A blind teenager helps a misplaced ghost unravel his dark past only to discover the chilling truth about his own missing father.
It’s 1970, and Colin, blind since birth, is leaving for college -- still devastated by the strange disappearance of his father four years before. He also harbors two present-day burdens: a simmering resentment about his mother’s new marriage, and the mysterious arrival of Pete, a peculiar ghost who has revealed himself only to Colin.
Meticulous and old fashioned, Pete appeared shortly after Colin and his mother moved into his new stepfather’s house. The ghost -- clearly from another era -- understands nothing about his past nor his curious connection to Colin. With help from his opinionated cousin Katie, Colin slowly unlocks the spirit’s darkest secrets, unmasks the hypocrisy of those he loves, and finally discovers the chilling truth about his own missing father.
Entwined in a knot of clever lies with a paranormal punch to the gut, Telling a Thumper keeps raising the stakes while blurring the moral line between vengeance and justice.
This gripping and atmospheric mystery blends the coming-of-age narrative with supernatural elements, following Colin, a blind college freshman grappling with his father's mysterious disappearance, his mother's remarriage, and an unexpected ghostly presence in 1970s Philadelphia. Fleming (author of When Courage Comes) crafts a believable and intriguing dynamic between the living and the dead through Colin’s supernatural companionship with Pete, a spirit unaware of his past but clearly belonging to a former time, who functions as a guide and protector for Colin, but has a “hot and cold personality [that] can be exhausting.” Fleming uses Colin’s blindness to create a unique channel of perception, making the ghostly interactions feel organic and integral to the story.Pete's limited knowledge about his own past adds an extra layer of mystery, turning him into both a source of information and a puzzle to be solved, and Fleming expertly balances multiple threads of intrigue—Colin's missing father, Pete's hazy past, and the secrets lurking in Colin's family—to create a complex web of clues and revelations. The pacing of these revelations is particularly well-handled, with each new piece of information raising as many questions as it answers, keeping readers engaged and guessing until the final pages. Fleming generates depth for the investigative aspects of the story with the addition of Colin’s cousin, Katie, and the pair’s collaborative efforts to unravel the story’s mysteries—a realistic and engaging approach to amateur sleuthing, grounded in the limitations and resources available in the ‘70s.
The novel's exploration of "telling a thumper"—a clever lie with serious consequences—adds a moral dimension to the mystery that elevates it beyond a simple whodunit. This thematic element intertwines with the plot in unexpected ways, challenging readers to consider the long-term impacts of deception and revenge. The ending is shocking, the perfect culmination for this electric story.
Takeaway: Richly textured mystery exploring the sometimes murky path to truth.
Comparable Titles: John Connolly's Charlie Parker series, John McMahon’s The Good Detective.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
