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Title: Ghost Train to Nowhere (Usborne Spinechillers, No 3) by Phil Roxbee Cox, Jane Gedye ISBN: 0-7460-0677-2 Publisher: E.D.C. Publishing Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Usbourne Spinechiller
Comment: When at primary school, my class and I loved the Usbourne Puzzle books, spending hours pouring over them, trying to figure out the mysteries that they held - and the spookier they were, the better! Usbourne no doubt caught onto this popularity, and released the Usbourne Spinechillers, a series of six that delved into the world of ghosts and past mysteries. Among them was "Ghost Train to Nowhere", one of my favourites.

Alf and Chrissy are spending a holiday with their uncle Jack and his cat Salmon in Seabry, an old railway town. Jack himself lives in what used to be the old station, with its old relics still in place: the ticket office, the tiny kitchen, and the shelves of uncollected luggage. But despite the cheerfulness of the place, the twins feel oddly disjointed there, and come to the conclusion that it has something to do with the old railway engine that was closed down many years ago. After strange hooting noises that they take to be an owl, and smoke appearing above the treeline in the woods, they go exploring and run into hte elderly Harold Masters, who tells them the eerie tale of the "Gypsy Bell" - the train that plummeted over the washed out bridge during a terrible storm, taking with it Harold's twin brother.

But apparently that's not the end of the story, as locals have claimed to experience the same phenomena that the twins have - the hooting of whistles and the chugging of steam, even the ghost train itself hurtling down the old track! It seems that somehow the twins are linked to the train, and are the only ones who can possibly hope to right the past wrong, and the journey takes them to the old train tunnel deep in the woods, the abandoned mine, and into their own minds as they come to grips with their own powers.

"Ghost Train" was lucky enough to have excellent illustrations to match the mood of the story, whether it be the warmth of the station-house, the sunny woods with a hint of otherworldliness to them, or the dark mysteriousness of the mines they explore. Human expressions are always very clear, and like in all Usbourne books in this series, little clues and red herrings are scattered throughout the illustrations - if you look hard enough, you can keep one step ahead!

Phil Roxbee Cox also created two other books in the Spinechillers series: "The Haunting of Dungeon Creek" and "Nightmare at Mystery Mansion", and incorporates some great ideas into "Ghost Train", such as a crack that slowly and mysteriously winds its way up a window pane, a silver train whistle that goes from shining new to rusted in minutes, and a huge black cat with glowing yellow eyes. The spookiness of the tale is perfectly for young readers, and I also highly recommend the other books in the the Spinechiller series "The Midnight Ghosts", "House of Shadows", and "Stage Fright".