Review: Doom "Continue[s] The Bellairs Spirit, But Also With Something New"

Book review: The Doom of the Haunted Opera

Brad Strickland must have faced a considerable task when he began the completion of John Bellairs's books. For years, John's heroes of Anthony Monday, Johnny Dixon, Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger kept the reader busy as they explored and fell into all sorts of settings and supernatural events. From the Windrow curse to the dark secret of Weatherend, the books that Bellairs wrote captivated me, and it certainly wasn't just because of the plot twists and ever-changing settings. Bellairs had a style of writing that made his books close to the reader, even with a setting in another time or even another dimension. Brad Strickland has proved that the transition from the now unfortunately late Bellairs to him is going smoothly. His The Hand of the Necromancer did not fail as he went "solo," and neither does The Doom of the Haunted Opera, which was begun by Bellairs as a sketch and finished by Strickland.

Our Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita are stuck in cozy (but boring) little New Zebedee, waiting for excitement. Discovering an old opera score, the excitement quickly comes when all adults in the town are swept up in the music rush. The composer of the opera's grandson comes to town, and it is quickly revealed that he has more interests with New Zebedee's inhabitants than just performing a dusty old work and setting up shop at the local Four Seasons Hotel. But unfortunately, pending the performance of an aria from the opera called "The Sealing,"a mysterious fog has descended upon New Zebedee and trapped everyone inside it. And the sinister machinations of our dear villain (posing as the willing opera conducter, and world famous singer as well) go deeper and deeper...

This book was very good; it provided the familiar characters fans of Bellairs's have grown to love yet produced a new predicament (the sealing off of the town, though this curiously resembles Lewis's imprisonment inside Barnavelt Manor in a previous Bellairs/Strickland novel, The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder) and a new villain. Certainly Brad Strickland has pulled it off; The Doom of the Haunted Opera is true Bellairs, yet Strickland has also managed to add a little of his own flavor into the story without warping its style. Not as climactic and eerie as The Ghost in the Mirror (which I consider to be an incredible achievement) or as creepy as The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie, but very good. With the new books out, Bellairs's series have not died. Brad Strickland has managed to continue the Bellairs spirit, but also with something new.

Jeffrey Li