Walking with the Dead
L. M. Falcone
Kids Can Press, 2005
ISBN: 1-55337-708-7
L. M. Falcone, a Canadian writer who worked on the popular television series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, seems to be carving a niche in the horror genre for adolescents. Her second novel, Walking with the Dead, delivers chills with as much aplomb as her first foray into pre-teen fiction, The Mysterious Mummer (2003). Both novels are filled with historical details to entertain and educate her young readers. They also display Falcone's talent for writing engaging dialogue. Yet Walking with the Dead surpasses her first novel in many regards, a feat due in no small part to a sense of comedy balancing out the novel's more serious themes.
Walking with the Dead is told from the point-of-view of Alex, a twelve-year-old boy with a host of problems. He is bullied by a bigger boy named Slug; he has a crush on a girl named Rosalie; and his father is re-opening his 'weird museum' called Oddities in the garage. Much depends on the success of Oddities, because Alex's mother died three years ago, and his father needs to work to restore his self-confidence. It is because of his father's emotional state that Alex doesn't go to him with his concerns: "There've been lots of times I've wanted to tell my dad what was going on, but he has enough problems."
Figures of bereaved or otherwise afflicted children who embark on fantastic adventures are common in children's literature. Consider classics like The Secret Garden and Time at the Top, and newer books like the Harry Potter series. (Interestingly, both Walking with the Dead and The Mysterious Mummer feature adolescent boys with single parents, and both deal with the unnatural.) Like Alex, protagonists of such narratives are often charged with the task of righting a wrong. Supernatural fiction is a particularly useful genre, because ghosts and otherworldly creatures elevate the protagonists' adventure above the banal. Not only must these children deal with troubled parents and schoolwork, but they also do battle with demons, unlock secret doors, or save ethereal planets from doom.
Alex's adventures begin when he and his friend Freddie accidentally wake up a two thousand-year-old mummy that Alex's father procured for Oddities. Alex and Freddie quickly realize that Costas, the mummy, does not want to hurt them; he seeks their help in getting to Elysian Fields. Costas, however, was falsely accused of murder, and is condemned to Tartarus. The boys journey through Hades to clear Costas's name, but not before meeting many other doomed souls. Although he is forbidden to interfere with the dead, Alex attempts to help a man (likely Tantalus) who reminds him of his father.
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