Mrs. Schneider, or "The Old Bigot" as many of her neighbors call her, begrudgingly lives next to Sofia and Alex Lopez, fairly new transplants to Smiths Hollow, and with Alex being one of a few police officers for the town, his wife naturally calls him out when the bodies are discovered. Oddly enough, in very short order, people seem to glaze over the murderous discovery and both the Chief of Police and Mayor Touhy don't seem too interested in investigating the gruesome crime. In fact, no one even seems to recall the murder after a day or two. But Alex does and he begins investigating, and soon discovers that a girl has been murdered in the woods every November in Smiths Hollow for many decades, and not long after, the murder is completely forgotten by almost everyone in town. However, last year a girl didn't die, but her father did.
Lauren diMucci lives in the same neighborhood, with her quiet little brother David and her mom, Karen. Lauren's dad was murdered almost a year ago, found in the woods with his heart cut out, although the word around town is that he had gone to visit his girlfriend and something happened to him. Lauren is constantly at odds with her mom, and more than anything else, would rather hang out at her favorite spot in the woods, the creepy old ghost tree, with her best friend, Miranda, but lately Miranda has changed. She'd rather chase boys and hang out at the local arcade. But Lauren has changed a bit too. She's been getting intense migraines and weird visions, bloody ones about girls getting ripped apart. At the same time, her little brother David seems to know what will happen in town before anyone else and he's been drawing some strange, gory pictures.
Something is definitely not right in Smiths Hollow, but with the lucrative Fall Fair coming up soon, Mayor Touhy is determined not to let the recent occurrences upset this event for the town. Despite this, Alex is determined to figure out the town's mystery and why it seems he is the only one who can remember the recent murder. Meanwhile, Lauren learns from her grandmother that there's a legend that witches lived in the house on the hill in Smiths Hollow, the same one her grandmother has lived in all her life. So the story goes, when the beautiful witch daughter and the wealthy son of a local businessman fell madly in love, tragedy and murder intervened to thwart their happiness. From that point on, the town has been cursed. Could that be the reason the town is so prosperous despite its size and that no one truly ever moves away from Smiths Hollow? Even if they do, they always come back. Well, a newspaper reporter from Chicago has rolled into town, dead-set on getting the scoop, and unfortunately for the Mayor, more bodies start dropping in gory fashion. Whatever hell has been unleashed on Smiths Hollow this year, it is angry and wants to rip the town apart and it seems focused on Lauren. Can she and the town survive the deadly threat?
The Ghost Tree, much like every Christina Henry book I've read, is gruesome and delightful, a perfect read for the upcoming Halloween season. I really enjoyed the 80's nostalgia thrown in and it's just an all-around good ghost story. If you like your stories brilliant and macabre, check out The Ghost Tree.
