Ghost in the Headlights

Duga, L. (2021). Ghost in the Headlights. Scholastic Inc.

Brianna Jenson has just moved in with her uncle Shale in rural Pennsylvania. Every afternoon, when she walks home from school, as the sun begins to set, she can hear footsteps behind her. Yet when she turns to look, there’s no one there. Then a car races along the narrow country road, headlights blinding as it almost runs her over, but there’s no one driving. As she digs into the past of Shadowrun Road, she discovers a tragedy that was never resolved. Can Brianna unravel this ghostly mystery before it’s too late?

A disappointing and cliché start right off the bat, with the main character – Brianna – being startled awake, forgetting where she is and then going into a long explanation on why she’s there; this is just a cheap scare in movie format. And the long explanation? The first rule of writing – always show, don’t tell, otherwise, it’s just a boring information dump that could’ve been spread throughout the story. I don’t understand why Brianna can’t stay with friends either, my family took care of some kids whose mum was close with mine for two months. Cheap reasoning to start the story.


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