The Secrets of the Greaser Hotel

by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

The Greaser Hotel is an eyesore eve by eyesores' standards. A long forgotten place, it sits dilapidated and mostly vacant amid a sea of Baltimore vacancies. But this building, this former lap of luxury, is much more than it appears. The Greaser Hotel is a place of magic and of secrets peopled by masters of secret-keeping. And soon, for one kidnapped little girl - Allie to her friends and Allie Rat to her kidnappers - it's about to become a place of the past.

In a world of deep friendships, powerful magic, wicked deceptions, and devilish crime, a young girl must fight for her freedom and wrestle with the frightening truths of her past.

Genres: Audiobook

268 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2014

About the author

Jonathon Scott Fuqua has written the highly praised and Alex Award-winning novel, The Reappearance of Sam Webber, as well as the critically acclaimed and recently published book, Gone and Back Again.

He is also the author of three much lauded, award-winning young adult novels: King of the Pygmies, DARBY, and The Willoughby Spit Wonder.

For teenagers and adults, he penned a groundbreaking graphic novel, In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe. All of his published books are available nationally and internationally.

Most recently, Fuqua published his children's book, Calvert The Raven in the Battle of Baltimore. The first installment in his Flying Through History Series, the book commemorates the Battle of Baltimore in the war of 1812, which led to the retreat of the British Armada and inspired the United States national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Fuqua has received two Maryland State Arts Council Awards for fiction writing, and is the writer-in-residence at the Carver Center for the Arts. Both his writings and paintings have appeared in newspapers, magazines, books, on book covers, posters, limited edition prints, postcards, and stationery. A teacher of fiction writing, literature, and art, he lives in Baltimore with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Georgia Tumbleweed McNabb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Narrator poor, reads story but does not do different voices of the different characters.
Narrator pauses WAY to long between chapter so that you check your Audible book to see if something is wrong. I normally don't give up on books, but by Chapter 17 I gave up. Story rambles on with no real direction at this point.
Do Not Recommend

[J L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely a dark, urban fantasy.

The scene is set in Baltimore at an historically dilapidated hotel. The story follows the young Allie Argos, a prisoner of nine years. In her captivity within the crumbling Greaser Hotel, she has made several friends, including a talking cat, but her days are filled with hard, thankless work and no shortage of physical abuse from her captors, the ironically named Friendly family.

A spark of hope appears one day with an unexpected visit from the hotel's long absent owner, a man who has taken a sudden and suspicious interest in Allie. Such a sliver of hope emboldens the young girl to attempt an escape, with the help of the cat Jerome. A harrowing pursuit follows, illuminated by the author's own illustrations (of which the book contains an astonishing 115).

Make no mistake though, from cover to cover this book is grim. No sparkling vampires and no easy victories. As the first in the series, I'm looking forward to where this leads, especially with the sub-plot of insidious corporate greed...

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 I really liked parts of this book...enough that I'll probably read the next one, even if not assigned to review it, but the long rambles (mainly from the professor) about how the world works really...seemed oddly out of place and somewhat necessary.

[Karen Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, yet typical, YA fiction.

[Meredith]

Not feeling this right now for some reason. I will come back to it when the mood strikes me.