Reviews

Here Lies the Body by Scott Corbett

jcschildbach's review against another edition

3.0

I loved Scott Corbett books as a kid, and I found this and my other favorite ("The Red Room Riddle") on eBay. I'm not so sure "Here Lies the Body" holds up. There are some cool, creepy elements, nifty stylized illustrations, and it's a quick read. But the ending seems to just wrap things up arbitrarily because the book needed to end.

The thing I remembered most from reading this book in elementary school were little rhymes that the main characters made up about the names on the headstones--all starting with "Here lies the body" and culminating with some grisly imagined death. But I thought there were a lot more than there actually are in the book--and then remembered that (like another reviewer) that was because the book inspired my sister and me to come up with a bunch of our own rhymes. So, gotta give points for getting the creative juices flowing in young kids--even if it is a rather morbid form of creativity.

graceanna's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

corncobwebs's review

Howie and his older brother Mitch have landed summer jobs doing lawn maintenance in the cemetery next door to their house. The cemetery overseer is a creepy old man named Ezekiel Zenger, which gives the boys some pause, but the money is good enough they’re willing to bear with Ezekiel’s eccentricities. Ezekiel has an even more bizarre older brother named Nathaniel, who looks like a bag of bones and has a nasty mean streak. Ezekiel and Nathaniel can’t stand each other, and with some detective work, Howie and Mitch are able to figure out why: the Zenger family were some of the finger-pointers during the Salem witch trials, which was the start of the bad blood in the family. Ironically, it seems that Nathaniel is a practicing warlock, and though Ezekiel is no peach himself, he chafes at Nathaniel’s evil ways. Fearful of what might happen, the boys consider quitting their jobs, but Mitch is a budding writer and can’t quash his writer’s curiosity. It all comes to a head on Saint John’s Eve, a night that’s supposedly significant to witches and warlocks. To Howie and Mitch’s considerable relief, Nathaniel is on Nantucket Island for Saint John’s Eve. But they’re alarmed the next day when they receive the news that Nathaniel has died under mysterious circumstances, and his body is to be flown back to his hometown. Ezekiel is overjoyed, which unnerves the boys even further, especially when he sings a jaunty tune as he digs his brother’s grave. Listening to the radio that evening, Howie and Mitch learn that the plane carrying Nathaniel’s body has been lost at sea. Mitch convinces Howie that if they don’t tell Ezekiel, then no one will - at least not in a timely manner. So the boys dash over to Ezekiel’s cottage, which takes them through the cemetery at night during a raging storm. Already spooked from their creepy environs, the boys nearly die from fright when they discover the cottage door open and hear Ezekiel screaming for help. But when they reach the source of the cries, they find Ezekiel - dead - and a satanic symbol etched in the window. Was Nathaniel really a warlock, and did his evil spirit come back to murder his brother?

The ending is ambiguous - readers don’t know for sure what happened. Normally this would really bug me, but I’m willing to forgive the ambiguity because I loved the cemetery setting, mystery, and fast-paced action. The story is dated in terms of some of the details and dialogue (and the illustrations in the edition I read were horrendously seventies-looking), but the story has enough redeeming qualities that I think today’s readers would still enjoy it.

blreed's review

dark funny mysterious

3.0

 I originally checked this book out many years ago from my hometown library. Although I forgot the title and author for awhile, it made a pretty big aesthetic impression on me, and eventually I decided to track it down and reread it. I can see why it appealed to my younger self, with its cemetery setting and the mystery of vaguely-explained occult workings, and the creepy atmosphere generally holds up even if the plot is a bit unsatisfying.