Spirits and High School Shooters in “The Ghosts of Gray Fable”

In total honesty, I started reading this one right after a rough DNF on an unedited, self-pubbed title. (I thought calling the Preface Prefix was a joke, but it went downhill from there), so I was extra delighted to find a page-turning YA with a complex and likeable protagonist.

In The Ghosts of Gray Fable: Chapter One: SEER, high-schooler Grace Fable can see ghosts. Mostly they’re friendly, or if they’re not too interested in a chat, at least they’re interested in peaceful coexistence. But her dad’s ready to move in with his girlfriend Jennifer, so she’s transferring to a new high school, the site of a horrific school shooting almost five years ago. Naturally, these ghosts won’t be resting peacefully…

Almost immediately after starting at Willowbrook High, Gray meets Chase, the younger brother of one of the shooting victims, and she starts seeing the unquiet ghosts of the students killed in the shooting. These are a random assortment of high schoolers, now trapped together at the library. (One of the fathers jokes about the hell of being trapped in high school for all eternity, and come on, weren’t we were all thinking that?) Gray can also see the spirit of the shooter, and the darkness that surrounds him, looking for another troubled young man to latch on to. This leads to a pageturning blend of high school awkwardness and supernatural adventure.

I really liked Jennifer, Grace’s dad’s girlfriend, who seems just too perfect and generic to be real. I sort of thought she might have a secret, but I wasn’t prepared for what it was, or how she and Gray could work together.

This is a supernatural YA novel, but it also raises serious questions about the motivations of school shooters. At one point, Grace knows a boy has the potential to become a shooter, but all he’s done so far is post a lot about gun rights and dark music, all of which is totally legal and non-threatening. Naturally, she can’t explain that the ghosts told her he’s dangerous, so when she tries to report him through normal channels, she gets dead ends, as often happens when parents, teachers and friends feel like something is just not right about a quietly angry student. Her relationship with the ghosts also raises questions about how to mark and remember the death of the shooter.

I’m looking forward to to the next installment in this series, and hoping that there’s more about Jennifer’s family backstory and Grace’s dad’s horror novels in the next one.