Skeleton Creek #1 – Ryan’s Journal

Posted by Samuel Walters

“Skeleton’s Creek – Ryan’s Journal” is the first book in a new series by author Patrick Carman. Carman has already experimented with New Media in his Atherton series and, once again, he returns to the format with this new book and series which is, ostensibly, a kind of ghost story – with a secret society thrown into the overall mystery. Taking into account that this book is aimed at adolescents, the results are almost entirely positive with Carman weaving a successfully creepy and suspenseful tale, while taking advantage of the internet to augment his story. To be fair, Skeleton Creek isn’t nearly as immersive as primarily web-based series such as Gemini Division or After Judgment, but the fact that Carman is cognizant enough to take advantage of this new media to help tell his story is certainly a benefit.

This particular book tells the story of Ryan McCray and his best friend, Sarah, who, out of sheer boredom, have decided to uncover the mysteries of their home town, Skeleton Creek, Oregon. Their investigations ruffle the feathers of local elders, including Ryan’s own father, and when they go one step too far, an accident leaves Ryan in a coma, with a shattered leg.

The book itself is written in the format of a journal, loosely modeled on the “marble notebook” of which today’s children are all too familiar. Ryan sees himself as an author – both of history and his own spooky stories – and what we read are the thoughts put down in his own notebook. As such, we get a singularly intimate perspective into Ryan’s character – his thoughts, his hopes, his dreams and, most prominently, his fears.

As a character, Ryan is something of a worrywart – forever imagining things to be worse than they actually are. As such, he often creates scary stories as a way of not only escaping his own reality, but also dealing with his own fears. What happens, then, when his own experiences begin to mirror the horrors of his stories? And, furthermore, what happens when his parents forbid him from having contact with his best friend, the only one capable of truly understanding what he is going through? The answers are the heart of the story in Skeleton Creek.

The story begins with Ryan recovering from a horrific accident he had while exploring the Dredge – a massive piece of equipment, left behind for over twenty years, which once carved up a large swaths of earth, looking for gold. As the story unfolds, we learn of Old Joe Bush, who was killed while working on the Dredge, and who appears to be haunting it. Though Ryan is bedridden as a result of his accident, his friend Sarah heads off to investigate the mysteries, posting her videos online for Ryan (and the rest of us) to view. Here is where the novel takes advantage of the internet to help tell its story, providing not only videos from Sarah, but also extra content which can be uncovered by astute visitors to the website, http://sarahfincher.com, who explore the flash site and find the right places to click uncover everything from Sarah’s favorite movies, to a Russian propaganda video.

In combining all of these elements, Skeleton Creek is fairly successful at not only creating a suspenseful, mysterious story, but also at evoking those emotions within the reader. There are a few missteps along the way, such as a few moments when it literally makes no sense for Ryan to be writing in his journal, but for the most part, all of the story elements blend together quite effectively. And in the end, the web content becomes critical to uncovering the full plot of the story – even if it ends on one heckuvan unfulfilling cliff hanger.

Overall Grade: B

“Skeleton Creek” is an entertaining book. Adults can easily read it (along with watching its accompanying videos) within a lazy afternoon. Younger readers will enjoy not only the dual format of journal and web-based video, but also the fairly straightforward language and story. And, of course, this does what an opening story must do: introduce the characters and story, and leave the audience clamoring for more.

Rating: 4.5/5 (11 votes cast)

Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)

Topics: Book Reviews, Mystery
Filed under: Skeleton Creek