The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw (The Morgan Sisters)by Suzy Turner
I was not sure how much I would appreciate this one. I got acquainted by reading the story about Daisy Madigan. I really enjoyed Daisy's character and the story sort of reminded me of Ghost Whisperer and then there were elements that were like Scooby Do and the Scooby gang except that the entire Scooby gang might have Paranormal powers. I wasn't sure I'd like the Morgan Sister's since it was likely that Daisy wouldn't be a main character.
I've always been a fan of horror and paranormal films but my real love is Science Fiction. My daughter did manage to get me hooked on Buffy - probably revenge for my having hooked her on Science Fiction. I've in the past enjoyed Mary Shelly's Frankenstien, Bram Stokers Dracula and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Camilla which might be considered darker than this novel. I've also been a fan of Thorne Smith whose Topper was pretty hilarious. I think that if you look at a lot of his work you can see his influence in the Paranormal literature of today. Anyway, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw carried on with the tone of Daisy's story so it was very entertaining.
I'm particularly intrigued by this notion of a tattoo that grows it self. With the inscription it seems to embody the whole of the classic eye symbol and a popular trend toward the winged eye. It's neat though, how it seems to have a life of it's own until it finally finds it resting spot on the body. Usually it seems to be in the same place. That it's a marker for the watchers- who may or may not by tradition be related to the Nephilim- is interesting. Considering the powers of these people it's interesting to connect them to the theory that the watcher angels are the ones who took the sons and daughters of man and had offspring.(The term Nephilim does not show up in this book and is not discussed as such.)
Another interesting concept in the story is the unreasonable fears that the sisters have. Emma's fear of water and Lana's fear of heights. Mostly interesting in that the power they acquire after the tattoo marks them is related to their old fear, which goes away. It's predictable that everyone with these tattoos has a prior unreasonable fear related to their skill. They all have one parent who was an angel who did not stay to raise them. And many are orphans raised by other people.
At the beginning Lana and Emma -orphans adopted by the Morgans- are thrust into the mystery of Josiah Grimshaw who nearly drowns along with a mysterious young stranger who also nearly drowns (the both eventually die from nearly drowning). Both men mistake Emma for someone named Emilia.
Both girls have reach the age of 16 and the tattoo shows up -days apart from each other coincidental to their true birthdays.
Through a friend of their parents they are introduced to Eleanor Hyden-Jones of the Fourth House of Praxos - a secret society of Angel offspring who work to fight for justice. Eleanor is a true fallen angel who choose to stay on earth with her mate. She's forever cursed to live her life half the day old and half the day young and has reduced powers.
There is a counter organization known as the Skulls who are evil offspring of Angels or Paranormal-s.
The girls will discover more about their past and parents and they will train to become proficient at their natural skills and at fighting evil. And their first assignment will be to help Josiah cross over. That means that they need to find out what is keeping him here- the problem is for some reason he's lost his memories.
Anyone who like mysteries suspense and thrilling horror and paranormal romance should love this book. The coming series promises to be very entertaining.
J.L. Dobias