Best Nerds Forever by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

What worked:

How many books open by murdering an 8^th boy and then making him the main character? Finn must learn how to be a ghost, I mean he’s never died before, and the authors use their customary humor to describe the process. He’s able to taste ice cream, can appear instantly in different locations, and time sometimes jumps forward and backward. The living might be able to hear him, and maybe not, but they can definitely feel the chill as he passes through them. However, he still retains many of the fears his parents created, such as drowning in the lake or being smashed while jumping from the rocks. The anxieties he feels are actually keys to unlocking the cause of his death

Finn meets the ghost of a classmate, Isabella, and they work together to figure out how each of them died. Finn can’t understand why anyone would run his bike off the road and then leave him for dead. Does he have an enemy who hated him enough to commit murder? Isabella’s death may be more difficult to investigate. She’s been missing for four months, and her ghost doesn’t remember much about how she died. She hasn’t returned to her home since her death, because she’s upset about what she did to her mother. What did she do? It’s difficult for Finn and Isabella to investigate her disappearance and death when she doesn’t have a clue where to start.

The story explores how different characters deal with death. It offers a perspective of how restless spirits also need closure even though some ghosts don’t know why they haven’t passed on. Finn’s family is hit the hardest, and his father has difficulty understanding how he died. His father works for an insurance company and studies the probabilities of dying from various causes. Both parents are overly protective and their worries make Finn paranoid about danger. Finn’s friends are very sad, and Finn has mixed emotions when they seem to move on with their lives.

What didn’t work as well:

The story doesn’t develop a great deal of drama, as Finn and Isabella reflect on their short lives and how the living deal with grief. Consequently, the climax and revelations surrounding the deaths of Finn and Isabella aren’t suspenseful. However, the resolutions are surprising when compared to other middle-grade mysteries. The cover photo makes me think the ghost of Finn will work with his living friends to locate his killer, but the book goes a different way.

The Final Verdict:

Live life to its fullest. The humor is pretty mild when compared to other books by these authors, but the book deals with death in a novel manner. Finn and Isabella share valuable insight with readers, as they reflect on their tragically short lives. The story moves quickly, and I recommend you give it a shot.