Product Description

"Gravely ill." The haunting words keep repeating themselves over and over in Johnny Dixon's brain. After all the tests, doctors still can't find any earthly reason why Johnny's father lies unconscious. Could it be that Johnny's tangles with a malevolent creature have caused his father to be its latest victim? To save him, Johnny and his friends Professor Childermass and Fergie Ferguson must not only enter into battle with the fearsome fiend, they must fight it in the realm of its own unearthly world!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199960 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-The characters originally created by John Bellairs once again come to life through Strickland's words. Johnny Dixon, Fergie, Professor Childermass, and Brewster must save Johnny's father's life. Their adventure takes them from Massachusetts, to the Florida Keys, to the Colorado Rockies, and into the spirit world, for Nyarlat-Hotep, Brewster's evil brother, has possessed Major Dixon. They must locate an ancient book and defeat the creature. To complicate matters, the book acts as a chameleon and hides in plain sight, Nyarlat-Hotep puts obstacles in their way, and time works much differently in the spirit world. Fans of the series will enjoy this new supernatural adventure, which reads so much like Bellairs's books that they won't believe he didn't write it.
Kendra Nan Skellen, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
While vacationing with his father in Florida, 13-year-old Johnny finds an old, enchanted book and receives a mysterious warning from a local fortuneteller. Back home, Johnny consults his cantankerous old friend Professor Childermass. When Johnny's father becomes gravely ill, Johnny and the professor investigate and discover that the spirit of Nyarlat-Hotep, using the body of the pirate Damon Boudron, is attempting to overpower Johnny's dad in order to destroy the world. With the help of Brewster, the other-worldly falcon last seen in John Bellair's Trolley to Yesterday (1989), Johnny, his friend Fergie, and Childermass travel to Brewster's realm to destroy Boudron. Strickland's story is eerie, suspenseful, and true to the personalities and writing style of Bellairs, who began the Johnny Dixon series. As usual, the forces of good and evil figure prominently in the tale, and Johnny's friend Father Higgins assists the trio's return to the real world. This is good reading for adventure enthusiasts as well as for series fans. Kay Weisman

Customer Reviews

Good, but not Bellairs
Johnny Dixon is one of my favorite literary characters and I was glad to see someone keep him alive after the untimely death of Bellairs. The book was good and began well enough, but was missing the dark and sinister elements that made Bellairs so brilliant. The humor interjected by Brewster felt out of place and the plot did not compare to those of past books. The whole fortune teller and other world travel seemed a bit hokey...I miss the Catholic undertones and grim scenarios faced by Johnny in the past. The Professor was also denied the passages that make him such an old (but lovable) crab. I hope Strickland writes future novels with darker villans and plots as well as greater involvement of Father Higgins and Prof. Coote. Overall, it was enjoyable and I look forward to new titles.

More of a smirk than a grin
I have been an avid fan of John Bellairs for a number of years and when he died a few years ago, I was relieved and pleased when Brad Stickland took up where Bellairs had left off. However, the Wrath of the Grinning Ghost...while entertaining, never quite captures the level of suspense and spookiness that Bellairs always managed and that Strickland himself has accomplished up to this point. Some of the characters are never really developed...the fortune teller is an example...and the main characters that we have all come to know and love, just seem like half hearted shadows of their former selves. While not Strickland's best, it's still worth reading. But, if this is your first taste of Bellairs, you may be better off trying some of his pre-Strickland offerings. Any one of them would be worth your time.

Good to see Johnny again
I found Brad Strickland's imitation of John Bellairs good, though in the end it clearly lacked the soul of Bellairs work. However, I am glad that Johnny is back, along with the rest of the gang. I have been a Belliars fan for a long time and am happy that strickland is keeping bellairs characters alive