Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
The Inn Between (Roaring Brook Press, 2016) by Marina Cohen makes me think of the Eagle’s song Hotel California, but aimed at kids. I don’t know how else to describe this book–perhaps deliciously creepy. It’s definitely unforgettable. And hard to put down.
Eleven-year-old Quinn Martin’s best friend Kara Cawston is moving away so Quinn joins the family on a trip west from Denver through the Nevada desert. After a near accident they decide to stop at a hotel on the border between Nevada and California. When they arrive at the Inn Between, the hotel looks more like a Victorian mansion. They’re greeted by a uniformed doorman and inside discover the elevator has a live operator. The lady at the front desk greets them with “We’ve been expecting you” and doesn’t need a credit card for their stay. “Our policy is you pay when you leave.” Cell phones don’t work there; neither does the TV. But that’s just the beginning of weirdness. Can the girls solve the mystery of the hotel?
Interspersed are some past experiences of Quinn with Kara and with Quinn’s sister Emma.
At the author’s website Marina Cohen’s bio says, “In elementary school, one of her favorite authors was Edgar Allen Poe. She loved stories like The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum and aspired to write similar stories. She is a lover of the fantastical, the bizarre, and all things creepy.”
Check out the details on her other books.