TWICE THE TROUBLE

A group of Toronto-area friends who use their phantom phone to guide spirits to the afterlife face their biggest, most ghastly foe yet.

Best friends and Guardians Raveena Gill, Aiko Tanaka, Blair Ricci, and Lillian Baxter, who joined forces in Spirit Service (2025), are looking forward to the Holloween Festival, a big celebration named after their hometown, Hollows’ Peak, which includes a competition with rival Rosemary Heights. The stakes are higher this year since the girls discovered a second phantom phone in the possession of the Phantom Fighters, four boys from Rosemary Heights, including former classmate Mateo Pérez. Concerned about the boys’ nonchalant attitude toward spirits, Raveena makes a bet with them. The first group to guide 50 spirits to the afterlife by Holloween gets to possess both phones. As the kids work on achieving this challenging target, other threats loom: Odd spirits appear, chanting mysterious messages about their master, and a powerful spirit oozes green slime all over town. The first part of the novel builds up to a complicated climax and is followed by an action-heavy second half with some interesting twists. The bet naturally leads the ethnically diverse cast of kids to deal with betrayal, unravel historic secrets, release tethered souls, and challenge biases. Narrator Raveena satisfyingly explores deeper connections within her relationships, including a possible crush. The ending strongly hints at another installment.

With even more intrigue, this is a worthy sequel in an appealingly spooky series.