I loved that this second book in Arden’s creepy quartet focuses more on Coco.

And oh how she hates it when Brian calls her Tiny! She much prefers quiet games of chess to sporty outdoor activities. Brian is all aglow dreaming of going down fast, Ollie is excited as well, and Coco… well, Coco is mostly scared but doesn’t want to be a spoilsport. Ollie, Coco, and Brian are going on a ski trip with Ollie’s dad and Coco’s mom and some of them are happier about this than others. Maybe the ghosts need their help–or maybe not all ghosts can or should be trusted.ĭead Voices is a terrifying follow-up to Small Spaces with thrills and chills galore and the captive foreboding of a classic ghost story. Voland’s help, Ollie, Coco, and Brian reach out to the dead voices at Mount Hemlock. Ollie, Coco, and Brian want to trust him, but Ollie’s watch, which once saved them from the smiling man, has a new cautionary message: BEWARE. Voland, a mysterious ghost hunter, arrives in the midst of the storm to investigate the hauntings at Hemlock Lodge. Coco is convinced she has seen a ghost, and Ollie is having nightmares about frostbitten girls pleading for help. Ollie, Coco, and Brian are determined to make the best of being snowed in, but odd things keep happening.

But when a snowstorm sets in, causing the power to flicker out and the cold to creep closer and closer, the three are forced to settle for hot chocolate and board games by the fire. Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Resort. Opening line: Winter in East Evansburg, and just after dusk, five people in a beat-up old Subaru peeled out of town in a snowstorm.

Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2019

Dead voices arden