Step into the Dark

The eerily-lit staircase seemed to hide not ghosts, but things and people that meant terrible harm. The balcony in the Hall seemed far away, like a beautiful dream he had to wake up from. Reality was home and getting up to the ninth floor unscathed. Whether he's alone at home (his mom is asleep, or not there) or working on the lighting in the balcony of the local Community Hall, threats of menace and danger surround Beetle. When he tries to protect Tamar, the beautiful young singer, he too becomes a target for the bullies' violent games. And then there's another problem: the girl in white, who vanishes as mysteriously as she appears. Could she be a ghost—and if she is, why is she calling out to Beetle across the darkness?

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. Beetle, the hero of this ghost story, has an unusualpassion: he loves helping the lighting technician at a refurbishedperformance hall. Predictably, the theater is rumored to have aghost--and Beetle believes he has seen her. His curiosity about themysterious little girl in a white dress develops alongside a subplotabout a Kurdish girl, one of the theater's performers, who has beentargeted by two skinheads. As in her first novel, Feast of Fools[BKL N 15 03], Crowley excels at evoking creepy atmosphere andsuspense but falters when it comes to closing down the show: theclimax at the convergence of the two story threads feelsforced. However, the depiction of the theater community as a refugefrom Beetle's rough home life adds dimension, and Crowley skillfullymanages to make his behind-the-scenes world of spotlights, "crossfades," and "dimmers" seem as alluring as that of the stage. This is adirect import from the U.K., so readers will encounter some unfamiliarslang. Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Bridget Crowley began her career as a dancer and actor, and has been a teacher of both in schools across London. She is now a writer and a freelance lecturer and story-teller, spending much of her time working with school children and the disabled, talking about art and painting—at the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Tate St. Ives, and the Wallace Collection, among others. She also works as an "audio-describer" at the Royal National Theater, assisting the visually impaired to appreciate live performances.

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