The Hunt for the Seventh

by Christine Morton-Shaw

Jim moves to ancient Minerva Hall and encounters the ghosts of six children. They urge him to find the seventh child and leave him cryptic clues that point to a dark, ancient prophecy that only Jim can stop from being fulfilled. Jim turns to Einstein, a brilliant autistic boy who lives at the Hall. If anyone can help Jim, Einstein can. But the boy, who speaks in riddles, proves to be as mysterious as the dead children. Time is running out; if Jim doesn't figure out the clues, innocent people will die.

Christine Morton-Shaw has linked ancient rites with modern mystery to create a chilling, suspenseful tale that will keep readers guessing to the very end.

Genres: Mystery, Horror, Young Adult, Paranormal, Ghosts, Fantasy, Middle Grade

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

I'm a writer of children's picture books and two novels. You can find out more about my first YA novel, THE RIDDLES OF EPSILON at www.riddlesofepsilon.com, while
Other details of my books can be found if you type in my name to google. As for me, I'm generally considered a bit spooky, a bit mad or both. Maybe I am...

My new novel The Hunt for the Seventh comes out of September 30th 2008!

***

Christine Morton-Shaw spent much of her childhood wandering through old churches, deserted abbeys, and stately homes in Lancashire, England. When she was six years old, she had a recurring dream that she was meeting a girl from Victorian times. The girl always did the same thing in the dream: She would run to the top of a staircase, see Christine, and say in a wobbly voice: "Mother! That little girl is here again!" Then Christine would wake up. The author has a fascination for any and all clues left by the past. Egyptian hieroglyphics, and her own inventions based on them, kept her occupied during long winters. She considers the scores of published and unpublished diaries that she has read to be one of her greatest influences as a writer. Christine Morton-Shaw lives with her family in Sheffield, England. She is the author of many picture books for children. The Riddles of Epsilon is her first novel.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like scary or spooky ghost stories that freak you out? Then you would really love this one!
***Spoiler Alert*** This Book will get you thinking about what will happen next you wont be able to put it down. In this Fantasy book I liked the way the author Christine Morton Shawn makes me feel like I am there in the book with the characters and experiencing the events going on in the book. This book is one of my top favorite book because it has all what I look for in a book.

The book takes place in Minerva Hall were Jim, his sister Sal, and his father had moved to. His father becomes the head gardener at Minerva because they want to start a new beginning because Jims and Sal’s mother had died. When Jim barley got there he was touring around Minerva and he heard a whisper in his ear that had said “Find the seventh”. Jim knew there was something around here that was kept a secret. He didn’t tell his sister Sal because she will tell her father and also because they probably would have not believed him. Then after that he sees a shadow in the maze that Minerva had. He followed the shadow and found a boy that he called Einstein because the boy wouldn’t tell Jim his name and they boy that Jim calls Einstein was really interested in math. Then after Einstein told Jim how to find the way out of the maze Einstein had disappeared. Then Jim get curious about what is going on. Then one day he went to statue of one of the kids that had died and he got to see how they died at every statue he went to. Then one day Jim goes to an old schoolroom at Minerva and six names appear on the chalk board. He keeps on hearing in his ear "find the seventh".Then Jim starts to explore to try to find the secret and his dad get fired because The owner of Minerva doesn’t’ want Jim roaming around and causing trouble. I think this creates the person vs society conflict because every one is against Jim because they think Jim is fooling around. Later Jim starts to think that the owner of Minerva is hiding a secret and doesn’t want Jim to know it. Then Jim had seen a witch before and the whitch helps Jim find out who is the seventh is and the seventh was Einstein.

The theme of this book is clearly Mystery and Discovery. The point of view of the story was first person point of view. I like the way the author made it first person because it makes it feel like I am Jim in the story. For example when Jim saw Blind Meg the witch I felt like I had seen her to. I liked the way Jim solved the mystery step by step and its amazing some little boy can solve a big mystery by himself.

Id compare this author to Lemony Snicket because he makes mystery books and they are really good like this one. One example is the Series Of Unfortunate Events. They both have mystery and they feel like you are experiencing everything with them. They are both good authors and books!

I was moved by when Jim went to go explore. It compares to me because I like to explore and find different things outside. Also I would like to discover mysteries one day. Jim is a great mystery solver and I wish I would be one some day to.

I enjoyed the book because it was mysterious and made you think what will happen next. It is one of my top favorite books by far. I'd rate this book 8 on a scale from 1 through 10 because the author made it feel like I was there. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes ghost stories, mystery books and if they want to be entertained by a book. The Hunt For The Seventh had me entertained of how good it was hopefully you will be entertained by this book to!

[BookWormYami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I read by this author and it definitely won't be the last.
I really, really enjoyed this book. It had a bit of spookiness in it but it was mostly a mystery and it made me sad in the end. Even though I saw the twist very early on in the book, when it was revealed, I still felt strong emotions because of what was done. I'm really trying not to give anything away so I'm going to stop, lol.
There were times when I got a bit frustrated with some of the situations Jim (MC) got into but it was understandable when his father, sister and other people wouldn't believe him with what was going on.
I really hated the old guy who owned Minerva Hall to the point I was hoping for something bad to happen to him. (Little spoiler here: it did and I was satisfied with it.)
Overall, the story, the setting, and the characters were well written and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.
I do recommend this to young readers and really any reader that enjoys mystery with some spookiness in it!

[Francisco Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like suspenseful books in which they keep you reading? If so i would recommend you to read The Hunt for the Seventh. The genre of this book is mystery and fiction. In my opinion I believe this book was really good. It kept me reading till the end.
The Hunt for the Seventh takes place in Minerva Hall. Minerva Hall is a mansion with a very large backyard. The time this book takes place is in is around the 1990s. The type of conflict of this book is person vs person. Since Jim has to discover the seventh child without being caught by the land owner the conflict of this book is person vs person. Jim is the main character of this story. His mission at Minerva Hall is to find the seventh child. The grumpy land owner plays a key part in this book. The book starts off with Jim, his dad, and his sister (Sal) taking a quick look of the mansion. Throughout the tour Jim hears a whisper in his ear saying "find the seventh". Jim knows that he can't tell his dad or Sal about the things he hears. After they unpack and settle down in their new home Jim goes to take out the trash. He goes through their backyard maze and finds a little boy in the middle. This is where the story kicks off.
I think this book was really good. It has plenty of suspenseful moments in which you want to keep reading.I believe this book had a very good story line. Through out the book Jim gets leads to the seventh child. That part of the book made me never stop reading.This book reminds me of the time I went to a party in a cool building. I wanted to explore just like Jim but i couldn't because of the security. This book is closely related to the 21 Clues book series. Both books deal about finding clues to great things.
In conclusion really liked the book. It contained a lot of suspenseful moments. I would rate this book an eight out of ten. I would give it this rate because i believe this book could have been even better if there were more alive main characters. It would have added a better story line. I would reccomend this book to people who like suspensefull books because this book is full of suspense. If you want to spend the whole day reading, then this is the book for you.

[Carson Kester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal response
I enjoyed this book because of the ghosts. They aren't like usual ghosts that try to scare people but instead try to help Jim solve the mystery. This results in a somewhat type of friendship.

Plot summary
Jim, his sister Sal, and his single parent dad have just moved into Minerva Hall. His father, who is still recovering from the death of his wife, has gotten a job as the head gardener for Lord Louis Minerva III. While exploring his new home, Jim is haunted by ghosts of dead children. He is the only one who can see or hear them, like when they say, ¨Find the seventh¨. Jim discovers that ¨seven¨ is referring to the kids who strangely died at Minerva Hall. The ghosts leave Jim cryptic clues so that way he can save future innocent lives. While exploring Jim befriends Prince Henry(who prefers to be called Einstein), the autistic son of Lord Minerva. But when trying to introduce Einstein to his father, Jim realizes that Einstein was also a ghost. Jim uses an ancient form of code once used by the Spartans known as skytale to decode a message. The message tells Jim about the iron that entombed the lake¨, so Jim swims to the bottom of the lake where he discovers the monument Sevenstone. There is something laying by the center stone, a body weighed down by chains. It was the seventh. It turns out that while Lord Minerva said he had taken Henry to school, but he had actually murdered Henry and disposed of his body in the lake. The ghosts had helped Jim solve the mystery.

Recommendations
I recommend this book to those who like mystery books. While reading you too will feel the desire to find the seventh. It lays out the clues very well, resulting in a solvable mystery.

[Marquisrs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book I felt a mixture of emotions. Since the plot and background of the book are stated early, I began to make predictions as to what I thought would happen. The plot was basically about a young boy named Jim who has lost his mother and moved to a huge, creepy estate with his father and sister. Knowing the background of the main character helped me get a feel for why he dealt with certain things the way he did. One of these things was the interaction with the many ghosts in the estate, each of which encouraged him to "Find the Seventh."

This book kept me on edge, since each and every clue that Jim received led to the uncovering of something deeper, the suspense in the book was very high. Along with the suspense came the creepy/scary parts. Not far into the book there is a line that says, "Somebody died here once–I'm convinced of it. I feel them watching me." This quote alone gives off an eerie feeling that makes the reader scared, but also makes them want to continue to read and I feel as though this is what the author was trying to accomplish by using this and lines like it throughout the book.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good scare or something suspenseful.

[Ryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jim and Sal move to a large mansion when their father becomes the head gardener for the mysterious Lord Minerva. Jim meets Einstein, an autistic boy who drops clues about the ghosts that seem to be watching. Now it is up to Jim to prevent the catastrophe that will occur on the summer solstice, and find what Lord Minerva is trying so desperately to hide.

I love ghost stories. Almost as much as I hate druids and sacrifices for the solstices, etc. Some characters were interesting, and this book definitely gave me the chills quite a few times, but overall it was pretty flat. The twist at the end as well as the way the clues were hidden was impressive, but I didn't really get into it. It was a little slow and I felt like Morton-Shaw chose a bit of a cop-out with the whole old-spirits-needing-a-sacrifice thing. The more human evil aspect of the book was the best part. And maybe Blind Meg (seriously creepy!). Again, this book is geared toward a younger audience, so I probably shouldn't have expected much from it.

[10-11 Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are ghost real? Can a statue tell a story? Jim and his sister Sadie are getting over their mother's death. Their father makes them move to a scary mansion called Minavera Hall, where Jim's father will become the head gardener. But Jim thinks that he is being watched but children who have been dead for almost 100 years. I've read this once and loved it but it just didnt keep my attention.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was in 5th grade and could not shut up when talking about it! I loved the background stories of the characters. It was such a spooky book and I did NOT expect the ending. Please read this if you like horror, mystery, and endings you will never expect.

[Mia Tyler]

Charming children’s story with some mystery and spookiness mixed in. Also, a sad ending. This is a book I definitely would have enjoyed reading as a child! (I read because it was one of my bf’s favorite childhood books!)

[AuroraIce]

Bookshelf reread.

This book, I belief, was gifted to me after being purchased at the store where I now work. It is possibly why I thought the YA books were still in that section when I first went in.

The book follows Jim. His mom recently died and his dad sank in on himself, not handling it well at all, so him and his sister Sal felt like they lost both parents. His dad struggled to climb back up and search for a job, earning the role of Head Gardener at Minerva Hall, a historic property still under the control of the Minerva family. Most areas on the property are included in tours for people to come visit the place.

The old Minerva man who runs the place, referred to as “his nibs” often, which I only just learned is a mocking old-fashioned way to refer to a guy in authority, does not like kids, despite having a son named Henry who was recently sent off to boarding school. He acts all friendly while warning them this isn’t their home and they must follow the rules and not go into forbidden areas, but Jim can see his dislike clearly. So can his dad, who quickly dislikes the guy too. However, I don’t think his demands sound unreasonable at all.

They are provided board on the property above a kitchen where Mrs. Bennet works, and while Jim likes her and she’s relatively friendly, I never felt like any of the characters were actually properly friendly toward the kids, but it acted like they were and that puzzled me. There’s a locked door in their rooms and no one knows where the key went. Jim hears a meow through it and footsteps. He thinks he found the former gardener’s missing cat, but when he goes to tell them, they’ve already found the cat a while ago, a different color that the one he saw through the keyhole. Though Mrs. Bennet reacts to him mentioning where he thought he found the cat, she doesn’t mention that again.

Jim knows, despite them claiming they were the only kids, there’s another boy around there. He sees him lumbering about with an uneven gait and disappearing into the maze, so he follows at one point, but the boy won’t meet his eyes and only talks about numbers. When he leaves, he thinks the boy is keeps pace with him on the other side of a hedge, only to get out and see him far ahead, and instead see a ghostly girl who reports she was born in the 1800s. He is alarmed.

Bored, Jim and Sal join the tour, but after finding an old painting of the ghost girl, he panics and runs off, coming across the abandoned schoolroom, where he finds a list of names, some drawings, like of the Skytale and a stick and candle, and a blind old lady that gives him the creeps. Some of this is hidden behind peeling wallpaper. This room was removed from the tour long ago and is dusty and untouched.

Voices tell him to follow the statues, and possibly the schoolroom prompts Jim to go looking for the chapel where the Skytale is so he can see it up close. Outside of it, the direction wind sign has long fallen, and he finds a statue with an inscription for Harriet, the ghost girl, which makes all the color bleed away and he witnesses her death where the direction sign fell on her. He can’t interfere and is alarmed, but afterwards finds a bear block on the statue.

He encounters the weird boy, who he calls Einstein but realizes must be Henry Minerva and is skipping school, since he says he hates the place and prefers animals. He prefers the name Einstein because of its number relations, and insist Jim keep calling him that. He says the letters in the chapel are flat when they should be curly, then takes Jim off the property to the actual church during a ceremony to look at the full list of death information for the Minerva family, the string of children deaths every 30 years. Jim isn’t supposed to leave the property alone, but figures this is his only chance. They run off before the priest catches them.

He returns home to learn Sal went looking for him and decided to return the bear block she found, which seems random to me but okay. He concludes she must have taken it to the bear pit, where she is mad at him for scaring her thinking he was prowling around and making noises. He finds another statue there for Oswald, who had a beloved cat named White Maurice. He sees his death where he fell into the bear pit. Jim is alarmed and Sal doesn’t see things, but she figures out he wasn’t the one scaring her when he drags her off at a run. The block is gone from where she put it on the statue, but they pick up a willow crown that’s replaced it.

They learn about the dumbwaiter in the wall and when they use it and get it stuck, Jim peers down and sees seven candles and the blind old lady’s face. She is so hideous and terrifying to him. The siblings also look into willow crown stuff and Mrs. Bennet gets tired of questions and gives them a book Jim doesn’t find helpful, but was written by a local. They convince their dad to take them into town, Sevenstone, where he gets distracted and Sal charms people, as she does. Jim wanders off to find the culvert where the old lady, B.M.’s face was once carved, and falls into water in someone’s yard. That someone is Eve, the writer of the brochure. His family is talking to her crazy dad so she invites them all in to dry Jim’s clothes and answer some of their questions. Their dad wants to leave, but the siblings have a lot of questions. Eve seems happy to keep them, but once they decide to leave, she shuts the door firmly.

Later Jim sneaks out at night to try to follow a clue and go to a green house using his dad’s keys, possibly seeing another death and statue, maybe the one where a girl is playing with a ball and then backs up and falls into glass. Then the blind lady’s face appears in all the windows everywhere he turns and he’s urged to find the seventh, as he was since the first day there. He panics and the door opens and Sal comes in. His dad later scolds him for sneaking out, which means Sal tattled.

Mr. Minerva calls them in to question if they’ve broken the rules, as someone’s been sneaking around and something was stolen. Jim says he didn’t go to town alone, since he went with Henry, but after getting him to insist multiple times in untrue ways, Minerva proves he’s a liar by showing a security recording of him running out of the church. This endangers his dad’s job, which enrages Sal. To keep them under control, Minerva makes Jim help his dad with gardening and Sal help Mrs. Bennet cook under the claim that all girls like cooking even after she says she doesn’t. He will also pay them, which again isn’t unreasonable.

Jim is a little sick after being wet from Eve’s yard, but his dad doesn’t wanna hear it and Jim doesn’t even get properly sick like I hoped. They burn wicker baskets made of willow, prompting him to ask more questions about willow. His dad complains about how the undergardeners are all part time when he could use more full time help. At night, Jim sneaks again into the old classroom and out the window sees the old lady, who points at him and turns to smoke that billows into him.

Since Eve mentioned Mrs. Bennet knowing the bar owner’s son was interested in a gardening job, Jim alters the details to convince his dad to go interview the guy and take him with him by insisting he can stay behind. There him and Sal question more people and get the bartender talking about the old customs where they gave offerings until the Minerva at the time wanted to turn the famed seven stones into an iron thing to contend with his rival who was making money off iron, and Blind Meg, the old healer woman, was actually good and helped guide them in their rituals. Mrs. Bennet had previously talked uncomfortably about the bad things with previous Minerva kids and the solstice. Grown ups are charmed by Sal but gripe about Jim for things as simple as him absently tearing up a napkin while listening to a story, like that’s some big deal when he’s not even making a mess. Sal also makes sure to tell everyone her brother is stupid.

While locked at home doing homework, all the faucets start to flood. He turns them off but his dad and Sal return and blame him, but he realizes this isn’t the ghosts being mischievous but trying to tell him something about water. I don’t remember where this leads him. Blind Meg left a prophecy on the schoolroom wall under the wallpaper, but the new water damage has destroyed the later half. Jim needs to know the rest. Minerva hates and blames him for theft, despite liking his dad’s gardening work, and is after him. While he’s under lockdown, with Mrs. Bennet thinking poorly of him and staying at their house during the day to help Sal monitor him, Jim feels like he’s running out of time.

He’s learned when a previous Minerva tried to make his iron things, it created one huge pond that covered the seven stones people made offerings to, and Blind Meg died there but he didn’t back off. The prophecy warns that every 30 years a descendant child would die as a new offering for as long as this disrespect remained, until it had taken seven. He fears Henry is the seventh and he must save him first, but he needs the rest of the prophecy. Bennet and Sal can see the door, so he sneaks down on the dumbwaiter and follows a snowglobe clue to the old ice cave to see how one girl got locked in and froze to death. He spots Henry after and follows him while his dad is calling for him, hiding in the breaking stables where Henry stays and begging him to better hide him when his dad comes near, tricking Henry with numbers to join him so he won’t stay in plain sight.

His next clue seems time related, and Henry references time devices and their sound differences. Jim rushes to do more stuff then figures out the clue relates to the clock tower, where Henry has already gone. He sees another vision of how one boy, sensitive to sound, have a seizure and die when the gonging of the clock went off while he was inside. All the while, it’s raining a lot and this tends to flood the town. Jim grabs Henry and drags him home, saying this is too much for him and he has to tell the truth, which doesn’t bother Henry.

When he returns home, his dad and Sal and Bennet are upset, because he’s been caught on camera rushing off all day and his dad has been fired. They blame him, and he says it was important and tries to introduce them to Einstein/Henry, but they don’t see him and think Jim’s talking to the air and making things up, and Bennet insults him and Sal says she hates him and his dad just gives up. I was furious, because it’s clear things are going on with him and he’s not pretending there’s a boy here, he genuinely believes there is one they can’t see and is begging him to speak to them and is alarmed when they say no one’s there, yet it never occurs to them there could legitimately be something wrong, they just jump to assuming he’s a liar and malicious and blame him. I did not like any of these people anymore.

Bennet insists Henry went off to school, but Jim realizes Henry is already dead and he can’t save him, but wonders about the rest of the stuff then. He had already previously reflected on how everyone thought Sal was good and him bad, she was liked and nobody liked him, and his thought process was some major depression stuff and I felt like that mattered a lot more than the story let on.

He talks to his dad, who blames himself and says he’ll figure things out. Minerva had given them a letter to fire him, saying he would house him at a local B&B paid for with wages he hadn’t yet received, which was again reasonable. I do not like Minerva at all, he was clearly out to get Jim and had some sketchy stuff going on, but most of this outward stuff wasn’t not unreasonable or wicked the way it was probably meant to feel.

Jim silently apologizes and then sneaks out again because it’s only a few hours until midnight, when Blind Meg died on the solstice that started this and when it will end. He’s already been rushing around all day to solve things, but at a certain point everyone stopped worrying about his safety. Now he goes to town to question Jacob, Eve’s dad, as Henry had mentioned learning stuff from him. Eve says it’s a bad time and urges him away. Jacob sneakily tells him to go to his window and lets him in there, taking him to the basement to find the book containing the full prophecy, which discusses a stranger helping solve things if the seventh dies outside of the solstice, and how the town will be flooded and killed is this isn’t resolved. Jacob falls asleep and Jim knocks things over so Eve will find him before the basement floods.

It’s possible this happened before he came back home, because he was looking out a window and realizing he might be the stranger, only to later forget. Also he kept coming to the conclusion Henry was in danger as the seventh and he needed to save him. Now that Henry can’t be a forced sacrifice, which he wanted to prevent, he needs to do away with the iron, which he realizes is this big sluge gate that controls where the water goes. Empowered by the spirits and whatever nature being received sacrifices, he’s able to lift a big boulder to smash through the gate and free the water.

This is either before or after he gets sucked under and Blind Meg drags him down to the bottom of the lake, where he sees a chained up bloated body and understands it’s Henry, meaning find the seventh was always about him finding Henry’s body. Anyway, he gets thrown about once the gate breaks and water is released so the original seven springs can appear again, where they were sometimes one, before the water path was altered in a way that flooded the village constantly.

He wakes up in bed with everyone relieved. I think they’ve learned something else, hence them not being mad, but they’re not sure what. He already knows about the body and questions who found it; a kitchen maid. Minerva drags the police in to accuse him of damage and whatnot, and Jim says the body is Einstein, receives weird looks, and corrects to Henry. Bennet begins to have doubts, having not seen them take him to school and growing bothered when they say they dropped him off at the station because he would never step foot near a loud train. Minerva is enraged. The police are bewildered that Jim knows about the chains, info that hasn’t been released publicly.

There’s more questioning, where Minerva calls Jim a liar and Bennet explains Henry’s boots she gifted him, which allow the police to identity the body was Henry’s. He had a key in his shoe, which Bennet says he called his cat key, and that’s why he walked weird (it was revealed early on he was autistic, hence his number love and no eye contact). Jim realizes the key goes to the locked door in their rooms, and though this has little to do with the case, especially since the door clearly hasn’t been opened in years and they have to cut through the paint that’s been painted over the edges, to get inside. It’s Oswald’s old room and in the middle of his dusty bed is one of Minerva’s security video tapes. He is alarmed by the date, and Jim realizes this is the missing item he was sure Jim had stolen. There were no other entries, so Jim knows the ghosts hid it here where it would be safe from Minerva.

They watch it and discover Minerva and his butler took Henry’s body and wrapped it in chains then the butler rowed to the middle of the lake and tossed him in. Having been close with him, Bennet is devastated, but seeing as she thought she was entitled to call Jim a horrible boy in front of his family when he was talking to someone they couldn’t see, I didn’t care for her feelings much. Especially since all that stuff he tried to tell them about Henry was right, and she kept shutting him down and getting mad at him. And she knew about the solstice stuff, knew there was something weird with the locked room, and yet cleared that from her mind when incidents that could relate to it came up.

Arrests are made and they later reveal they had drugged the hot chocolate Bennett sent to Henry, as Minerva never liked his son, especially since he was different. They had called the school to tell them he wouldn’t be attending. The anger gave Minerva a stroke, and he would die within the year, and his butler would still have to serve his time in prison. Jim’s comments and knowledge, even when he catches himself and alters what he’s speaking, attract his family and Bennett’s attention as they realize things are more mysterious than they realized, but they never truly address it and I don’t know if there’s any realization that everything he was doing was related to this, or if they just decide to shrug off all his “misbehavior” because he almost drowned and a boy was murdered by his own dad.

Jim apologized a lot, even though he was trying to do the right thing, but he never receives an apology, not for all the horrible stuff they said and called him, or his sister repeatedly saying she hates him and telling everyone he’s stupid. It was really sad, how even Bennett wondered about his interests and found him strange and this allowed Sal to just insist he was strange and stupid. For her age, it was weird she was so good at detective stuff, but she thought it was a game when she was helping him while he said it wasn’t, and once things got bad and she was mad, he still insisted it wasn’t a game and she just mocked him.

He sees Henry’s ghost again on the property, not wanting to leave with the other ghost children who are now freed. The offerings were toward something between life and death, and under the lake had been centuries of burials. The town has improved, the dad decides to ignore his fired letter and just stay on when a historic society buys the property to upkeep its tours and history and everything. Blind Meg makes one more appearance to point at the culvert when Sal senses something so her token can wash through after two years. Eve suggests Sal have it, but Sal says it’s hers, being a descendant, but it might be Sal’s in the future, implying she would be the next healer/cunning women, which is undeserved. Jim was the hero, and while she was clever and helpful when she chose to be, she joined in on sabotaging him and everyone would have helped ensure the town drowned if Jim wasn’t so stubborn and defiant.

The rest of the review is in the comment section.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

“He was as autistic in death as he was in life” is a real line from this book

[Lekhitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another childhood read, the atmosphere is spooky and a great October read but definitely has a note of sadness that has me thinking about this book years later.

It reminds me a bit of the game “what remains of Edith finch” except this book has a bit more of a connected plot so it held my interest better.

[Azalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

*******spoiler alert********


Have you ever wonder if one day you would be the chosen one to find a secret or something? Adventure,mystery, and realistic fiction is the genre of this book. I thought this book was awesome but at the same time I thought that it was kind of kind of because some parts were kind of not really needed in the book.

The setting of this book takes place in the Minerva hall. Jim was Is the main character of the book cause his the one that is chosen to find the seventh which Is that he needs to find the 7 kid and save him after he dies like the other children's that have died there. Jim was going well with his investigation but also the person that owned the Minerva hall dint wannet to Jim know what happen and destroy his plan. So one day he meet the child of the owner of Minerva Hall he was shy and he wouldn't talk to Jim or even tell his name so Jim would call him Einstein and he liked( Einstein) so he kept on calling him like that, but then after he discover the 6 children's dead and the clues that the children's were giving him he found out that the 7 children is Einstein but it was to late cause when he figured out he was Already dead. The conflict of this book is person vs. nature because Jim was trying to find the seventh but he was also scared that blind meg will see him and do something to him and person vs. person because Jim was fighting lord Minerva( the owner of Minerva hall) so he won't see him and also his dad and sister so they won't see him and get out and find his clues. Jim is a person that is brave but also, he is scared and shy. Einstein is a person that is really shy and doesn't talk a lot because he know something or wants to say something but he doesn't know how to say it.

I was surprised when Einstein died because I thought he would live and Jim would save. In the text it says " it was to late Einstein has died". The main character problem is that he thinks but he takes long and when he does he needs to review the same think like 4 or 5 times to figure it out. In the text it says " think, think, think ". I had predicted that Einstein would live and that maybe now all the souls would be free because they won't have to worry about the 7 kid to died just how it has happen to them. My favorite part was when he went to the places that the children left them clues and then he would see ow the died and the he would find another clue. I the text it say " no, no, don't go that way!!!". I could't understand how come why Lord Minerva would not let Jim know what happen in the Minerva hall. In the text it says " your son has been sneaking troughs my gardens please watch an eye on him or I will!!".

I thought this book was interesting because your learning something new width is a classic ghost story and also, I thought it was a was a good book because you just wanna keep on reading like to find who is the 7 kid. 8-10 I rate this book because it was a really good book but I thought sometimes some parts needed to be added and some other parts dint needed to be added. I would recommend this book to people that like ghost story's, mystery, and adventure book because this whole book has this 3 genres in only one book. I have wondered if one day I would be the choose one and I think it would be cool but also, I think it would scary because you never know what you can expect.

[Havityia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim, his sister, and his father are moving to the mysterious Minerva manor as a second chance. His mother has just passed away. He's unhappy there, in the stuffy old manor, with a Lord Minerva who seems out to get him. Then things get even worse when a voice whispers to him: "Find the seventh." Joined by Lord Minerva's autistic son, who seems to know everything, he must figure out who the seventh is, before time runs out.


First off, in many places, the story seemed similar to a video game. You know, like the Nancy Drew ones. The player goes from person-to-person picking up clues that lead to another person. There are scenes similar to cutscenes. Even the ending felt like the conclusion of mystery game. The entire time, you're like the player in the video game, controlling Jim. However, like with those video games, you don't have any control over him at all. He goes where the story tells him to go.

When I first realized it, I was a little in awe. But as I continued through the book, it seemed to be more of a hindrance for me. It might not be a problem for you, but it certainly was for me.

A second thing I must say is that words don't tend to chill me the way visuals do. I can't help it, it's just how I'm made. But Morton-Shaw's depictions of death did a wonderful job of the telling the story without going into a rapt description of how a weather vane killed a girl.

There seemed to be quite a bit of research done onto the properties of plants and certain traditions. There were major Pagan themes as the book went on, just a warning for those that don't like it.

The way she wrote Jim was very realistic, as well. His mind would wander, like a teen's does, onto all sorts of things. He had troubles with his families and his living situations and those thoughts pervaded his mind nearly at all times. However, it never sounded like a broken record to me.

When I thought we had reach the conclusion, I was rather disappointed. But the story went on and finished and things cleared up nicely. In many cases, as well, I'm unhappy with epilogues. I feel they ruin the integrity of a story, even a standalone one ('if you can't finish the story without the need for an epilogue, then continue it until everything is covered,' is my general mindset). Of course, there are exceptions for everything and this story was one. The epilogue made me quite happy.

Even though it's considered a children's book (ages 8-12, according to Amazon), I thought it was entertaining.The mystery was well thought out - when the reader thinks they know what's going on, they learn something new that changes their perspectives. It was the fact that I kept feeling like I was in a video game, not a book, that really warranted my rated. It totally ruined my immersion. Morton-Shaw, though, provided the right kinds of descriptions in the right places to set the mood, and at the same time, draw me back in.




This review can also be found on my blog Shadow in the Window

[Juan Pantoja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you like to go on a hunt for clues and dead people? Then you should read The hunt for the seventh.The genre is Mystery and its a fiction book.WHen I was reading this book I thougth that it was so interestin that I couldn't put the book down. ***SPOILER ALERT***

The setting of the book takes place in England at a kingdom called Minerva Hall. The book doesn't say what year it is in the story, but there was a rubix cube and camera's in the book so I'm guessing its the year 2000. Jim (main character in the story)lived a normal life until his mom died, and his father moved to minerva hall to start a new life. Jim did not want to live here because the person who was in charge of Minerva hall was a grumpy selfish man that JIm did not like and Jim also disliked his butler, which they both also don't like Jim, and his family. Jim lives with his sister Sal and his father. After a while of learning where everything is, and how it looks like, Jim finds a boy in a hedge maze, the boy ignores him at first and then Jim starts calling him Einstein because Einstein doesn't tell Jim what his name is. Einstein likes that name so he tells Jim to keep calling him that. When Jim finds out that six children have died in Minerva hall before, and that he is being hunted by ghost. the ghost are telling him to find the seventh child before its to late and save the people in Minerva Hall. after he finds all clues and sneeks out of his house/turret lots of times to find the seventh child, his father gets fired by the grumpy lord. After he finds who is the seventh child(Einstein) he noticed he's already dead.you will have to read the story to find out what happens next.The conflict is person vs. nature.

I loved this book because its very interesting and well put together, and has good and easy text to read. this book is related to the 39 clues series because in this book Jim has to look for clues to find the seventh child, and in the 39 clues Amy and Dan has to look for clues to the strongest power ever existing.

Another reason I loved this book was that it's about clues and it's a mystery book.I think these kinds of books are the most interesting because there's always a ghost in the book(like this book)that makes it scary and interesting to see what would the ghost do.I have no relation with this book, again.

I thought this was a great book when I read it.I scale this book 9/10, because it was very interesting that I couldn't put the book down. I would recommend this book to a person that likes ghost stories or mystery story's. This is a good book for all ages.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Jim has moved to Minerva Hall with his father and sister. His mother has recently died, and in order to overcome the family's grief, his father has accepted a position as Head Gardener. But from the first day, life at Minerva Hall is far from normal.

While touring the grounds, Jim hears a voice whisper in his ear, "Find the Seventh." No one else has heard the ghostly voice, but Jim believes it. He is convinced someone has died there. But he can't tell his dad or his sister. He knows no one else will believe him.

This begins Jim's need to uncover the secrets of Minerva Hall. One evening he notices a shadow off by the maze. He ventures into the maze and soon discovers a boy sitting in the middle. The boy talks almost in riddles, confusing Jim even more. Because the boy likes to talk in numbers but refuses to give his name, Jim immediately dubs him Einstein. But just as quickly as he discovers Einstein, the boy is gone.

Curiosity gets the better of Jim, and soon he is discovering unused portions of the hall. He sneaks into the old Schoolroom and magically, six names appear on one of the blackboards. All six names are Minervas, with a date and some sort of epitaph.

Jim becomes enmeshed in the clues, following the Hall's statues and the dates of death from one to the next; Jim is on a crash course with destiny. The prophecies that he's uncovered surrounding the lands around Minerva Hall are all leading up to the summer solstice. He believes he only has a few days to solve the mystery and hopefully prevent any more deaths.

THE HUNT FOR THE SEVENTH was a spine-chillingly good read. The scarier parts may be a bit too much for the younger reader, but there is nothing in the story that is truly gross or appalling to limit those that could read it. The story flowed at a nice pace, leading the reader through all of the clues that Jim discovered. The tension builds at the right speed, leading to a surprising conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the discoveries that Jim made along the way.

[Shelley Coughlin Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of this book intrigued me from the start. Jim has recently moved to an estate with his father, who is the new Head Gardener, and his sister. His mother has recently passed away and moving to this giant estate, where people come to get guided tours of the house and the grounds, is the family’s way of making a new start.

This all seems pretty promising until Jim starts seeing and hearing creepy things all around the estate. Eventually he finds himself in the middle of a mystery dating back hundreds of years, and he is haunted by the ghosts of six children who had died on the grounds. Each of the ghosts urges him to “find the seventh”, but as Jim gets closer and closer to understanding what this means he also gets deeper and deeper into trouble with the Master of the estate, Lord Minerva. Although Minerva is in a wheel chair, he is still horrible to Jim and his sister and makes sure they know that he is following their every move via video camera. Unfortunately, Jim can’t hide that he is sneaking around the grounds looking for clues at all hours and repeatedly gets caught.

Throughout the book Jim gets help from Henry, Minerva’s son who is supposed to be at boarding school but is hiding out on the grounds. Henry is autistic, but shows Jim clues in his own way and leaves Jim to figure them out.

The story itself is well-written if not totally believable, and the finding of the clues becomes a little repetitive in the middle, but I think the surprise ending made up for it. The last few chapters of the book were packed with energy and the macabre, and I think that is a winning combo for middle school readers.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor James just can't get a break. His mother recently passed away, his Dad is distant, his sister is the charming one, his family had to move to the crummy part of manor house for his Dad's new job, and to top it all off, he's hearing voices and seeing dead people. James quickly discovers that 6 children have died on the property and to his dismay, they're trying to tell him something. The ghostly images of the ugly eyeless old woman don't help him out either. James feels compelled to discover what happened to these children and prevent any more deaths but his snooping around could cost his Dad his new job and ruin his family's efforts to get over the loss of his Mom.

Lots of references to the summer solstice and local legends of the village. I liked that part the best since I didn't think the book was really scary. The twist was pretty predictable - other than that, enjoyable.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick reread of a childhood book.

I loved these paranormal books as a child. This was not my favorite of the genre (I had a deep obsession for Poblocki's 'The Stone Child') I was pleasantly surprised upon returning as an adult!

Pacing, great. Characters, also great, with main children given a suitably tragic background and a great sibling relationship. The worldbuilding around the home and the town was enjoyable and I bow down to any climax that includes a quality flood!

Not a bad world to visit for a few hours.

[Megan Suchodolski]

This book was good. Its another creepy book. This one also sent chills to my back. Its about a young boy who is being followed around by ghost. Only he can see them no one else.The ghost tell him that he needs to fidn the 7th.Jim has no clue what this means.But he better find out. If he doesnt inoccent people will die. So Jim goes around looking for clues. He ask the ghost children if they can give him hints. They just disapper when he asks.

[Kat Heckenbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty well-written middle grade ghost story with a bit of mystery. I liked the characters and thought the premise was interesting. There was a bit too much convenience of circumstance, but overall a decent read. I passed it on to my 12 yr old son--we'll see what he thinks :).

[Alissa smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was very mysterios and intense i liked it very much the i liked most most about it was that it had alot of [eople in it that u had 2 learn about

[Brittney Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Rating: 5 stars

In order to give Goodreads an accurate representation of my reading preferences and tastes, I have been reading a lot of my childhood favorites so that they will have reviews. Also, I recently finished Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, which is a 1000-page epic historical fiction book, and although, it is now one of my favorite books of the year, after finishing it, I decided I needed something lighter and less complex, and so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and read some of childhood favorites to give them both reviews and to decompress my mind from the complexity of Fall of Giants.

With that being said, the 1st one that I decided to pick up was The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw, which tells the story of Jim who moves with his family to Minerva Estate after his father gets a job as head gardener there. Once there, Jim immediately goes to explore as children do and he runs into a young boy, which Jim thinks is odd, since him and his sister are supposed to be the only children there and the owner of the estate hates kids. It gets even odder when the boy tells him there are actually 6 more children beside him, Jim, and Jim’s sister. This conversion piques Jim’s curiosity and he starts to ask questions, but the answers he receives will lead him on a journey he never anticipated and will change his life forever.

My favorite thing about this book is actually how complex the mystery of Minerva estate actually gets before the end. Initially, this story seems like your average ghost story, but you quickly realize it has many more layers than that as ancient spirits and curses become involved as well as cold-blooded murder. I really appreciated the layers as a child as I felt that the author was actually trying to challenge me, instead of just spoon-feeding me, which was a breath of fresh air as a lot of authors, in my opinion, think that children can’t handle complex or scary plots. As an adult, I still appreciate the complexity of the mystery, but I even more appreciate the representation of a young child dealing with the death of a parent. Over the course of this story, we learn that Jim’s mother has passed away recently and that this is the reason why he and his family have moved to Minerva estate, and we see through his interactions with both his father and his sister the effect that this is having on their family. As an individual who lost her father at an early age, I really related to Jim’s need to censor whatever he says, introduces, or shows his father and his sister as he doesn’t want them to have to worry about him as they have enough on their plate. After my father passed away, I kept a lot to myself and censored myself to my mother a lot for pretty much the same reasons why Jim did in the book.

All in all, this was a book that not only captured my attention as a child but also as an adult. For this reason alone, it has remained a favorite. I highly recommend!!!!! 5 stars!!!!!

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book i'm reviewing is called ‘The Hunt for the Seventh.” by Christine Morton-shaw. The lexile for this book is (660 The story follows a boy named Jim, his sister named Sal, and there father after he is given head gardener at a place called Minerva Hall. everything going good so far but Jim has been seeing and hearing some strange things. As this continues it makes his curiosity grow as he started to try to figure out why he is meant to ‘Find the seventh.’
The book builds it plot on more mystery and clues then character development and background things going on. Most of what happens is driven by the main character causing it to happen or he is there to witness it. Like other books I’ve read the theme is misunderstanding or just simply no communication. As mentioned earlier nothing really happens without Jim there and after he get caught once he started to sneak around and blatantly ignore his fathers and sisters plead to stop so his father can keep his job at Minerva Hall. The characters don’t change at all or enough to make a big impact to the story.
The book throws you right into the story with the main character Jim hearing a voice behind him say that he must find the seventh but when he turns around no one is there. You learn more about Jim and his family, his mom had sadly died and that drove his father into a stage of depression. His father somehow ended up getting a job as the head gardener at Mineva Hall so Jim, Sal, and his dad all pack and go to there new “home.” The owner of Minerval Hall right away were told doesn’t like kids so he expects Jim and Sal to be good and not go sneaking around. Sal does as told but Jim leaves his room after awhile and sees a boy he later calls Einstein because of his weird obsession with numbers. Einstein real name is Lord Henry the son of the owner. After seeing Einstein things get stranger for Jim as his journey has just begun. I personally had a bit of trouble staying interested with this story but that shouldn’t stop you if your curious and want to read this. This book is more aimed towards people who love mysteries and learning more of the inner part of the story. This was not the best but wasn’t that bad of a book over all.

[Aly Machacek-Sveeggen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a middle grace classic that will forever be in my personal library. A chilling ghost story that ties back into the traditions of the old gods, the spirits of the land and ancient curses, Hunt for the Seventh gives a tale of finding yourself, coming of age and realistic horror. Jim, Sal and their father move into the history Minerva hall. Massive gardens, hundreds of statues, a grouchy old man and a kind cook welcome their new head gardener and his children onto the property. Jim’s dad, a new widower, struggles to find himself after his wife’s death and turns to tending the expansive gardens at mincers hall. Jim and Sal are left to their own devices for the summer as their father works. As they explore Jim begins to discover that there’s something wrong about this estate. It’s full of the ghosts of death Minerva children. Jim is taken on this wild journey to find the 7th child of Minevera blood that will be killed on the eve of the summer solstice.
I adore this novel and I love its twists and turns! I also was looking for a quick read and this satisfies.

[RumBelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book in a lot of ways, to me, was a major let down. First off, let me say that the way Henry or "Einstein's" character was treated, and what eventually happened to him because he was autistic, amongst other factors, was appalling. As was the perpetrator. It really upset me reading it. Many of the adults in this book were either horribly cruel, very uncaring, or just extremely mean. It did not make the book enjoyable at all. The majority of the story fell very flat and disjointed. Also, the whole "solution" about needing sacrifices was completely unoriginal, and in my opinion, taking the extreme easy way out. I did like the description of the Manor house, and all of it's gardens and hidden rooms. The treasure hunt aspect of the children working out clues to what the ghosts wanted was interesting to. Overall though, I got very little enjoyment out of reading this book, and the ghostly elements were so few and far between that it really felt like an empty story.

[Claire Scheihing]

The Hunt for the Seventh is a thrilling mystery book about a young boy who moves into a haunted mansion. Jim's dad gets a new job as the head gardener at Minerva Hall. What Jim soon finds out is that the place is haunted by the ghosts of 6 dead children who died on the grounds. All of the children tell Jim to find the seventh, but Jim does not know what this means. He must figure out an ancient prophecy and save innocent people from dying with the help of Einstein, an autistic boy he met on the grounds. This is a perfect thriller for people who like non-fiction. I enjoyed the plot very much as well as the eerie tone. I thought that the flashback scenes were written very well and were easy to picture. I really liked reading this book and I would definitely recommend to anyone. The only thing I would say that I didn't like was the fact that some bits were confusing but other than that I think it is a great book.

[Addison Neyhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book several years ago when I was in fifth grade. I loved the mystery behind it and how he was searching for the children all while worried about being caught. My only complaint with the book is the last few children that he witnessed the deaths of felt rushed. The first few were dragged out and he had time to process how he felt in between. The sixth child he wasn’t even shown the death of, he was just told she drowned. The other deaths showed him. Not that more child death is good, but in the book Jim states how he felt like the children were showing him their deaths to tell someone their story and help them find peace in a sense. I feel like Edwina (the girl who drowned) didn’t get the same and it felt a little open ended and rushed. I feel like if the book was 50-100 pages longer the ending would’ve been more satisfying. I loved the plot twist at the end and overall love the book

[Jill Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I love ghost stories and I love mysteries, but I could NOT get into this one at all. From the moment I started reading. I made myself read the whole thing. Sally is very annoying. Jim gets treated pretty badly and then all of sudden treated wonderfully. It goes back and forth and it's annoying. There's also a lot of repetition. For instance the poems get repeated and I feel like I don't need to read the same poem four times. I also couldn't get into the characters. It wasn't scary for me. Maybe perhaps for a younger audience. Although I love to read YA books at my age, still, this one wasn't for me. I also kinda hated that his name is James, but kept being called Jim. It's a stupid nickname for a name that's really short in the first place. You know sometimes you open a book and the first five pages just don't click with you and that's what happened here.

[Luke mahl]

he walks into the room he’s been wondering about and when he walks in he was shocked by what he saw.

Hes trying to stop the ancient prophecy by using the help of other people he met on the way and the clues
He is trying to stop an ancient prophecy that only he can stop while the six dead children leave clues behind for him to help him figure out or solve this mystery. Jim meets a boy named einstein who is autistic but one of the smartest people jim has ever seen.

So then jim thought that einstein might know about what happened at minerva hall. no matter how scary it was he wanted to find out what was going on in this house and he would not let any fear stop him from doing that.

He can see the ghost of the 6 children from the past that only he could see urging him to find the seventh.only he could stop the ancient prophecy from happening.