Book Review: Ghostopolis

This is my second book review this week.   I suppose that probably says a lot about my week.   It is cold outside and there has been snow on the roads.  The children have been sick and a sense of Christmas quiet has taken hold of my house.  This has given me excessive amounts of time to read.  This is wonderful.

Ghostopolis is a graphic novel for younger readers, but I enjoyed this book as much as my children.  Its protagonist is a young boy, Garth, who is dying.  There is a secondary protagonist in the form of a burnt out detective.  In truth, the detective is really more of a ghost hunter with a detective feel.  This protagonist gives us some surprisingly adult glimpses into a man torn between two worlds.  The ghost hunter works for a government agency whose job it is to send ghosts back to the afterlife.  Most of the ghosts don't seem to happy about this and he has a very stressful job.   He is also tortured by his own love for a beautiful ghost woman who dwells in between worlds.  When the ghost hunter accidentally transports Garth to the afterlife with one of his ghosts, we are transported to a world of magic and wonder where the dead rule and the living are the ghosts.  As the detective tries to find a way to bring the young boy out of the afterlife,  the young boy travels the afterlife learning about the rules of his new world and discovering secrets about who he really is. 

I read a lot of books with my boys and mostly I just make my way through them.  I endure.  This book I loved.  Like Harry Potter or The Golden Compass, Ghostopolis had an appeal that stretched way beyond its intended reading level.  In fact,  after I put my son to bed the first night we read together,  I sat up late finishing the book.  The illustrations are beautiful and the story is intriguing.  My husband also finished this graphic novel on his own.  It was a great read.  John Hodan at graphic novel reviews said, "Immediately, it is clear this book is something special."   I couldn't agree more!  I've also heard that a movie version of Ghostopolis is going to be made with Hugh Jackman as our burnt out ghost hunting detective type.  That should defiantly be interesting.