Room 13

by Henry Garfield

COULD THE NEW TEACHER'S CLASSROOM BE HAUNTED? English teacher Marilou McCormick has moved to tiny Julian, California, to put a recent tragedy behind her. But it's hard to start life afresh when you're assigned to Room 13 at Drew Bailey Memorial High School. There's something decidedly creepy about the former domain of eccentric Scott "Scurvy" Lurvey, who took his life in the room eight years before. Like posters of authors that refuse to be torn down, students who seem possessed by fictional characters, and a heater with a mind of its own. Marilou's only ally, Cyrus "Moondog" Nygerski -- ex-minor-league baseball player, sometime writer, and occasional school bus driver -- suspects a supernatural force behind the sinister goings-on. And Moondog ought to know -- after all, he happens to be a werewolf. But can Moondog prevail over a malevolent spirit that will stop at nothing to get its way?

Genres: Werewolves, Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Shaun Maloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has got to be the best book I’ve never read. Out of all of the rooms in the universe, room 13?! This is why Garfield is such a master mind. His ability to name books is a constant ability that I’ve never seen before in my whole life. He could have done room 2, room 43, room 7, but no, he decided that he was going to spend is time working on a gel called Room 13. Clap it up for Garfield. I never read this book but the cover makes me want to read the first page.

[Autumn Skye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in middle school and have been trying to figure out the title for like 17 years.
I dont remember if I liked it, I'm just glad I figured it out.

[Angie Fehl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The general gist of this story is that young teacher Marilou witnesses her boyfriend murdered in San Luis Obispo by some hard to identify but possibly werewolf-like creature. Wanting a fresh start away from the horrible memories, she takes a teaching job in the mountain town of Julian, CA. The room she's assigned to at her new school -- Room 13 -- has these posters of famous American writers lining the walls. Something about the posters creeps her out, but whenever anyone attempts to take down the posters, or make changes to the room in general, bad things happen and people get seriously hurt. In fact, Marilou finds out she's the 5th teacher in something like three years to be assigned to Rm. 13, as all the others have mysteriously vanished.

Initially, I was pretty pumped to pick up this book since it takes place in Julian, CA which is not far from where I grew up and I'd never come across any books that take place there before! And a paranormal book to boot? Sign me up!

First off, judging from the cover art I was thinking this might be a middle grade read. It is SOOOO not. I'd say it's more suitable only for older YA readers on up. The book opens with a couple gearing up to have sex on the beach (and I'm not talking about the drink), one character mentions porn here and there, and there are f-bombs scattered throughout. Wasn't an issue for me personally as a reader, but figured I would mention it for parents who might be possibly looking at this one for their kids. There's also a Ted Kennedy / Chappaquidick joke I can see going over the heads of many of today's younger YA readers, so overall it just seems like this book is better suited for a more adult audience.

Booknerds will likely have some fun with this one because it brings to life a lot of classic lit figures like Edgar Allan Poe, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. Unfortunately for me, what started strong seemed to fizzle after awhile. I found myself getting a little bored with the dialogue and annoyed at how the suspense would be barely built up before being snatched away from the reader only to have the pattern repeat multiple times throughout the book. Got pretty damn tiresome.

This is the second book in Garfield's Moondog Trilogy. I haven't read the other two but this seems to read fine as a standalone. I don't think I had enough interest in this one to seek out the other two .

[Abel Molina]

This story was mainly about a lady who's boyfriend was killed, so she moves away to a new job as a school teacher, to find that the room is haunted by a past teacher who passed away and is still haunting the room 13. I liked all the mysterious things that would happen in the classroom and how they found out the room was still being haunted. I recommend this story to more mysterious types of readers.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it, had the perfect blend of supernatural and mystery.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever read where the main character fucked a bus driver who was also a werewolf. High watermark for literature. I was ten.