Spirit Week
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Secret rooms, eerie curses, forgotten caves. Could you survive a week in the Underlook Hotel?
Aspiring engineer Suzy Hess is invited to the famous Underlook Hotel, domain of the reclusive horror writer Jack Axworth, in the mountains above her hometown of Estes Park, Colorado. Suzy thinks she’s there to tutor Jack’s son, Danny, but instead she finds herself investigating a local curse that threatens the landmark hotel.
With the help of Elijah Jones, an amateur filmmaker who thought he’d been asked to make a film about the so-called King of Horror; Rena Hallorann, the hotel’s caretaker; and Danny, who knows more than he’s letting on, Suzy sets out to solve the mystery at the heart of the Underlook, one that holds the town of Estes Park in its grasp. With only a week to save the hotel—and the town—the friends find themselves racing against time to uncover the shadows of the past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thirteen-year-old engineer Suzy, portrayed with pale skin and straight blond hair, teams up with brown-skinned, bespectacled documentarian Elijah to save a historic hotel from demolition in this energetic graphic novel mystery by Marcks (Shark Summer). Small Estes Park, Colo., relies on revenue generated by tourists to stay afloat. The Underlook Hotel, which is owned by reclusive horror author Jack Axworth, is the mountain town's biggest attraction; ghost-hunting tourists and Jack's avid fans, dubbed "Underlurkers," flock to Estes Park for a glimpse of the infamous mountaintop hotel. But Jack, who has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, plans to demolish the property, despite the town's protests. Joined by Jack's son, Danny, and Rena, the Underlook's caretaker, Suzy and Elijah attempt to halt the demolition, and as they dig into the hotel's history, mysteries surrounding Axworth's family and the town's old mining system unfurl. Marcks's intricately detailed depictions of the Underlook's architecture, Suzy's inventions, and surrounding wildlife make for a bustling setting that serves as its own character—though this occasionally comes at the expense of the tweens' own development. It's a plot-driven mystery with myriad intertwining threads that features whip-smart, proactive protagonists. Ages 8–12.
