The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter

“The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter” by Caroline Flarity centers around sixteen-year-old Anna Fagan, who has to deal with multiple levels of bullying at her high school, but fortunately has her buddies Doreen and Freddie to help keep her grounded. The tragedy of her mother’s death, the unusual profession her father has adopted, and the negativity that constantly bombards her all combine to make her life even more complicated than ever, then things get worse.

This mature young adult paranormal story provides an enthralling and often creepy glimpse of a world that contains many evils, some otherworldly and others mundane. Unfortunately, Anna seems to have very few positive adult role models, and she has been forced to mature and cope with things that most of us would run screaming from.

I really liked the beginning and hoped there would be more examples of the supernatural interactions that she deals with so nonchalantly, but I felt weighted down by all of the negativity that continues to escalate. I’m not quite clear about what the newcomer and her invention were meant to accomplish but there are some delightfully creepy events that kept me on the edge of my seat and wincing as the evils of the humans also were increasing. There are multiple very serious issues. including bullying, mild sexting, suicide, and molestation, that are touched upon, so those with triggers should use caution. I also think some things are resolved a bit too nonchalantly after the major fight scene, especially since some folks definitely need counseling!

This is a vivid and thought-provoking story that artfully blends real-life problems with supernatural ones in an exciting combination. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this author’s vivid imagination.

A copy of this title was provided for review

This book focuses on Anna, a 16-year-old teenager dealing with family issues, high school drama, learning to understand her unique and special abilities in the family business of ghost-busting, oh and saving her hometown of Bloomtown, New Jersey, when the townspeople turn into crazy, violent scoundrels.

Anna battles ghosts, demons, evil spirits, bullies, mean girls, and the occasional inappropriate teacher.

There is so much pain, hurt, grief, and torment you can just feel the agony seep off the pages!

Of course, that is what is feeding the town’s portals and only making the town sicker. There is an evil gray mist of electrical static that is floating in the air above these specially located portals and they are gorging off people’s pain energy – especially guilt, hatred, fear, and misery. The townspeople’s moods and behaviors continue to get more erratic and unstable day by day. Anna, her dad, Jack, his new assistant, Geneva, and Anna’s best friend’s Freddy and Dor must figure out what – and/or who is truly causing this mayhem in their town and stop it before it gets even more out of control and continues to spread!

This book was definitely interesting and stood out in many ways – both good and bad.

First off, this book was way darker and heavier than I expected – especially for a YA book. There are a lot of mature topics covered that I’d like to think young adults today aren’t thinking about or experiencing, but perhaps that’s just me living in a dream world bubble lol.

I really liked the main characters and I especially enjoyed how realistic and flawed they were. Anna was easy to like and connect with. I think most readers will be able to either relate to her or have empathy for her and her situation. I liked how smart, strong, brave, stubborn, tenacious, and caring she was. She totally has her cynical and obnoxious moments, but then again, she is a teenager. She also has a lot of personal issues that she is struggling with, but she is working through them, and it definitely shows her hard work, dedication, and development throughout the book. Anna saw her mom commit suicide in front of her when she was only eight years old. Anna’s mom was possessed by a demon and sacrificed herself before the demon could hurt her daughter and husband too. Anna and her father both haven’t been able to get over the loss and both deal with the grief in different ways. Anna also struggles with low self-esteem, poor self-image, self-harm cutting, teen pressures, bullying, family issues, an absentee father, grief, loss, and abandonment from her mother.

I also liked Anna’s best friends Freddy and Doreen, also known as “Dor.” After reading the book blurb I knew to expect some kind of romantic story line between Freddy and Anna. Freddy’s advances were light, friendly, and non-pressuring. It was obvious he was into her as more than friends and Anna seemed to like him too, but she was worried about Dor possibly liking him too and making her feel like a third wheel. But they are super cute together! Well that is when Anna’s not daydreaming or drooling over Craig LOL!!! I enjoyed learning more about Dor and her complicated daddy issues. Dor also struggles with family drama, especially battles with her mom. I often cringed when her mother was being emotionally abusive to her. I felt bad her mom was in pain, but that still is no way to talk to your kid.

I also loved Anna’s Dad, Jack, and his new assistant, Geneva! They were so adorable together! Geneva was hilarious, scatterbrained, yet super intelligent, compassionate, and warmhearted. Jack was kind, considerate, stubborn, persistent, but he was in a great deal of pain and every day was a challenge for him. Jack was still grieving over the loss of his wife and after her suicide he turned to hoarding – never able to let anything go. This was such an important topic in this book, because it’s often not explained the true root of hoarding and it usually gets overlooked. People who hoard have often experienced a personal trauma and they try to fulfill that hole that the trauma left with stuff, but it is only a temporary fix and the underlying issue must be addressed. Hoarding is a serious, complex medical disorder that takes time, patience, and highly trained professionals to diagnose and treat.

I liked that this book shined light on hoarding and educated readers that it’s not just people choosing to be lazy, dirty, or messy – that hoarding is a medical disorder and not a choice. Even though Anna teases Jack about his stuff, that she refers to as “Jack’s Crap,” and “Jack’s Kingdom of Crap,” she knows that her father is trying in some strange way to cope with her mom’s death. Anna doesn’t completely understand the connection with hoarding, trash, and grief, but she knows her dad is sick and needs help. Throughout the book Anna does throw a lot of shade at her dad and his hoarding and even though it is often laughable it is at the same time sad.

I liked that this book also gave insight into bullying. Anna is a victim of bullying. The mean kids have created cruel nicknames for her, including, “Goblin Girl,” and “Daughter of a Freak.” Anna’s actually mostly embraced, “Goblin Girl,” and even teases calling the name herself. She knows that by doing so it takes away some of the sting from the bullies if she beats them to the punchline. But it’s still evident that it hurts when someone – especially someone she cares about uses the nickname in a malicious way.

Not only does Anna face ridicule from students, but there is one particular belligerent and inept teacher who inappropriately torments Anna in front of the entire class!! There’s this one scene where a teacher teams up with Izzy (her biggest bully) and shows a video in class. The video is of Anna and Craig’s (her crush) private webcam video chat. During the chat Craig got Anna to flash him and to show her bra. She had no idea that Craig was being a total jerk and was with Izzy and Frank (Izzy’s sidekick/another bully) and that they were filming it – let alone the ridiculous and perverse comments made among the guys – including bets. I was totally roaring and wish I could have kicked their butts for being such morons! And I totally would not have only had that teacher fired but would have had his teaching license revoked! Furthermore, Anna is a minor and showing a video of her undressed and in a compromised situation this totally would count as child pornography and distribution as he was sharing it and it should have gotten him thrown in jail!!! I can’t believe the parents of the students that were in class watching the video didn’t call the school or the police?! I also can’t believe the students – especially the female students didn’t walk out in support of Anna or go get the principal. I couldn’t believe the strength and composure Anna showed. I so would have been in tears!

Even though the townspeople are acting in a more aggressive and mischievous manner it is technically attributed to the portals/brain-altering mist, etc. However, many of these characters were already malicious in the first place. The mist just took it up a notch. Nonetheless, do you ever think if people acted a certain way regardless of the circumstances, they had those thoughts and capabilities inside them? What’s to say that’s not how they truly were to act; the mist just gave them that tiny little shove to be the person they legitimately are?!

So, technically you’re not supposed to diagnose teenagers as sociopaths as their brain hasn’t fully developed until they’re into their early twenties. But if you add stalking, trespassing, deviant behavior towards women, excitement at women experiencing pain, plans to commit rape, and animal cruelty – you are just a small step away from this character growing up to become a serial killer! And personally, I thought there wasn’t enough punishment in this book or in the world for a coward that would kick and murder a dog!! Peeps deserved justice and I felt her murderer got away way too easily.

I honestly didn’t know much about the supernatural world or poltergeists. However, it does seem clear that the author performed an extensive amount of research as she was able to provide descriptive details about the types of human and non-human spirits that haunt people, places, and possessions. Furthermore, she had ample particulars about what it took to cleanse, neutralize, and/or help them cross over. It all was very detailed, felt accurate and realistic, and was easy to picture.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all young adult, supernatural, paranormal readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!

**Warning!** Please note this book contains mature content including stalking, sexual harassment, molestation, child pornography and distribution, bullying, suicide, demon possession, self-harm cutting, teen drinking, drugs, and animal cruelty.

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**

This was a fun and interesting read that is more of a coming of age story within a world that contains the supernatural. While the story has supernatural elements, I really felt this book was all about Anna and her growth/self-discovery. There are triggers: self-harm, suicide and the memory of a minor being groped.

This story is about the life of Anna, a teenage girl trying to live her life with the extra issues that come with being a ghost hunter and dealing with the supernatural. Anna had to grow up fast and that is seen in her character development. She acts both her age and a bit younger as she is still trying to balance her two worlds. I loved the secondary characters as much as I did Anna and it was great to get a glimpse into her life. Friendships and family are present in this story and help Anna with her adventure.

The plot of this story was very addicting and I was constantly on edge as to see what would happen next and what the outcome would be. This is a YA story so there is not much graphic detail or over detailed accounts of specific issues and the ending was slightly predictable (thought that did not ruin the story in any way). I liked that the major life issues did have a realistic feel towards them and I enjoyed Anna’s reaction, made her seem very real.

I think that (as I said before) this story is a must read for those wanting a different version of a coming of age story. I think that it proves how people are stronger then they think they are, how having a few solid friends really helps in life and that not everything is as it seems. I may have read more into this story then the author intended but I kept going back to the deeper feelings and thoughts that this story brought out in me. I received an ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving an honest review.

A very good novel, well written and entertaining.
It’s a good mix of YA, fantasy and horror with some very creepy moments.
I liked the characters, the plot and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.