The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (October 1994)
• ISBN-10: 9994763369
• ISBN-13: 978-9994763368
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,627,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Johnny Dixon mystery by John Bellairs, October 24, 2004

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (Paperback)

Grownups remain out of sight for the most part in this spooky addition to the Johnny Dixon mystery series by John Bellairs. Crusty old Professor Childermass (a series regular) vanishes early on, to be replaced by crusty old Irish-American priest, Father Higgins, who brandishes a silver crucifix and rescues Johnny in the nick of some very frightening situations.

Johnny is a shy, likeable boy who tries to act brave in spite of thinking himself a coward. His lower lip quivers almost continuously as he and his friend Fergie set out to find the missing professor. (He has every reason to be nervous in a story that reminds me of "The Haunted Doll's House" by that master of horror himself: M. R. James). For reasons that remain a mystery until the last few pages, our youthful hero is plagued by a tiny human skull and an ominous jack-o-lantern after his friend, Professor Childermass disappears.

As skeletons, demons, and a haunted clock all conspire to make Johnny's life miserable, Fergie and Father Higgins pitch in to help him. The climax to "The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull" takes place on a remote rock off the coast of Maine, appropriately named 'Cemetery Island.'

The book is set in the nostalgic early 1950s (Johnny's father is a fighter pilot in Korea), but you won't have much time to feel nostalgia. You'll be too busy feeling scared. One of the reliable features of John Bellairs's adolescent fiction is that he doesn't try to make his ghosts cuddly or mawkish, like so many so-called 'teen-age horror' authors.