Review: Dark Ride

Title: Dark Ride

Author: Caroline Green
Publisher: Piccadilly Press
Publication Date: 1 May 2011
Pages: 185
Reviewer: Catherine

Synopsis
A mysterious boy. A haunting secret ...
A shiver crawled up my spine. It felt like the loneliest place in the world. For a second I thought I caught a snatch of music in the air, but it was just the wind whistling  through cracks in the fairground hoardings.

My instincts screamed, `Run away, Bel! Run away and never return!'

But instead my fingers closed around the ticket in my pocket. ADMIT ONE.

Bel has never met anyone like Luka. And the day she follows him into the abandoned fairground, she is totally unprepared for the turn her life is about to take.

Catherine’s Review  

When Bel moves to the gloomy seaside town of Slumpton her whole life takes a sudden and mystifying turn. She is out by the seashore one dark afternoon and sees a boy-a boy like no other.

Bel decides to follow him into an eerie abandoned fairground-and suddenly finds herself tangled up in a never-ending string of mysteries. No wonder Luka is different-he's a ghost-yet he is alive and solid. He and his mum were murdered a year ago, when they were forced to drive off a steep ledge into the raging sea below. But that's not even the beginning!

Bel is the only person who can see Luka and despite the hint of ghostliness about him, he enchants Bel-so she feels an urge to look after him. However, other events going on make Bel suspicious. As the old fairground gets dismantled because of the new Marina replacing it, Luka gradually begins to fade away. How can Bel save him from disappearing forever? And how can she use the clues his mum left behind to reveal a deadly and terrifying secret?

This mysterious book sends a shiver down your spine as you hang onto every last word. It's jam-packed with tension, secrets and drama and you really feel like you're in Bel's shoes. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good action-packed and terrifying tale that chills you to the bone!