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The Ghosts of Now
It's Friday night and Angie Dupree is alone in the house when the phone rings. "Your brother is dead," whispers a voice. At the hospital, Angie finds Jeremy in a coma from which he may never recover. Angie is on her own trying to piece together the events of that horrifying night. Her family is new to town. What could Jeremy possibly have discovered that led him so deeply into danger? Angie won't rest until she finds out. But she doesn't know someone is ready to do anything to stop her...
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
6 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Joan Lowery Nixon
182 books485 followersAuthor of more than one hundred books, Joan Lowery Nixon is the only writer to have won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Juvenile Mysteries (and been nominated several other times) from the Mystery Writers of America. Creating contemporary teenage characters who have both a personal problem and a mystery to solve, Nixon captured the attention of legions of teenage readers since the publication of her first YA novel more than twenty years ago. In addition to mystery/suspense novels, she wrote nonfiction and fiction for children and middle graders, as well as several short stories. Nixon was the first person to write novels for teens about the orphan trains of the nineteenth century. She followed those with historical novels about Ellis Island and, more recently for younger readers, Colonial Williamsburg. Joan Lowery Nixon died on June 28, 2003—a great loss for all of us.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 23, 2019
This book mysteriously appeared in my family’s house when I was in middle school, and I remember liking it as a kid so decided to give it a second read as I look through my old books and try to get rid of things. Now I can say that while it can be unintentionally funny, The Ghosts of Now is an objectively bad book. For starters, while it markets itself as a horror, it is actually a middle school who dunnit, which is tedious. Second, every character including Angie Dupree is horrifically insufferable—I was rooting against everyone. This relic is definitely a product of its time (the 80s) and honestly that is probably where it should remain.
February 16, 2021
I would rate this a 5, because I really do enjoy her writing style, but the ending is shoddy. There was a lot of build up and little pay off at the end. The whole premise of her trying to find out who hit her brother was cool and the whispering phone calls was a nice touch. However, I didn’t really buy Boyd or Del as characters. Also, we hadn’t known Jeremy long enough to really get a feel for him before he is hit. There’s just a lot unexplained.
July 22, 2021
A thrilling story, though I wish that it was a bit longer to be able to flesh out the characters and their situation a bit more.
February 25, 2023
These books are like crack. I can see why I ate them up as a young teen.
A few things to note before I dig in - Something I haven't mentioned, but each book has its own font attached to it - the title and chapter headers are very different from each other. It's not until the 90s reprints do the covers become homogenized. But the original fonts (definitely created in the time periods they were published) are retained. I think it's a cool detail - since it adds to the flavor of the book. Also - I've been seeking out the original covers of these books, they are all these 70s/80s pulp fiction kind of style. The one for this particular book is extra creepy. The girl on the cover is hauntingly disturbing.
Back to the actual review... I don't know if JLN got a new editor, or if she suddenly just became a better writer, but this book's writing is vastly better than the previous ones. (The previous book was decent - but there were still some awkward passages.) There isn't as much erroneous details, and the dialogue, which had been somewhat cringey in the previous books, is much better.
I'd kind of wonder if she used a ghost writer if it weren't for the fact that her usual tropes are very much in tact - some even exaggerated due to the specific story she's telling.
So - Angie is a California girl with her dad in the oil business - and they've moved out to Texas. It's funny - when I was younger, I never really noticed all of these books being set in Texas - but this one takes it to really stereotypical levels to emphasize the point that Angie is an outsider. The whole crux of the plot is that a small town kind of bands together to protect their own at the sacrifice of a young kid who just kinda happened to be caught up in the wrong type of thing.
And, actually, it's not bad. There are some definite creepy parts to the novel (when they're checking out the abandoned house, the tension is deliciously good). And the whole premise that this town has secrets leaves you feeling very uncomfortable in a very believable way (says a person who felt like an outsider coming into small town life).
While the story isn't bad, some of the characterization still is. The main character, Angie, does some things that just make you feel incredibly uncomfortable with second hand embarrassment. She crosses a lot of lines, and while she's right to call certain things out, the way she does it is so awkward that it's really hard to read. She's also very irritatingly stubborn in her approach - and while you can give her a pass for being a teen in the 80s, sometimes it's frustrating watching her not take an easier path to achieve her ultimate goal in who put her brother in the coma.
The other characters, too, aren't really that interesting. Angie has a boyfriend, like, right off the bat when she moves in, but he's a little bland, and really lacking any motivation as to why they connect. She makes a few friends - but they're so inconsequential to the story they might as well not be there. And everyone else is suspicious and terrible - which makes the book kind of go in the direction you most expect it to.
There's also a family drama element going on, too. The dad is a workaholic asshole, who seems to think mental health is not something to concern one's self with. While Angie's mom is slowly becoming an alcoholic because she hates that she's forced to move around so much due to her husband's job. The whole point is the theme of 'ghosts' and that they're not a family, just ghosts of who they should be -- and Angie's brother ending up in a coma kind of wakes them all up from it. I've never been one for family dramas in general, but questionable mental health comments aside, it's not that bad.
I should also mention that the book holds up relatively well, except for when it is blatantly 80s. At one point, Angie exclaims that she much prefers disco over country-western, which really gave me a laugh.
I'll also say that the ending just... isn't worth the tension the rest of the book brings. It feels somewhat anticlimactic and almost silly. It's kind of like JLN had to take it down because it was a teen book or something.
Overall, it is one of the better novels I've read so far, though.
A few things to note before I dig in - Something I haven't mentioned, but each book has its own font attached to it - the title and chapter headers are very different from each other. It's not until the 90s reprints do the covers become homogenized. But the original fonts (definitely created in the time periods they were published) are retained. I think it's a cool detail - since it adds to the flavor of the book. Also - I've been seeking out the original covers of these books, they are all these 70s/80s pulp fiction kind of style. The one for this particular book is extra creepy. The girl on the cover is hauntingly disturbing.
Back to the actual review... I don't know if JLN got a new editor, or if she suddenly just became a better writer, but this book's writing is vastly better than the previous ones. (The previous book was decent - but there were still some awkward passages.) There isn't as much erroneous details, and the dialogue, which had been somewhat cringey in the previous books, is much better.
I'd kind of wonder if she used a ghost writer if it weren't for the fact that her usual tropes are very much in tact - some even exaggerated due to the specific story she's telling.
So - Angie is a California girl with her dad in the oil business - and they've moved out to Texas. It's funny - when I was younger, I never really noticed all of these books being set in Texas - but this one takes it to really stereotypical levels to emphasize the point that Angie is an outsider. The whole crux of the plot is that a small town kind of bands together to protect their own at the sacrifice of a young kid who just kinda happened to be caught up in the wrong type of thing.
And, actually, it's not bad. There are some definite creepy parts to the novel (when they're checking out the abandoned house, the tension is deliciously good). And the whole premise that this town has secrets leaves you feeling very uncomfortable in a very believable way (says a person who felt like an outsider coming into small town life).
While the story isn't bad, some of the characterization still is. The main character, Angie, does some things that just make you feel incredibly uncomfortable with second hand embarrassment. She crosses a lot of lines, and while she's right to call certain things out, the way she does it is so awkward that it's really hard to read. She's also very irritatingly stubborn in her approach - and while you can give her a pass for being a teen in the 80s, sometimes it's frustrating watching her not take an easier path to achieve her ultimate goal in who put her brother in the coma.
The other characters, too, aren't really that interesting. Angie has a boyfriend, like, right off the bat when she moves in, but he's a little bland, and really lacking any motivation as to why they connect. She makes a few friends - but they're so inconsequential to the story they might as well not be there. And everyone else is suspicious and terrible - which makes the book kind of go in the direction you most expect it to.
There's also a family drama element going on, too. The dad is a workaholic asshole, who seems to think mental health is not something to concern one's self with. While Angie's mom is slowly becoming an alcoholic because she hates that she's forced to move around so much due to her husband's job. The whole point is the theme of 'ghosts' and that they're not a family, just ghosts of who they should be -- and Angie's brother ending up in a coma kind of wakes them all up from it. I've never been one for family dramas in general, but questionable mental health comments aside, it's not that bad.
I should also mention that the book holds up relatively well, except for when it is blatantly 80s. At one point, Angie exclaims that she much prefers disco over country-western, which really gave me a laugh.
I'll also say that the ending just... isn't worth the tension the rest of the book brings. It feels somewhat anticlimactic and almost silly. It's kind of like JLN had to take it down because it was a teen book or something.
Overall, it is one of the better novels I've read so far, though.
November 10, 2022
The book was only 179 pages so at times it felt like it needed the missing length but just so much time was spent on irrelevant things. Like the main character dove herself into each idea that she had and would aggressively interrogate as such. But she literally made this poor girl sick because she wouldn’t stop hassling her!!! But like they being in this love interest and she never does anything to make him like her. Like all she does is ramble on about the stupid watch and car paint. It’s so annoying!! But then she suddenly have ppl that are like oh sit with us let’s be friends for no reason??? She literally did nothing redeeming throughout the entire book. And like there were so many things that just needed to be better developed. Like she brought in at the end how her family was all lonely and needed therapy? As if like her brother getting in a coma saved them because she read his emo poems? Like it ended up being predictable because literally 50 pages before the ending she figures out who did it. But as a reader you assume that’s a mislead with so much left to develop. But it turns out she was right and those last 50 pages were just her willing up the courage to go to this old house and figure things out. But the frustrating part and the big shock factor moment is that her brother was stealing with his friends. But it doesn’t even matter because he “didn’t want to”. I don’t know I’m over it it only cost me a dollar so I don’t rly care.
July 5, 2012
I would give this book 5 stars if it weren't for the ending. I HATE endings like this book had. The last sentence says, "at first I think Jeremy's long, gentle sigh must be from my imagination. But slowly, his hand barely turns and his fingers press steadily against mine." and that's it! Nothing! UGH!!!! I hate endings like this. No epilogue no nothing. I was really expecting a better ending. It was a fabulous well thought out book but I don't know, I was expecting more of an ending.
4 1/2 stars Since the ending left me hanging
4 1/2 stars Since the ending left me hanging
November 21, 2023
Now for a book that was originally written in 1984, it is a little amazing how much of the book can still hold up in the world of 2023.
A few things may be a little dated but there is still a part of it that can resonate with teens of today and even adults such as myself since we are now parents.
Angie Dupree's father works with the oil companies and of course, Texas is known for having that black gold. Her family has moved to many places before but L.A. and Malibu are a lot different than Fairlie, a tiny town that appears to have nothing even though lots of families have money.
It doesn't really bother Angie because she only has one more year of high school left and then its back to the California coast to go to college and room with her very best friend Meredith. Despite that eagerness, Angie still notices that her dad is a workaholic, her mother is becoming an alcoholic and her brother Jeremy is a junior eager to make friends...with the wrong type of people.
Most of the teens at her school have known each other all their lives and they even have their own cliques with the popular boys and the socialite girls and the farm kids they call "kickers".
I'm sure it is short for s***kickers...teens never change.
Not even the adults seem to welcome outsiders very much because they call anyone who comes from the big city "oil people" since that is the only reason they would deal with a tiny Texas town even though most of the kids go off to good old Texas colleges and universities and then come back well to do and just as judgmental as their parents.
A few people are nice to Angie: a couple of girls we get to know better later and a "kicker" named Del. He is good-looking and a good old Texas boy with a pickup truck, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, into the country western music and knows how to ride on a horse.
He also has manners and he isn't conceited but he does know how it goes in this small town and tries to let Angie know that ruffling feathers won't get you anywhere. Angie learns from Jeremy that not very many of his own classmates are nice but he's been paired up in Gym with Boyd Thacker, a popular boy who is good at tennis.
Angie can see how desperate her brother is to make friends because he won't shut up about Boyd and how great he is. When Angie meets Boyd, she isn't impressed because there is just something about him that makes her...nervous.
One night, Angie's parents go out to a business dinner and she finds herself alone when Jeremy goes out with plans of his own. He won't share them with his sister and they have a normal sibling tiff. The phone rings and Angie picks it up to have a voice whisper horrible words in her ear:
"Your brother is dead."
Angie finds her way to the hospital and asks if her brother is there. The nurses tell her that a teenage boy was brought in after being the victim of a hit and run when someone called an ambulance. Angie goes with them and it is indeed Jeremy, right side of his body bruised up and unconscious.
Now identified and her brother found, Angie's parents are contacted and once they arrive a doctor tells them more about Jeremy's condition. Her brother is in a coma and they have no idea if he will have any sort of damage done to his brain from the concussion caused by the accident until he wakes up.
If it wasn't already bad enough, the local police don't seem to be in a rush to find the driver of the car since it was a hit and run and no one got a license plate number or a good look at the car. Even when Angie finds a sliver of paint under Jeremy's fingernail, apparently having been hit that hard to have it lodge under his nail, the police don't seem to think they will find anything.
Her mother depressed about her little boy being in a coma makes her drink even more and Angie's dad wants to bring in a neurologist from out of town, riling the doctor treating him as if he weren't good enough to treat Jeremy. Angie seems to be on her own in trying to find out where her brother was and just who hit Jeremy with their car and then drove off to leave him.
The only person Angie can turn to is Del and he is able to help her find out if any car in town had to take a trip to an auto body shop. However, discovering just who the car belongs to isn't going to bring Angie any closer to helping her brother.
It only opens up a can of festering worms and it may just get Angie in the same hospital as Jeremy...or some place even worse.
Her own grave.
Despite the thriller/mystery/suspense that makes up the main plot, the B plot deals more with family drama but it touches on topics like alcoholism, depression and even suicide. There is also a sort of social class clash with small town politics and ideas compared to the way "outsiders" want to deal with things so that makes it all the more unsettling.
When we get the reveal as to who, what, where and why...it isn't mind-blowing. It just makes the behavior of some of the characters reprehensible and unsympathetic.
The ending is somewhat ambiguous with a tiny glimmer of hope but there is still a lot of thick and heavy tension. There is a lot of denial and anger and very little acceptance and only one family in the whole book has had to face all of these stages of grief head on but will they still have to bargain their son's health?
We just don't know and that is frustrating.
The Ghosts of Now is another fine work by Joan Lowery Nixon and a good read I can highly recommend for a chilly autumn afternoon.
A few things may be a little dated but there is still a part of it that can resonate with teens of today and even adults such as myself since we are now parents.
Angie Dupree's father works with the oil companies and of course, Texas is known for having that black gold. Her family has moved to many places before but L.A. and Malibu are a lot different than Fairlie, a tiny town that appears to have nothing even though lots of families have money.
It doesn't really bother Angie because she only has one more year of high school left and then its back to the California coast to go to college and room with her very best friend Meredith. Despite that eagerness, Angie still notices that her dad is a workaholic, her mother is becoming an alcoholic and her brother Jeremy is a junior eager to make friends...with the wrong type of people.
Most of the teens at her school have known each other all their lives and they even have their own cliques with the popular boys and the socialite girls and the farm kids they call "kickers".
I'm sure it is short for s***kickers...teens never change.
Not even the adults seem to welcome outsiders very much because they call anyone who comes from the big city "oil people" since that is the only reason they would deal with a tiny Texas town even though most of the kids go off to good old Texas colleges and universities and then come back well to do and just as judgmental as their parents.
A few people are nice to Angie: a couple of girls we get to know better later and a "kicker" named Del. He is good-looking and a good old Texas boy with a pickup truck, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, into the country western music and knows how to ride on a horse.
He also has manners and he isn't conceited but he does know how it goes in this small town and tries to let Angie know that ruffling feathers won't get you anywhere. Angie learns from Jeremy that not very many of his own classmates are nice but he's been paired up in Gym with Boyd Thacker, a popular boy who is good at tennis.
Angie can see how desperate her brother is to make friends because he won't shut up about Boyd and how great he is. When Angie meets Boyd, she isn't impressed because there is just something about him that makes her...nervous.
One night, Angie's parents go out to a business dinner and she finds herself alone when Jeremy goes out with plans of his own. He won't share them with his sister and they have a normal sibling tiff. The phone rings and Angie picks it up to have a voice whisper horrible words in her ear:
"Your brother is dead."
Angie finds her way to the hospital and asks if her brother is there. The nurses tell her that a teenage boy was brought in after being the victim of a hit and run when someone called an ambulance. Angie goes with them and it is indeed Jeremy, right side of his body bruised up and unconscious.
Now identified and her brother found, Angie's parents are contacted and once they arrive a doctor tells them more about Jeremy's condition. Her brother is in a coma and they have no idea if he will have any sort of damage done to his brain from the concussion caused by the accident until he wakes up.
If it wasn't already bad enough, the local police don't seem to be in a rush to find the driver of the car since it was a hit and run and no one got a license plate number or a good look at the car. Even when Angie finds a sliver of paint under Jeremy's fingernail, apparently having been hit that hard to have it lodge under his nail, the police don't seem to think they will find anything.
Her mother depressed about her little boy being in a coma makes her drink even more and Angie's dad wants to bring in a neurologist from out of town, riling the doctor treating him as if he weren't good enough to treat Jeremy. Angie seems to be on her own in trying to find out where her brother was and just who hit Jeremy with their car and then drove off to leave him.
The only person Angie can turn to is Del and he is able to help her find out if any car in town had to take a trip to an auto body shop. However, discovering just who the car belongs to isn't going to bring Angie any closer to helping her brother.
It only opens up a can of festering worms and it may just get Angie in the same hospital as Jeremy...or some place even worse.
Her own grave.
Despite the thriller/mystery/suspense that makes up the main plot, the B plot deals more with family drama but it touches on topics like alcoholism, depression and even suicide. There is also a sort of social class clash with small town politics and ideas compared to the way "outsiders" want to deal with things so that makes it all the more unsettling.
When we get the reveal as to who, what, where and why...it isn't mind-blowing. It just makes the behavior of some of the characters reprehensible and unsympathetic.
The ending is somewhat ambiguous with a tiny glimmer of hope but there is still a lot of thick and heavy tension. There is a lot of denial and anger and very little acceptance and only one family in the whole book has had to face all of these stages of grief head on but will they still have to bargain their son's health?
We just don't know and that is frustrating.
The Ghosts of Now is another fine work by Joan Lowery Nixon and a good read I can highly recommend for a chilly autumn afternoon.
July 3, 2022
I didn't really enjoy this story. I thought the plot was extremely weak and even though this book is relatively long for a young adult novel, nothing actually happens. The payoff of the reveal was also quite terrible.
August 14, 2023
I'm digging into some YA Suspense/Mysteries from the '80s and '90s lately. I only read a couple of Joan Lowery Nixon's books back in the day: _The Specter_, which I loved and will probably re-read soon, and _Whispers from the Dead_, but read a couple more of hers a few years ago. I started reading this one while procrastinating from grading research papers but had trouble not knocking the whole thing out in a couple of sittings... She develops the characters-- especially the lead-- and the creepy settings well; I enjoyed visualizing what's going on in this book. There's a slightly deeper statement going on with this one, too, regarding not really knowing people, even close family members. (And not the old cliched "you never *really* know anyone, so don't trust anyone" line; more along the lines of "you get too wrapped up in your own stuff to pay attention to anyone else and really know what's going on w/ them.") Overall, I liked Angie, I liked the West Texas setting, dark poetry, and "haunted" house. Probably my second-favorite Joan Lowery Nixon book I've read so far; I'd recommend it.
November 1, 2020
surprisingly good for these kinds of books! the difference in writing ability is stark between Joan Lowery Nixon and R.L. Stine, and this book attempts to tackle realistic topics on top of providing a good mystery. the romance was also pretty good, with a love interest that's a decent person and seems to genuinely care for the main character. if you enjoy these quick, teen point horror books, this is a good one to check out!
January 20, 2023
You could tell this was written in the 80s because of how offended the father was at the mere mention of getting his son therapy 🥲
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May 27, 2014Cameron Casady.
2014
L.A.
Period 2.
The Ghosts of Now, an exiting book that will keep you on your toes. Written by Joan Lowery Nixon and published by Bantam Doubleday Dell books in the year 1540. It's genre is mystery.
This book is about a girl who's brother gets hit by a car! She instantly realizes this is a case of hit 'n run. She looks for clues interrogating people to the brink of success! Will she find out who hit him? Or will the case exceed her grip? I think that the authors purpose was to make the book suspenseful. Veeeeery suspenseful. The settings were in an oldish type town. I thought it sounded really dirty and dusty. It was told by Angie. It had a solemn tone kind of sad. And very suspenseful if you don't already know. The climax came when she was in a burning building and it was resolved by her sitting next to her brother hearing him sigh and smiling.
I think the author achieved his purpose in making it really suspenseful. Like when she was in that burning building I didn't know what to think! The writing was sad and difficult. I thought it was sad that her own mom barely knew anything about her. I found it interesting and a little bit dull. I've always preferred a little more action.
The book actually didn't really leave me with an expression. I might recommend it to others who like mysteries but for me? I'm sticking with action!
My book report by Cameron Casady.
Read forever
2014
L.A.
Period 2.
The Ghosts of Now, an exiting book that will keep you on your toes. Written by Joan Lowery Nixon and published by Bantam Doubleday Dell books in the year 1540. It's genre is mystery.
This book is about a girl who's brother gets hit by a car! She instantly realizes this is a case of hit 'n run. She looks for clues interrogating people to the brink of success! Will she find out who hit him? Or will the case exceed her grip? I think that the authors purpose was to make the book suspenseful. Veeeeery suspenseful. The settings were in an oldish type town. I thought it sounded really dirty and dusty. It was told by Angie. It had a solemn tone kind of sad. And very suspenseful if you don't already know. The climax came when she was in a burning building and it was resolved by her sitting next to her brother hearing him sigh and smiling.
I think the author achieved his purpose in making it really suspenseful. Like when she was in that burning building I didn't know what to think! The writing was sad and difficult. I thought it was sad that her own mom barely knew anything about her. I found it interesting and a little bit dull. I've always preferred a little more action.
The book actually didn't really leave me with an expression. I might recommend it to others who like mysteries but for me? I'm sticking with action!
My book report by Cameron Casady.
Read forever
October 26, 2010
This was a pretty good book about how the main character, Angie, risks her safety to find who hurt her brother. Her brother got hit by a car and is now lying in the hospital in a coma. She goes through out the whole town trying to find clues on who hurt her little brother. AFter this incident, she finds clues everywhere but she tries to sort them out by which ones that can actually help her. She finds things that she never knew about her brother like his poetry passion. She reads through his poetry and finds out that the words of his poetry don't amek any sense to her. But after finding out all the clues and who hurt her brother, Angie decides to leave it alone. That is because Angie knows that the people in this town are usually children whose parents don't know much about. In the end, Angie's little brother finally show some signs of conciousness, his finger movements.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2011
Again, this book has a UG interest level from AR, so I was just checking to make sure it was appropriate for elementary kids. It's about a new girl in a Texas town whose brother is seriously injured in a hit and run, so she investigates what happened to him. She can't get much help from the police when she discovers popular local kids are involved. Nothing inappropriate.
July 25, 2011
I kind of kept thinking, "Okay. It *can't* be the obvious person--it's a mystery, for crying out loud!"
Then, I found out that it was the obvious person.
Other than that, it was alright.
Then, I found out that it was the obvious person.
Other than that, it was alright.
February 10, 2012
I absolutely adored Nixon's books when I was younger. Nixon made me into the mystery and suspense lover that I am today. When I found this book at a book sale, I just had to get it! Unfortunately, I'm not as much of a fan as I used to be, however, I still adore the suspense of her stories.
October 17, 2014
The Ghosts of Now is not at all what you would expect. This book had nothing to do with ghosts and all I can say is the title is very misleading. The plot line is hard to follow and characters are poorly developed. I do not recommend this book to anyone.
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October 8, 2007Nixon, Joan L.
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June 4, 2009JARM4-Nix
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews