The Bottom Line: This is a fun little series, but if you want to read it, start with the first book.
The Mediator 4: Darkest Hour
You are reading these in order, right? Because if you’re not your missing out on half the fun of these books. At this point in the series, it’s summer time and Suze, at the behest of her mother and stepfather, has gotten a job as a babysitter at a nearby resort. At first, she thinks the kid is just weird. Then she realizes the kid is not just general weird, he’s specifically weird like her. For some reason the folks at Cabot’s website didn’t think that was the most important aspect of this story. This is what they had to say:
"What—or who—is buried in Susannah’s backyard?
When the nineteenth-century ghost of Maria de Silva wakes her up in the middle of the night, Suze knows this is no ordinary visitation—not just from the knife at her throat, either. In life, Maria was the fiancée of Jesse—the same Jesse who was murdered a hundred and fifty years before. The same Jesse Suze is in love with.
Maria threatens Suze: The backyard construction must cease. Suze has a pretty good idea what—or rather, who—Maria doesn’t want found. But in solving Jesse’s murder, will Suze end up losing him forever?"
Ok, so the other story in the book is equally interesting. Most novels don’t manage two interesting plotlines.
For anyone who hasn’t read my other reviews of this series, Suze is a Mediator. She has a supernatural gift that allows her to talk to the dead so that she can finish off what they weren’t able to. Sometimes they would rather finish off their own business and they put up a fight when she tries to step in. She lives with her mom, stepfather, three stepbrothers and the ghost of a 19th century hottie who she is in love with. She has a pretty normal relationship with all the members of her family. Her stepfather tries not to intrude too much and she fights with her new brothers. I’m not terribly fond of the relationship with her mother because it seems to me that her mom should be picking up on the fact that there’s something a little odder about her daughter than just being a teenager can explain. Suze does have the guidance of someone in the know. The principal of her school is a mediator too. He also happens to be a priest and really cute from all descriptions. He's pretty responsible and aware of Suze’s, um, unusual calling.
Once we get this far in the series, we have to have some kind of sustained bad guy. It’s no fun if Suze just settled the hash of a couple of dead people every book and starts over in the next one. Plus, the running stories thus far have been more about character development than about rising tension. Enter the "Evil Leaper." Ok, so far (if you’ve read my other reviews) I’ve been comparing The Mediator to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and I may be mixing my metaphors a little by bringing up Quantum Leap. However, I don’t think equating the new character Cabot introduces here to Faith quite does justice to either one and while this guy doesn’t quite match Quantum Leap’s ‘Evil Leaper" it’s still a better match. You’re going to have to read the book (and probably watch the pertinent episodes of Quantum Leap) to find out. Then you can tell me why I was wrong and the bad guy here is more like the bad guy on Tru Calling or something. Then I’ll have to see more than the one episode of Tru Calling I’ve seen to refute and it’ll turn into a whole big thing.
Maybe we should just skip it altogether and say that Cabot introduces a new character with his own agenda who will try to counter Suze’s efforts.
You might be getting the idea that the story is slowing down or getting denser at this point, but it isn’t. The writing remains light and fast. I read this one in around 3 hours just like the previous 3. The continued development of the romance between Suze and Jesse is pretty satisfying as is the developing bond between Suze and her youngest stepbrother. I thought the ghost of Maria de Silva was perfect. If you don’t know a girl like her now, you have at some point. I had some trouble with the time travel aspect of this novel, but everything else has been so good that I could overlook that. The ethics are still pretty strong in this installment too. Suze bumps across some actual issues here and she handles them well. Most parents will be perfectly happy with the dilemma handling. (Can’t say all. Covers too much ground.)
Overall, this is a good, fun series, but this is not the place to start. You really must start with book one and work your way up. It’s not like it’s a huge commitment to read them. You could blow through this whole series in a rainy weekend. And then you could wrap them up and give them to the appropriate aged girl with a clear conscience.
Other books in the series:
Shadowland
Ninth Key
Reunion
Recommended:
