Customer Reviews

Demons Are a Ghoul's Best Friend (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 2)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a diabolical twist of fate the phrase "better with time" occasionally does not carry the positive meaning most of us imagine. Like convicts who grow stronger and craftier doing time Hatchet Jack has had thirty years to hone his hatchet and attain stunning potency & wickedness in the netherworld behind his portal. Now he's on our side of the portal threatening the future of young innocents. M.J. will have to put her friends at risk to force Hatchet Jack into the underworld and spike his portal shut forever; but, can she do it alone.
Victoria Laurie has upped the voltage in this sequel to "What's a Ghoul to Do?" with crackling tension between planes of existence; and between the sexes. And her sense of humor sparkles in details such as magnetic armor & grenades, and Doc's inspired vocabulary. This is a fun read for everyone!

Victoria Laurie is hitting her stride with this book. 2nd in the Ghost Hunter Series. In this outing, the same cast of characters are hot on the trail of Hatchet Jack who is terrorizing Northelm Boarding School on Lake Placid. The headmaster is thwarting their attempt to rid this ghost because he can't risk the bad publicity, but with Teeko's persuasive ways, he soon opens up the school,: maybe there is more to hide than what he told them - but what is a ghost hunter to do when children need her. Very funny moments, but still reminds me a bit of the Scooby-Do cartoon.

I was looking for a new author. I picked this book. Sorry I did. The characters lacked depth and Gilley and M.J. left me cold. This could have been a good book, had the author taken the time to put some emotions into her characters and added little more substance to the plot.
A waste of my time and money.

"Demons Are a Ghoul's Best Friend" is a most pleasing psychic mystery. It's a really fun read by an author who gets better with each book she writes. This is a cozy mystery that teenagers and adults alike will enjoy. Victoria Laurie is also the author of the Psychic Eye Mystery series featuring Abby Cooper.

As this is the second title in the Ghost Hunters Mystery series, I recommend starting with book one which is titled "What's a Ghoul To Do?". This will help you better understand Dr. Steven Sable and his role in the partnership and M. J.'s life. The first book will also give you more background on all the characters including M. J.'s friend Karen who is nicknamed Teeko. If your local bookstore does not have the first book, don't worry, this can be read as a standalone.

The story revolves around M. J., her techie partner Gilley, Steven, and Teeko in their quest to help Teeko's 14 year old niece who was terrified by Hatchet Jack, a local ghost. The school principal and the local community try to deny the existence of Hatchet Jack. Of course the tapes of the incident in the school show only Teeko's niece. You'll get caught up in their search for clues in the hunt for Hatchet Jack. And you won't be able to guess the ending. I was totally absorbed in the mystery plot and the evolving and tenuous romantic relationship between M. J. and Steven.

If you like curling up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and a good mystery like me, you'll love "Demons Are a Ghoul's Best Fiend". Read it and enjoy!

This book was so bad, I read the whole thing in about an hour just so I could get it out of my apartment. It featured several pet peeves of mine: the comic-relief gay best friend who has unrequited crushes on every inappropriate person in the book (because that's how all gay people are- lustful and delusional!), the romantic chemistry between the heroine and her love interest that the reader knows about purely because other characters keep saying "there's so much chemistry between you two!" Too bad we don't see any of it for ourselves. Also the love interest speaks English not like the foreigner that he is, but like a developmentally delayed child. Sexy! Plus, all the "clues" that these detectives find come from ghosts conveniently giving them information. If you like Victoria Laurie, go ahead and buy it, it's more of the same garbage from her- but if you are thinking about trying one of her books for the first time, I highly recommend that you do not.

M.J. Holliday has the gift of communicating with the dead, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like such a great gift....

Every school has its bullies, but Northelm Boarding School located near Lake Placid, New York, houses a real whopper: a deadly demonic poltergeist named Hatchet Jack. M.J.'s good friend Karen has asked her--along with her partners Gilley and Dr. Steven Sable (a.k.a. Dr. Delicious)--to send Hatchet Jack back through the portal he came from.

With renovations at the school starting in a week, there isn't much time for ghost hunting. With summer upon the town, it's just making Hatchet Jack more restless. He is not only attacking students, but now that M.J. and her crew have shown up, he's turned his attention to them. Poor Gilley is continually harassed by Jack, and M.J. has a few encounters herself. Throw in three ghosts of little boys who were apparently Jack's victims-and M.J.'s got her work cut out for herself!

Dr. Delicious is also chasing her around, for other reasons than Hatchet Jack has, that is, if he can avoid M.J.'s attack parrot! With all this going on, you'd think that would be all of her troubles-but no, she also gets to deal with a very uncooperative dean who is persistent in them not having access to the school. With a demonic disturbance of this magnitude she must show no mercy and see to it that Hatchet Jack gets sent back through his portal for eternity.

This is the follow-up to Laurie's first _Ghost Hunter Mystery, What's a Ghoul to Do-and it had a lot to live up to for me! And boy did it ever! Victoria Laurie just gets better and better with every book. I was laughing at Gilley, confused and upset along with M.J., and frustrated right along with Dr. Delicious.

Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for a really good paranormal mystery, this is one definitely not to pass up!

I didn't care too much for "Whats a Ghoul To Do". I liked the idea of M.J. the ghostbusting heroine sending ghosts to heaven or the otherworld. I was annoyed by the character of Dr. Steven Sable and his messed up dialect on every other page. The mystery didn't hold my attention very well either. I chalked this up to a fun idea gone badly. So its taken nearly a year for me to pick up the next book "Demons Are A Ghoul's Best Friend". I'm still not sure why I did. Imagine my pleasure to discover this a keeper. Here M.J., Gilley, and (oh no!) their new partner Dr Steven are investigating an ax wielding ghost attached to a boarding school. There is (as other reviewers have suggested) much less of Dr. Steven, and when he is involved, he wasn't quite as annoying as before. He is still a character I think Laurie would do well to ditch. As a team of two Gilley and M.J. were a hoot. This mystery was far superior to the first one, and the ghost scenes (always the best) were plentiful. This is a fun, page turner and to anyone on the fence after the first one, I can only suggest you give the second one a try.

I picked this book up after reading the first book in the series & was eager to learn more about my favorite characters. While I enjoyed this book thoroughly, there were a few parts to the book that had my eyes rolling at times.

This current book finds MJ being recruited by Teeko to hunt down a psychotic ghost by the name of "Hatchet Jack" that haunts the ultra priviledged school that her niece attends. Along for the ride are her teammates Gilley (old friend) & Steven (the love interest). The only bad thing is that while everyone knows about the ghost, no one wants to speak about it!

OK. I did enjoy this book, but there were some rough parts to it. I got a little creeped out at times by Steven, who at one point climbs into her bed & starts trying to paw her while she was sleeping. While I'm sure that's not how the author meant it to appear like, it made Steven seem like a creepy letch who likes to climb into unconcious women's beds. There are better ways to have romantic development... The other thing that bothered me was the constant need to have showy developments of power whenever anyone disbelieved MJ. While it's cool at first, it eventually seems a little farfetched that she's that psychic all the time or that every disbeliever has a family or friend who is trying to contact them from the world beyond. Gilley irritated me at times, but he's not completely unbelievable as I've known quite a few people who are like him.

Even so, I still enjoyed the book, flaws & all. It's not particularly deep writing, but then I doubt that any of her readers are really looking for Tolstoy in a book entitled "Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend".

3.5/5

Demons... is the second book in Victoria Laurie's Ghost Hunter Mysteries, and I liked it even better than the first book. At Teeko's (what a great nickname) request, MJ and gang investigate a boarding school haunted by a rampaging violent spirit known as Hatchet Jack. But of course, Ms. Laurie, the master of twists and turns brings us down an entirely different path. Read on to to see where this on takes you!

Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye series is such a treat that I eagerly bought up her Ghost Hunter mysteries as well. However, I was dissatisfied with the first novel in this series, "What's a Ghoul to Do" because our heroine, MJ Holliday, medium and psychic, got into lots of should-be scary situations, yet never managed to be in any danger. I was disappointed to read a "ghost hunter" mystery that's got less "scare" than the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. In the second installment of the Ghost Hunter Mysteries, "Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend", MJ is faced with a hatchet-wielding ghoul haunting the halls of a rural boarding school, terrifying children and adults alike for 30 years. I had high hopes that this ghoul would give MJ a run for her money, but in the end there was all the great potential for terror with no actual frights. On the plus side, the characters have hilarious dialogue, a Scooby Doo set of sleuthing skills and relationships that are just juicy enough for me to hang on for a few more rounds. Ms. Laurie's heroines are spunky, capable, intriguing women that I would love to tag along with on an adventure. I'm hopeful that this series develops its "scare tactics" in further installments which I will be faithfully reading at home. Alone. At night.