THE FIGURE IN THE SHADOWS
by John Bellairs illustrated by Mercer Mayer
It's the same old lard-ass Lewis of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, accustomed to living with' a practicing wizard and more worried about getting tough enough to take on class bully Woody Mingo. Lewis is still palling around with Rose Rita (rather atavistically described as a "tomboy") but he soon picks up a more unsettling companion—a ghost called up by Grandpa Barnavelt's lucky piece. Notes slipped through the mail slot and a sudden rush of power during a scrape with Woody presage Lewis' kidnapping by the vengeful specter. The switch in illustrations from Gorey's brooding interiors to Mayer's rumpled urchins only reinforces our suspicion that a less gullible kid than Lewis wouldn't fall for any of this. Still, a nice comfy ghost story for stay-at-homes who'll be relieved to know that the grownups can yet protect them against the powers of darkness.