The Dreadful Revenge of Ernest Gallen

by James Lincoln Collier

In the quiet town of Magnolia, someone is a' haunting, making people do awfully weird things. Eugene knows because he's being haunted, too. His friend Sonny's dad walked right off of a building and fell to his death, and then another friend's dad crashed his car into a tree. The same "specter" that was haunting them is inside Eugene, talking to him, telling him to do crazy things! Along with the help of their friend (conveniently, the daughter of the town's newspaper editor) Eugene and Sonny pledge to get to the bottom of the haunting. But not before uncovering a bigger mystery that will affect nearly every townsperson in sleepy little Magnolia…

Genres: Young Adult, Juvenile, Middle Grade

240 pages, Hardcover

First published July 22, 2008

About the author

James Lincoln Collier (born June 27, 1928) is a journalist, author, and professional musician.

Collier's notable literary works include My Brother Sam Is Dead (1974), a Newbery Honor book that was also named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and nominated for a National Book Award in 1975. He also wrote a children's book titled The Empty Mirror (2004), The Teddy Bear Habit (1967), about an insecure boy whose beatnik guitar teacher turns out to be a crook, and Rich and Famous (1975), sequel to The Teddy Bear Habit. His list of children's books also includes Chipper (2001), about a young boy in a gang. His writings for adults include numerous books on jazz, including biographies of Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. He has also contributed entries on jazz-related subjects to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

In addition to his writing, Collier is an accomplished jazz musician who plays the trombone professionally.

Reviews

[Ambria Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was really good and suspenseful. I think the reason why i chose it because I love mysteries and when I saw the title of this book I was drawn to it.I think my favorite characters in this book was the voice[Ernest Gallen]and gene,I like the voice because it was really focused on getting what it wanted and i like Gene because gene would stop at nothing to protect the people he loves from the voice. The dreadful Revenge of Ernest Gallen was mainly about Gene Richards is being haunted by a voice from the past and gene does not like what it is saying gene tries to ignore it but it will not go away until it gets his revenge. Long ago something happened in the town magnolia and Gene's Grampa and dad were involve and covered it up but with the help of his friends Sam and Sonny he has to find out what happened before the voice gets revenge on his grandpa.Gene must unlock the secret of magnolia before the voice attacks everyone in the town.One
See the quotes or phrases that i like was,Determined to protect his grandfather he must battle through the unknow to find out the secrets hidden in the town.I liked this quote because it shows how determined confident he was to search for the secrets and protect his family.This has a big part in the plot and the story.


One of the sections that I thought was good was when gene found out about the secret in the town and he confronted his grandfather. I liked this part because that section was what the conflict was and what the book was all about this section was really mysterious to me and caught my attention.I thought the author did a really good job on the book. What I liked about the book was that it had a good story plot,mystery,suspense and conflict. For example when the voice said,"I want to introduce myself gene don't worry I'll be back again",that makes the reader wonder and think about what's next and get's interesting to the character or when gene and his friends found a bundle of bones in an old building that writing phrase or style that the author wrote has a lot of thought to the reader and you wonder what is going to happen next in the book. The author provides a lot of information and dialogue for the book so that the reader understands in clearly.

If their was character that i had to trade places with it would be Gene because I would want to find out about the past and I would want to search threw old files to find out about the secets of eveyone. I would want to put myself in the characters position so I can be one of the main characters in the book so I can search for clues. I want to be gene because he's always looking for evidence and the truth so he can solve the problem and what I like about him is that he won't give up at all even though he scared to lose someone if gene sets his mind to something he follows thorough and tries to figure it out. AI want to be in the book so I can know how it feels to be gene and know what he gows through I would want to be the person who solved the mystery.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Looking for a good mystery/ghost story? THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN will be a satisfying read.

Young Eugene "Gene" Richards feels a tightness in his chest. Then there is a strange sensation, like a motion wiggling in his center. What follows is the scariest thing - a voice begins to speak to Gene from somewhere inside.

Over the course of a few weeks, the strange feeling and the internal voice continue to visit Gene. The voice tells him a frightening tale. Gene learns that his beloved grandfather may have committed some unthinkable crime. According to the voice, back when Gene was very young, his grandfather and some other men in the small town of Magnolia got involved in a "get rich quick" scheme that ended in the lynching of a young man. It is beginning to appear that the voice haunting Gene's thoughts is the ghost of that young man looking for revenge.

At the same time Gene is wrestling with the mysterious voice and whether or not to involve his good friends, Sonny and Sam, Sonny's dad is killed in a freak accident, and Sam's dad is injured in an equally strange car accident. As the trio begins to dig into the mysteries of the past, they find numerous reasons to connect their fathers and Gene's grandfather to the vengeful ghost.

Although set in the years of the depression, readers will relate to the young detectives as they do their research at the local newspaper office and ask probing questions of reluctant relatives. Their persistence pays off as the mystery unfolds, and readers will keep turning the pages to learn the answers. THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN is an excellent choice for any middle grade collection.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm surprised this book hasn't been challenged or banned-maybe it has. If I'd read this when I was little it would have freaked me out, but I have an overactive imagination and OCD. Set during the depression, it is the story of a young boy (Gene) who is visited by a specter hellbent on revenge against the people of the town involved in his lynching and the ensuing cover up. Ernest Gallen was a swindler who convinced the locals of Magnolia that there was oil underneath an old farm and that they should invest in his company for easy money. Gene's father, grandfather, and friends' father's get caught up in the swindle, lynching, and cover up. The specter haunts those involved causing one to attempt suicide, two to commit suicide (including Gene's father), and almost succeeds in forcing Gene to kill his own grandfather with a baseball bat. It's a good read-very fast and what is great about James Collier is that his characters are actually narrating the story...meaning the narrator's verbiage and responses to events are very juvenile and realistic for his age, instead of being the author's adult voice and thoughts transplanted into the character. I read My Brother Same is Dead when I was little and loved it. It is on the challenged list, so that makes me like Collier even more.

[M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Set during the depression. Gene, who lives with his mother and grandfather, starts hearing a voice telling him scary things about his grandfather. It turns out Gene is being haunted by a very malicious ghost who is trying to get revenge on the grandfather and others who were part of a lynching gang which killed him after he, the ghost when alive, swindled a bunch of people in town. The ghost has made Gene’s friend’s father kill himself (it looked like an accident), caused another father to run his car into a tree, etc. I didn’t like this book much—I think it’s too scary for a lot of young kids—but maybe a mature 5th grader who likes ghost stories would be okay with it.

[Renae · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mysteries go, this wasn't bad. Set during the depression, the main character, Eugene, and his two friends explore a scandal from the past. There are supernatural elements. Ghosts. Etc.

But at the same time, the ending was abrupt and anticlimactic. Loose ends tied up too quickly and too neatly.

And the narrator kept using the phrase "on the same wavelength" over and over again--which in reality COULD have been part of the vernacular in the 30's, but the first documented use of the phrase IN THAT SENSE was only in 1928 (Yes, I looked it up). And this particular town was pretty back-woodsy. It was a bit anachronistic.

Fair. Not dreadful.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a VERY weak ending (that's also a "deus ex machina"), I'm recommending this book for kids who are looking for a different kind of ghost story. (You can read the description; I won't go into it here.) There's plenty of interesting things going on and some of the book gets quite dark, so I'd probably recommend this for the older end of middle grade readers (although much of it appears geared toward the younger crowd). Definitely worth picking up for that reader who enjoys a supernatural element and has read everything else.

[MountainLaurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rural Illinois a few years after the Great Depression, combined with a supernatural specter who inhabits people and can bend their minds to do terrible things. A very original setting. This book was pretty fascinating until the last part, which seemed like a quick (and somewhat lame) way of ending the book. There needed to be some sort of big boom of an ending and there really wasn't.

Otherwise, very enjoyable and slightly creepy.

[Addison Children's Services · Rating 3 out of 5]

This horror tale didn't cause me to lose sleep, but was age appropriate for 4th- 5th graders. Eugene starts hearing a voice in his head and needs to figure out what it wants. It seems the voice has already caused a �??suicide,�?� and a near fatal auto accident. His friends Sonny and Sam help solve the mystery by looking through old newspapers. (Oh for the Internet, or even microfiche, the story is set in 1929.)

[Gerald Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a "young adult" story, but it held my attention and I enjoyed it because of the characterizations and the challenges that they confronted.

I will read more of this author when I want something interesting but relaxing.

[Gunnar]

I thought this was a great book with a good mystery to it! At the end of each chapter, it has a stunning cliff-hanger and the author leaves you hungrey for more. i thought this book was a great mystery!

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been better. a bit disappointing.

[Eric W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like this book much......

[Rachel]

Released July 2008