The day Chloe Saunders "becomes a woman" so to speak, she also comes across a few dead people. One in particular who is desperate to talk to her. When Chloe runs screaming through the halls of her art school her teachers and her Aunt Lauren decide she is having some kind of break down. So Chloe gets to spend some time at Lyle House, a home for teens with issues. But then things at Lyle House start to get a little weird. Crazy Tori practically tries to kill her, her new friend Liz completely disappears, and the gargantuan Derek and his cute brother Simon are definitely hiding something. But the residents definitely aren't the only ones with secrets, Lyle House its self seems to have a few very dangerous ones of its own.

As Chloe struggles to uncover Lyle House's past, she just might find out a few scary details about her own.

I have to admit I was not initially attracted to this book. The cover didn't appeal to me and I have been getting a little tired of the zombie/ghost/dead people books. But after reading a dozen or so glowing reviews (and the bookstore doing a buy 2 get 1 free) I decided to pick it up. I have no problem admitting that I was wrong about this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Chloe was a sharp and witty character whose toughness was highly entertaining. In fact, Armstrong does a wonderful job with all of her characters. This one pulled me in immediately, then slowed down a little before a steady adrenaline rush from middle to end. I enjoyed Chloe's banter with Derek and her way of handling Tori as well the "unexpected visitors" in her life.

Readers of all ages will be captivated by Chloe and her friends/frenemies as they figure out who they are and how they got to Lyle House. What most impressed me was they Armstrong was able to include the intriguing stories of multiple characters without overshadowing Chloe's. The supernatural aspects were well executed and not too over the top or too stereotypical for my taste. Be warned, after reading The Summoning you will rush out to pick up the second book in the Darkest Powers series, The Awakening. I did!

I wouldn't use this in the classroom necessarily but I would offer it as independent reading to accelerated readers with interest in supernatural fiction.