The Protectors

Night Fall ™ #3

by Val Karlsson

Luke's life has never been "normal." How could it be, with his mother holding séances and his half-crazy stepfather working as Bridgewater's mortician? But living in a funeral home never bothered Luke. That is, until the night of his mom's accident.

Sounds of screaming now shatter Luke's dreams. And his stepfather is acting even stranger. When bodies in the funeral home start delivering messages to Luke, he is certain that he's going nuts. As he tries to solve his mother's death, Luke discovers a secret more horrifying than any nightmare.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Paranormal, Fiction

106 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read for the reluctant; over a hundred pages for those assignments. Set in a funeral home, Luke's step dad Sal is the gruff and slightly paranoid local undertaker. Luke has been trained all his life to help out with the care of the dead. His mom is a kind hearted cosmetician who creates the final face for the 'clients'. She has a spiritual side and believes that as the last loving hands that touch the dead she inherits them as 'protectors'. Luke is not so sure, just as he does not believe that the seances his mother conducts do more than comfort the people she helps.
On the way home from a mountain session, Luke's mom dies in a flaming wreck. Luke is devastated and Sal becomes completely withdrawn.
This is the story of their year of grief concluding with a shocking twist.
Part of the high/low spooky DarbyCreek series by Lerner.

[Jasmine Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story “The Protectors” is about a young boy who lived at home with his mother and stepfather, he didn’t really like to be around his stepfather he thought her was strange. The book is mysterious and i like these kind of books. Mysterious books are very interesting. I like this book because Luke's mother believes in protectors. The protectors are just like spirits or ghost that protects you. The protectors are the ones who are dead and they protects the last ones that takes care of them. The main characters of the book are Luke, the step-father and the mother, the main characters did many things in the story but his mother held seances and his half-crazy stepfather was working as Bridge water's mortician. Luke never had a “normal” life so he ran into many problems and had many adventure since he lived in an funeral home, but the real problems and adventures started after his mother's accident. Such as when Luke looked through his step-fathers journal with his drawings in it without him knowing, taking a risk. While already suspicious he found unbelievable and shocking pictures, that lead Luke to grow more scared and confused of his stepfather. My favorite character from the book would have to be Luke's mother because she was always cheerful and always looked at the bright side of everything, and she loved to bring people up and help people in need. In the story I relate to Luke and his mother, but I can relate to the stepfather because his personality and action are strange and hard to figure out. I relate to Luke because he was like me when I was a kid, always wanting to know everything, always was a hard worker and wanted what was best for the family. I also relate to the mother because she was always kind and sweet to everyone and liked to make everyone feel better, and even on her worst days she would bring people up and try to help people. I felt the same way Luke did when his mom got into the accident, because I went threw the same thing but it happened naturally, and I took it terribly and it took me a few weeks to get over it. I really enjoyed reading “The Protectors” because it had a lot of surprising moments, I related to the characters in many ways and I could understand how the characters felt when certain situations happened. My favorite part of the book had to be the part after the accident when Luke went out the the “building” and tried talking to his stepfather about the business and how they haven't had a funeral since the accident, then the stepfather keep snapping at Luke and when he stood up and yelled at Luke, Luke’s reaction was hilarious and was probably the funniest moment in the book to me. My least favorite part of the book was when Luke found the stepfathers disturbing drawings of the old and most recent customers because no kid/teenager should have to see the drawings that Luke did and no person in their right mind should draw pictures like he did. The author could have gave more clues on the mother and how everything happened and could have stretched out the plot more, but the author did a great job building up suspense and describing the problem and plot. I would definitely recommend this book to another person because it really gets your attention and makes you wanna keep reading and it builds up so much suspense that you wanna come back for more to find out what happens next. I think people who like to read mysterious or horror books would really enjoy this book because it has unpleasing events and really leaves you wondering what happened. I'm glad I read this book because it showed me that not everyone's the way they seem and even the people that seem the nicest could turn out to be the worst. The book was worthwhile because it tells you many messages about life and how not everyone’s life is great and how sometimes you can't even trust the people closest to you.

[Manuel Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Protectors" by Val Karlsson is a fiction book about a kid who lives with his step-father and his mother in a funeral house. The family has worked on that for years. The main character is a boy who will experience loss, pain, and fear for years until he discovers the truth. The author is concrete, he gets to the point. He does not use that much metaphors or similies. So this read is pretty easy to understand the first time.
This book was enthusiastic to read because it gave me suspense and action in a way that scared a bit. You imagine the scenes of the book and it really gets you nervous about the suspense. One thing I enjoyed about this book was the simple way of writing but still transmitting a lot of emotions. I gave it a 4/5 because it was a good book and I had a good time reading it but I feel I had really high expectations. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense and distinct books. If you like getting a bit off out of the regular stories, this is a good read for you. Enjoy!

[Cait Stout · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a very quick read. Just over a hundred pages and the font being on the larger side. I was able to read this in well under an hour- it was the perfect book to keep me busy during a break in my day.
I think reading the other books in the series could be interesting! I gave it a 3 just because of how predictable it was. However, I am an adult reading it so maybe I’m judging that too harshly.

[A. Mickey Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book. The writing isn’t the best, especially at the very beginning and the very end, but the story and characters are interesting enough to make up for that. It’s a great concept, and it’s really well executed.

[Sammy Fansa]

its really dramatic , so scary ,intense and kinda sad

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy thinks mother is dead, turns out stepfather has been holding her hostage in their house for the past year. Ghosts help rescue them. The end.

[Seth Sharpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Protectors is part of a six book series that falls into the horror fiction genre. The story is about a young man, Luke, who's family ran the funeral home in a town called Bridgewater. The book gives a fairly vivid description of what the funeral home business is like, outlining the duties of his father, the mortician, and his mother, the cosmetician. Luke grows up always being around the business and it's basically set in stone by his parents that he grows up to be a mortician too. The book takes shape in the form of a suspense/thriller horror movie including the death of Luke's mother and a captivating ending. This genre is one that I was always interested in as a young student, but this book would be one that you only recommend to certain students. I chose to take a look at this book because of the fact it was just published in 2010 and is part of a series that caters to a certain niche. This book could be one that ends up exciting certain students where more books that are similar to it are available. The book also contains short previews of the five other books in the series for students to look at.

[Yang Pao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is mysterious and i like these kind of books. Mysterious books are very interesting. I like this book because Luke's mother believes in protectors. The protectors are just like spirits or ghost that protects you. The protectors are the ones who are dead and they protects the last ones that takes care of them. A very mysterious part in the book was where her mother went to this farm and the next day the car was burning and they thought she was dead. But then at the end she was locked in the the basement chained to the wall. She was locked in their by the stepdad. Her mother told the story When she was going to the farm to pick up the dead person the stepdad was following her in his car. His stepdad told her to pull over he needs to talk to her. She agreed his stepdad beat her up and burned her car so the next day they thought she was dead.

[Maddie Trussell · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love mysteries with a surprising ending this book is for you! This book has around 110 pages. The author is Val Karlsson. I feel like she puts a fantastic picture in my mind. I was easily able to imagine every chapter in my mind, like it was a movie playing in my head. I recommend this book to someone who likes mysteries with a twist.

[☞Luis ☞Dominguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is about lukes crazy life living in a mortuary home cleaning bodies and preparing them for the funeral. his mom thoughts him about the protectors. the protectors are the souls of the death person the protects the person that took care of them at the end. not done

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a really good book i would recommend you read this book

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter, work in a funeral home, make this book within the series a little more interesting.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for a quick read. I honestly thought it had enough darkness to it to make it scary. Glad things were alright in the end.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was nice and creepy i like it ,

[Lauryn Reza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke was an average kid it was him , his mom , and his stepdad Sal. They lived in a funeral home . Luke wanted to get to know his stepdad better , but then something crazy happened with his mom . Sal tells Luke that his mother got into a car accident and soon he started having bad nightmares of her and wondering how she really died. So after all the tragic things happened Luke wanted to really know what happened after seeing drawings in Sals notebook of dead people except for his mom . His mom was drawn but still alive. Luke new something was up . Then everything comes together ..

The main characters were Luke , his mom , and is stepfather Sal.
The protagonist of this story is Luke . Trying his best to solve his mothers secretly death. The antagonist is Sal , he tries to clear things up with Luke and lie to him about his mother’s death.

S- ”I’ll never forget the day my stepfather locked me in a room full of caskets for 24 hours.”
T- That Luke will find out all that is going on with his stepfather.
E- The other characters think Luke is going crazy.
A- Luke finds out different things and puts everything together to figure stuff out.
L- Luke seemed to be tall with dark brown hair.

I don’t think I could relate to this story but I can relate to a character . which is Luke , Luke is the kind of person to never give up on what he’s seeking.
I liked this book , because it’s creepy and mysterious . Also because there are more than one problem .
My favorite part was when he found out the truth .
My least favorite part was when she died.
The author did really well on putting more mysteries to make it worth reading.
The author could’ve put more details into the creepy parts other than that it was a good book.

[Lillian]

I liked this book it is an easy read and it has a lot of suspense.