The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - ESSENTIAL

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz The Watcher in the Shadows, 262 pgs.  Little Brown and Company, 2013.  $18.00  Content: Language: PG (2 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.  

Irene and her family move to the coast of Normandy after the death of her father and start working for a toymaker, Lazarus.  Irene befriends and falls for a boy in town named Ishmael.  The toymaker is generous and kind, but has strange rules that govern his home.  As Lazarus starts to gain the trust of Irene’s family, a horrible incident in the woods causes the death of one of Lazarus’ servants and begins Irene and Ishmael on a mysterious and dark journey of discovery.  

Zafon is a master storyteller.  His writing is magical and dark, and it makes the reader feel as though the things he says could be true.  Zafon has written three separate young adult books, and some websites imply that they are a series, but they can be read completely alone and I don’t see any similarities that tie them together.   This is a clean and creepy ghost story that is perfect for your libraries.  

MS, HS-ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.