Witch Well, which holds a terrible prisoner who must be fed every night at midnight; neglecting to feed the prisoner\u00a0 will lead to uncomfortable consequences for anyone in the prison, and the head guard has taken on this responsibility to protect the other guards. The tour takes up a considerable part of the book, but the slow buildup of tension pays off, as Billy suddenly finds himself guarding the prison alone. With midnight coming soon, he can\u2019t avoid the Witch Well; the prisoner inside must be fed.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delaney writes to terrify, and in a very few pages, takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride with an abrupt ending, and finishes with everything neatly tied together.\u00a0 His prose is perfectly complemented by Scott M. Fischer\u2019s\u00a0 illustrations. These take up a considerable amount of space in the book, often flowing onto the same page as the text. Fischer\u2019s drawings lend richness to a story that, while atmospheric, suspenseful, and gory, doesn\u2019t have much depth.\u00a0 I will note that since I read this as an e-galley , due to the limitations of my Kindle, I wasn\u2019t able to see the full effect of the design; the illustrations appeared separately from the text, and there was no way \u00a0for me to see a double page spread. I am certain, though, that the published hardcover will be a gorgeously produced book. \u00a0A movie based on Delaney\u2019s book\u00a0The Seventh Son<\/em>\u00a0will also be released in October, so there is sure to be plenty of attention directed at Delaney\u2019s work. With the high interest children and teens have in scary stories, the short length, and the frequent, detailed illustrations, this book should be a hit with both reluctant and ravenous readers. \u00a0Highly recommended.<\/p>\n \n Contains: Gore<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sourcebooks Fire, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1402293184 Available:\u00a0 Hardcover (preorder) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I received\u00a0The Ghost Prison\u00a0as an ARC in egalley format through NetGalley.com.\u00a0\u00a0The Ghost Prison\u00a0was initially a short story, but has been expanded into an illustrated novella here. Author Joseph Delaney makes every word count. The story is narrated by Billy, a fifteen year old orphan who has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,123,171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-ghosts","category-paranormalsupernatural"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Eu9f-or","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}