SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
When young Oliver discovers he inherited a huge mansion, he has to leave the orphanage he has come to love and know. Turns out that his new guardians might not have his best interests at heart. But a mix up allows a friendly family of ghosts to turn up and suddenly Oliver might find his fortunes change.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Oliver is rather odd, because he likes his home at the orphanage. He is also rather innocent as well and is very kind, developing a desire to help ghosts.
Frieda and Felton are two relatives who would have inherited the mansion if not for Oliver. They are not too thrilled about that.
Adopta “Addie” is a young girl ghost who found her way to the Wilkinson family. She has no memory of her past but loves her new family. She is rather blunt and far more skeptical than Oliver.
The Shriekers, Sabrina & Sir Pelham De Bone are two ghosts who apparently went crazy in real life. Although we don't learn why until much later in the book. They hate children for some reason. They are rather cartoonish but develop later on.
The Wilkinson family consists of the father, Henry; the mother, Maud, the grandma and their son, Eric. The grandma is rather proud and doesn't like the idea of being looked down by wealthy people. As for Eric, he used to have a girl who rejected him and made him quite unhappy (it's a running gag).
PACING
The pacing is the same as her other books, not terribly slow but not fast paced. It's not an action story, and we get introduced to the Wilkinsons in the first chapter, and then their predicament when they move to London and can't find a nice play to live. Eventually Addie finds the ghost agency and from there we meet all the other characters.
THE DE BONES
It seems at first that these characters are just there to be cartoon villains. They are amusing, but that is really all. But eventually Frieda and Felton turn out to be the main villains and the De Bones change. They don't completely change, as they are still rather stuck up but they do develop and we learn more about them.
HILARITY
There are plenty of scenes that are funny, one of my favorite being when Frieda and Felton bring a doctor to Oliver. Turns out people are saying that Oliver has gone crazy and now talks to himself all the time. When it turns out the doctor happens to be able to see ghosts too it was incredibly amusing. You get to see the whole plan blow up in their faces.
There are plenty of smaller moments that I found silly too from Addie telling Oliver she'll kick him when he snores to Eric finally seeing his long lost love and it not being what he expected.
PREDICTABILITY
There are certain aspects of the story that are predictable. It's planted pretty fast that there is going to be a mistake because of the assistant of the ghost adoption agency. It is revealed he has a secret. So I knew there was going to be a mix up.
Also, since Addie has no memory and we don't know anything about the other ghosts, once they got together it was obvious what was going to happen.
However, not all aspects of the book were easy to predict. When it came to the climax, I was surprised. Not that I expected a sad ending, I just didn't know how it would get there.
ADDIE'S ROLE
Addie has an important role because she finds the agency that helps ghosts as well as she is the one who defends Oliver when the Shriekers show up. She is much more up front and bold than her adopted family.
CLIMAX-SPOILERS
Oliver returns to the mansion only to find that his ghost friends seem to be dead. He vows revenge and becomes quite bold. Only there is a twist in the end. After this, we see how Oliver intends to help other ghosts and do research.
CONCLUSION
The main characters are likable and Ibbotson has her usual sense of humor that made me smile quite often. And although many aspects of the story were predictable, some were not. It was certainly better than “the secret of Platform 13” but not nearly as intricate and well thought out as “The Star of Kazan” or “Journey to the river sea”. I give “Dial-a-ghost” three and a half stars.
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