FROM AMAZON: Derek's brother Ronny isn't himself. No, really. Ronny's body has been taken over by the long-dead soul of a man named Virgil Black. Lucky for him, Virgil is one of the good guys. Not all of them are. In fact, a Legion of evil souls is staging a serious comeback. And they're staging it at Bayou Malpierre, the site of Derek's most horrible nightmare. That nightmare is about to get even worse. . . .

Aquela noite de horrores parecia não ter fim. Derek e Ronny tinham conseguido escapar da Fenda de Bordelon, o portal para o mundo dos mortos. Mas ainda não estavam a salvo. Os mortos, liderados pelo monstruoso Erkine Cane, vinham no encalço dos dois e estavam cada vez mais perto. Eles seguem para o Pântano Malpierre onde se deparam com os terríveis Cães do Pântano, animais fantasmagóricos que assombram a inóspita região. O que mortos continuam dizendo na orelha de Derek? Que pavoros segredos guardaria Abby Donner? O que há de tão especial no menino Waldo?

In this second installment of The Haunting of Derek Stone series by Tony Abbott, we find Derek and his brother Ronny preparing to fight a Legion of evil. Until the train wreck, Derek was just a normal 14 year old kid. Derek survived, but his brother Ronny wasn't so lucky. Ronny died, and the soul of Virgil Black reanimated Ronny's body in a process called translation.

Virgil is one of the good souls, but many of the dead are not. The Rift has allowed the souls of the dead to cross over, and they all seem to be after Derek. The boys find themselves at Bayou Malpierre, where they meet their Dad's friend Bonton and his peculiar son Waldo.

Derek is soon flooded with memories of a time when he almost drown in this very same bayou. Derek's long-awaited return to the bayou signals the time to raise the sunken ship Bellamina. Derek must overcome his fears and confront the evil inside Waldo as the battle between good and evil in the land of the dead spills over into the land of the living.

The Bottom Line: Kids in middle school, especially boys, will enjoy this zombie adventure. The action starts slowly, but rapidly builds as Derek, Ronny/Virgil, and a little girl named Abby join forces and fight the dead.

This review first appeared in the Mini Book Bytes Blog: http://minibookbytes.blogspot.com/ ( )

Reviewed by Shyanne for TeensReadToo.com

Derek Stone was just your normal 14-year-old kid until he was in a train crash. Now, the souls of dead beings have crossed into the bodies of the new crash victims and taken over.

In the world of the dead there has been a war raging - and now the dead want to bring it over into the world of the living.

The rift is breaking and the dead are crossing into deceased bodies from the living world. They are all after Derek Stone, and he must do everything he can to escape them.

He has the help of a young man by the name of Virgil Black. Virgil wants to be dead and at peace, but with the war this is not possible. Instead, Virgil crossed into the body of Derek's brother, who died in the crash.

A few of the other crossovers are good allies, but not all. Many are on the bad side of the war and want the rift to be torn forever.

With the help of Virgil, Derek must try to reach his destination before the crossed-over dead do. A destination that holds a surprise for him that will unravel even more everything he thought he knew.

BAYOU DOGS is the second book in THE HAUNTING OF DEREK STONE series, following CITY OF THE DEAD. Readers will be pleased with this second installment. ( )