This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
"I knew it was time to move on when a tramp peed on my Uggs..".
Meet Lucy Shaw. She's not your average fifteen year old – for a start, she's dead. And as if being a ghost wasn't bad enough, she's also trapped haunting the men's toilets on Carnaby Street. So when a lighting engineer called Jeremy walks in and she realises he can see and hear her, she isn't about to let him walk out of her afterlife. Not least until he's updated her on what's happening in her beloved soaps. With Jeremy's help, Lucy escapes the toilet and is soon meeting up with other ghosts, including the perpetually enraged Hep and the snogtastic Ryan. But when Jeremy suggests Lucy track down the man who murdered her, things go down hill. Can Lucy face up to the events of that terrible night? And what will it cost her if she does?
This book was awesome. While reading it, I almost forgot that it was aimed at young adults because it was one of those novels that seems to transcend age range. The kind of book that anyone will enjoy.
The character of Lucy was brilliant. Sarcastic and a little stroppy – but totally funny with it. Her jokes and observations had me chuckling aloud at many points during the book.
The whole afterlife concept was done brilliantly. The rules by which Lucy could leave her toilet (the place where she died), and the way she was able to interact with other ghosts, were believable and original. For a while there I almost believed that what happened to Lucy really is what happens after you die!
I liked that Tamsyn didn't shy away from the circumstances of Lucy's murder. Certain parts of this plot really creeped me out. Lucy's death was sadly, the kind of senseless killing that happens all the time in real life. While this was completely upsetting, it also served to engage me in what happened to Lucy and whether she did find her killer.
Altogether a funny, insightful and totally original debut!
8/10
