Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Spirit
AUTHOR: John Inman
NARRATOR: John Anthony Davis
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 12, 2016
LENGTH: 6 hours, 47 minutes
BLURB:
Jason Day, brilliant designer of video games, is not only a confirmed bachelor, but he’s as gay as a maypole. One wouldn’t think being saddled with his precocious four-year-old nephew for four weeks would be enough to throw him off-kilter.
Wrong. Timmy, Jason’s nephew, is a true handful.
But just when Timmy and Uncle Jason begin to bond, and Jason feels he’s getting a grip on this babysitting business once and for all, he’s thrown for a loop by a couple of visitors—one from Tucson, the other from beyond the grave.
I’m sorry. Say what?
Toss a murder, a hot young stud, an unexpected love affair, and a spooky-ass ghost with a weird sense of humor into Jason’s summer plans, and you’ve got the makings for one hell of a ride.
REVIEW:
I’m a big Inman fan, Sunset Lake made me a fan of his for life. I mean it’s been more than a year since my first read of that book and I still haven’t gotten that ending out of my mind. Few books stay with me for long, but that one did. Spirit on the other hand won’t be up on that shelf.
Jason Day is taking care of his nephew, Timmy, for a few weeks while his sister is off doing something or other. Timmy’s dad ran out of the family a few years back and haven’t been heard or seen from since. He soon finds out that taking care of a four year old is not to be taken lightly, and just as he’s getting the hang of it Timmy’s uncle, Sam, shows up on their doorstep and Timmy announces that the man in the basement is nice. Only there is no man in the basement… And maybe, just maybe, Timmy’s dad didn’t leave of his own free will…
I should have loved it, I love ghost stories – I don’t mean the creepy kind that scare the crap out of you, I’m not going near those. But Casper-like stories? Where a recently (or not so recently) departed tries to communicate with the living for some reason or another -those I like. And in part that’s what we did get with this story, but it just couldn’t quite gain any momentum.
You know, there is something about children in books. Very rarely they are portrayed accurately or credibly. I mean either it is baby talk until they are teenagers or the child is a genius and behaves and talks like a grownup. Timmy belongs to the latter category. He banters, barters and reasons like no one else. I have a huge problem when kids are portrayed as more grown up than the actual grownups. And what’s more; what four year old makes sexual innuendos? That raises some major red flags for me, and I know that’s not what Inman intended, I do think it was intended to be cute or fun, but it seriously gave me the creeps. There was also a whole bunch of other things, logical thinking, cause and effect that four year olds just don’t have, even I imagine, the genius kind. (Sorry for the rant guys)
Then we have the narration. John Anthony Davis didn’t quite work for me. There was no natural flow of the words as he added long pauses after every sentence. It felt choppy and made me disconnect from the story and made it all feel a bit off. For some reason he also sounded bored while reading, and that’s not really the way to inspire further listening. He had a pleasant enough voice, but it wasn’t enough to off-set the rest.
The story itself and as a whole is my kind of story. It’s one I should have loved, but sadly Timmy and the narration kept me from doing just that.
RATING: 
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