Monday, December 7, 2009

Review: The Mediator (3): Mean Spirits by Meg Cabot

The Mediator (3): Mean Spirits by Meg Cabot and narrated by Johanna Parker (April 2008, Whole Story Audio Books, ISBN: 9781407480190)

First Line:
"Now this," Gina said, "is the life".

Notes: Mean Spirits is the third in the six-book Mediator series and was first published in 2001 as The Mediator: Reunion by Jenny Carroll.

Review: Mean Spirits is set a few weeks after High Stakes and Suze is joined in her Carmel home by her school friend from New York, Gina, who is on her spring break. Gina's not been there long before Suze has another ghostly problem to deal with. This time a group of four teenagers from the exclusive Robert Louis Stevenson school have been killed in a car crash on the dangerous coastal road. The driver of the other car, Michael Meducci, escaped unhurt. The RLS Angels as they are dubbed in the press want revenge on Michael and it's Suze's job to protect him and send the Angels on their way to their unearthly destination. Reluctantly Suze has to go out with Michael to try and keep him safe and is ribbed mercilessly by Gina and Suze is appalled to find that Gina has attracted the attentions of both Suze's older step-brothers, Jake and Brad.

All is not what it first seems though and soon Suze's life is in danger, both from the dead and the living.

Mean Spirits is an enjoyable third entry in the series. Suze still uses her fists to try and get her way but it is proving a less successful technique in California than in New York and she has to rely on help from fellow Mediator Father Dom and her ghostly room-mate Jesse. Suze also gets some support from Gina who gets to know more about her friend's Mediator role. Suze is falling for Jesse, but a psychic has predicted that she will only have one true love and that it will last an eternity. What does that mean? How can she and Jesse ever be together? This problem is part of what keeps me glued to the series. I also like the characters, the setting is brought to life and the plots are intriguing.

As before, Johanna Parker's narration is enjoyable to listen to and her voices are consistent with those she used in the earlier books.

Cover: The cover's quite appropriate this time as there's quite a lot of beach activity.

2 comments:

  1. I haven't read all of this series but I'd like to. Great review - thanks!

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  2. I am enjoying these a lot. I'll have to switch to print for the next one as it's only available on audio as an abridged version and narrated by somebody different. I have put in a library stock suggestion for the final part as it's available with the same narrator as the first four.

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