176. Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help by Douglas Anthony Cooper

Pages: 225
Finished: Nov. 9, 2008
First Published: 2007
Genre: YA, Gothic, fantasy, humour
Rating: 3.5/5
Reason for Reading: Received a Review Copy from Random House Canada. Qualifies for the Canadian Reading Challenge.

First sentence:

Milrose Munce was on fine terms with the dead.

Comments: Milrose Munce has always been able to see ghosts and his school is full of them. He has especially made great friends with those on the third floor of the school where the chemistry labs are located. This school has seen its share of accidental deaths and every floor but the first is haunted with many ghosts. It seems though that Milrose has been seen talking to thin air and clapping the back of the air around him and he is sent for Professional Help. Just before he goes he meets a girl, Arabella, who can also see the ghosts and has also been sent to Professional Help. They soon learn that Professional Help is even more sinister than it sounds and they find themselves in a part of the school they never knew about which is actually between the walls. Milrose and Arabella set out to find out what happened to all those sent here before them as they try to find a way out with the help of their ghostly friends.

This book was a lot of fun with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. It has a dark Gothic feel to it and all the ghosts died fairly horrible deaths but over all the story is light and fun. Filled with magic, ghosts, exorcists and students who see dead people, readers who enjoyed such books as A Series of Unfortunate Events or the Pure Dead books by Debi Gliori will love this. I do recommend the book for the YA age group though as there is quite a bit of innuendo which is not quite s*xual but certainly is very close.