High-school student Reed Sinclair loves his girlfriend, Samantha MacNamara. That’s the biggest reason why it’s been so hard on him to have been separated from everyone, first during his stay in the hospital, and then in the mental hospital. His doctor thinks Reed is crazy for saying he has psychic gifts and that some sort of blood-drinking fairy woman is threatening his life because he’s a talented musician. Doesn’t anyone understand that he jumped out of that tree next to his bedroom window because the fairy said she’d kill Samantha if he didn’t? Well, no, they absolutely don’t— but the electro-shock therapy burned his supernatural gifts out of his brain. Now he’s got to survive being at a halfway house for troubled teens… but does that really mean he’s done seeing ghosts and other supernatural threats forever…?
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“The plot of SONG TO THE SIREN: THE HALFWAY HOUSE is riveting. It’s another book by Barb and Park that one does not want to put down. The plot is easy to follow, but never boring– the kind of plot that makes one say ‘I will put the book down after just a couple more pages’ over and over without actually doing so for a very long time.
But what really makes this particular book unique are the characters. None of the characters are clichés, yet the reader feels like they know all of the characters. With all of their flaws and strengths, the residents and staff of Thornwood House will draw you in. All of them, like all of us, are doing the best they can. Through the characters, the reader also deals with being labeled an outsider. I’m sure that most readers have experienced the feeling of being ‘different’ and ‘not like the others’ –this book addresses those feelings head-on, yet it certainly doesn’t feel like the reader is on a therapist’s couch. The book is entertaining and enlightening at the same time.
And of course, there are the haints. And as the book teaches us: ‘haints ain’t no joke.’
Five stars.”
–Carol Seufert, Educator