Dec Hampton wants nothing more than to leave St. Hilaire, the spiritualist community he grew up in, behind him, even if he knows it’s going to break his sisters’ and his best friend Russ’ hearts. But when the train of Annie Krylova, the famous piano prodigy whose career he’s been following for years, breaks down outside of his hometown, Dec finds himself tethered to St. Hilaire once more. When Tristan, a childhood friend and presumed ghost that only Dec can see, reappears unexpectedly as well, Dec begins to wonder just how many coincidences it takes to keep him from leaving. Annie, heartbroken over the loss of her mentor, meanwhile tries to do what he requested of her – find the rest of the Unfinished Prelude, a mysterious piece of music that has enraptured many musicians.
With the help of Dec and his best friend Russ, a complicated but talented medium, Annie’s quest for the Prelude takes a turn as family secrets and shifty alliances are revealed until they have to reach out to an enigmatic ghost the entire town’s searching for. One thing Dec knows for sure – he can’t leave now…but will he ever be able to?
I think I touched upon this in my review of Dunbar’s previous release We Are Lost and Found, but this woman just excels at writing settings that make you feel you’ve been there before. This time around, Dunbar takes her readers on an exploration of a small town called St. Hilaire where mediums, ghosts, and tarot-reading teenagers are found at every street corner. And while reading the novel, I could picture everything, from Dec’s house to Annie arriving on the train. It brought with it the sense of dread and feeling lost that comes with living in a town entirely too focused on death, especially when tourist season brings a swing of people wanting to contact the gone and forgotten.
My favourite part, besides the atmospheric setting and general sense of impending doom that was threaded throughout the story, was the relationships that are explored within the book. Dec and Russ’s friendship was really nice to see on the page, but also to see that somewhat unrequited pining that isn’t ever really solved. Russ, overall, was my favourite character to read about. He has so many facets to him and though we learn a lot, I wanted to know everything about him – from his past with Ian, the evasive ghost that the entire town is trying to pin down, to his relationship with his grandmother who passed away but somehow left him the recipes to become a more powerful medium, leading him to a strange addiction. Not to mention his unresolved feelings for his best friend and his lacklustre relationship with his dad. Russ was just a cinnamon roll that I wanted to protect at all costs while also loving his snark and neverending love and support for Dec and Annie. Along that, the complicated bond between Dec and Tristan and how Tristan has simultaneously been a beacon of hope for Dec, but also a source of constant anxiety kept me on the edge of my seat as I flipped through the pages to find out why only Dec could see this ghost that wasn’t a ghost. Annie’s struggle to deal with the loss of her mentor and still having feelings for this boy that somehow understands her better than anyone else after years of being starved of real human interaction also melted my heart.
With that said, I’m going to be honest here and confess that the couple that derived from this story wasn’t who I was rooting for (what can I say, I’m a lover of the underdog). Still, the blossoming romance between Russ and his ghost and Annie’s and Dec’s budding romance were intriguing for very different reasons – you’ll still hear me playing The One That Got Away by Katy Perry though, wistfully watching as Dec and Russ dance around the unmentioned connection they share.
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the Guild and though we do learn about the sinister things they do to keep the bloodlines of seers and mediums strong, I still don’t have a full grasp on their members or what it is they actually do but maybe that was the point, to keep the reader guessing as Dec tries to escape and Russ tries to change the system from within. I can see how that would be explored more in the sequel.
The only real complaint I had was that the characters could have been a bit more fleshed out. While we do get the POV from Annie, Russ and Dec, I felt that there was an imbalance to how much we get to know about the individual characters. Since this is only the start of a series, though, it made sense that some characters got more of a spotlight than others and I hope to learn more about those who haven’t gotten their time to shine yet in the sequel.
Mesmerising and haunting, Dunbar invites readers into a world of family secrets, anxious ghosts and a society’s ruthless grasp for power that will leave you wanting more.
Prelude for Lost Souls is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers. like your local bookstore, as of August 4th 2020.
Will you be picking up Prelude for Lost Souls? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
For readers of Nova Ren Suma, Maggie Steifvater, and Maureen Johnson comes a spellbinding tale about choosing your own path, the families we create for ourselves, and facing the ghosts of your past.
In the town of St. Hilaire, most make their living by talking to the dead. In the summer, the town gates open to tourists seeking answers while all activity is controlled by The Guild, a sinister ruling body that sees everything.
Dec Hampton has lived there his entire life, but ever since his parents died, he’s been done with it. He knows he has to leave before anyone has a chance to stop him.
His best friend Russ won’t be surprised when Dec leaves—but he will be heartbroken. Russ is a good medium, maybe even a great one. He’s made sacrifices for his gift and will do whatever he can to gain entry to The Guild, even embracing dark forces and contacting the most elusive ghost in town.
But when the train of Annie Krylova, the piano prodigy whose music has been Dec’s main source of solace, breaks down outside of town, it sets off an unexpected chain of events. And in St. Hilaire, there are no such things as coincidences.
