He talks to the dead. The dead talk to him.
I just finished Dead Connection, by Charlie Price, and it was a quick, suspenseful read with a unique premise. Teenage Murray hangs out in the Forest Grove cemetary nearly every day after school, sometimes late into the night. Partly he's avoiding his mom, a sometimes-prostitute who is always dating a different (yet always similarly deadbeat) man, but mostly it's because the dead are his only friends. There's Dearly, who died in 1969 in a car wreck, and Blessed Daughter, who died when she was 11 of a brain tumor, and others like this that he knows by the name on their tombstones. They understand him so much better than any of the kids at school, who tease him relentlessly.
Then a girl, Nikki, disappears from her high school parking lot and Murray begins hearing a new voice in the cemetary that he cannot place. He puts two and two together and realizes that he's hearing the girl who disappeared. This act brings a cast of unique characters into Murray's life. There's Deputy Gates, who's working overtime to find the girl or her body and bring the killer to justice; Vern Billup, an alcoholic police officer who may or may not have had something to do with the girl's disappearance; Robert Barry Compton, a mentally challenged ex-con who witnessed the murder but can't remember that he did; and Janocek, the groundskeeper of the cemetary, and his daughter Pearl, the only people Murray believes he can trust with his secret.
Chapters follow each characters' thoughts and movements as they, and the readers, piece together the truth of what heppened to Nikki. The characters are realistic and fascinating, the story is well-plotted and actually very funny at times, as well as a little bit creepy (not scary) and the mystery unfolds at a quick enough pace to keep it interesting. Murray, the main character, is one many teens will empathize with--he's kind of weird, but immediately sympathetic. I highly recommend this book to teens who like mystery and suspense; those who like ghost stories will also enjoy.
This book is available in Pigott Library; the call number is F Price.