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Desperado
A haunted mallet. A spooky song. An old west ghost story. Can Shelby survive a family camping trip or will the ghost of past misdeeds come calling?
Shelby didn't want to go on the family camping trip with her parents and baby sister Rhea. Sitting around telling ghost stories couldn't be more boring, even if one of the stories is supposedly true. When she accidentally gets a scrape on her finger from the wooden mallet that is the heart of her mother’s ghost story, and not to mention also a bloodstained antique from the cowboy days, Shelby gets a glimpse of what she may have unwittingly unleashed into modern times. With the help of her family, Shelby must try to piece together the story of the haunted mallet and a certain song by the Eagles that keeps playing ... and playing ... and playing – before this Texas-sized ancestral ghost story takes a turn that just might be headed down a dead end.
Shelby didn't want to go on the family camping trip with her parents and baby sister Rhea. Sitting around telling ghost stories couldn't be more boring, even if one of the stories is supposedly true. When she accidentally gets a scrape on her finger from the wooden mallet that is the heart of her mother’s ghost story, and not to mention also a bloodstained antique from the cowboy days, Shelby gets a glimpse of what she may have unwittingly unleashed into modern times. With the help of her family, Shelby must try to piece together the story of the haunted mallet and a certain song by the Eagles that keeps playing ... and playing ... and playing – before this Texas-sized ancestral ghost story takes a turn that just might be headed down a dead end.
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2014
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Sara Barnard
24 books231 followersSara Harris has authored close to thirty books for both children and grown ups. She and her family – plus their menagerie of rescue pets – make their home in Katy, Texas where the ice cream is perfection and the ocean is close enough to visit every weekend. Sara has her BA in History and wishes that someone who majored in Engineering would hurry and invent a time machine.
Visit Sara online at https://saraharrisbooks.com/
Visit Sara online at https://saraharrisbooks.com/
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 31, 2020
Great story! Sara's books always keep me wanting for more and this one is no different! It being based on a true story is even better!!!
January 14, 2015
Desperado is a short, (at 25 pages), suspenseful ghost story of a teen who isn’t totally thrilled at the idea of spending more time with her parents and younger sister on the family camping trip. No electronics means they sit around the campfire telling ghost stories. The one that her mother shares is supposed to be an old legend from bygone days and relatives. Now, Shelby has to determine what to do with a haunted mallet or hammer that follows them everywhere.
In this quick, fun read, Shelby has a great deal to contend with, not the least of which was the “haunted mallet.” There wasn’t much character development, but from the little we learned about her, she came across as a likeable girl – how many would allow a frightened, younger sibling plagued by nightmares to share their bed on a regular basis? Shelby does with minimal complaints. Granted, she thinks it’s her fault for making the mistake of allowing that same sibling to inadvertently see part of a horror movie. In addition, Shelby does get along quite well with both of her parents.
None of the characters really annoyed the reader, not even the ghost. It would have been nice to have more backstory to learn all of the motivation and/or details of the haunting. The explanation seemed a bit simplistic, but again this was a very short story ~ novella. It could easily have been much longer and then Shelby would have grown and evolved more. We could have learned more about her life and friends. She didn’t mention them and it was odd to have a contemporary story about a teen that didn’t text or spend an evening without a cell phone glued to her hands. Still, this was a fun, fast way to spend an evening. Who doesn’t like a Texas ghost?
The review was provided by Shannon Kennedy for her column Shannon's Space for the July 2014 issue of The Book Breeze
In this quick, fun read, Shelby has a great deal to contend with, not the least of which was the “haunted mallet.” There wasn’t much character development, but from the little we learned about her, she came across as a likeable girl – how many would allow a frightened, younger sibling plagued by nightmares to share their bed on a regular basis? Shelby does with minimal complaints. Granted, she thinks it’s her fault for making the mistake of allowing that same sibling to inadvertently see part of a horror movie. In addition, Shelby does get along quite well with both of her parents.
None of the characters really annoyed the reader, not even the ghost. It would have been nice to have more backstory to learn all of the motivation and/or details of the haunting. The explanation seemed a bit simplistic, but again this was a very short story ~ novella. It could easily have been much longer and then Shelby would have grown and evolved more. We could have learned more about her life and friends. She didn’t mention them and it was odd to have a contemporary story about a teen that didn’t text or spend an evening without a cell phone glued to her hands. Still, this was a fun, fast way to spend an evening. Who doesn’t like a Texas ghost?
The review was provided by Shannon Kennedy for her column Shannon's Space for the July 2014 issue of The Book Breeze
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews