When the reader meets Duke Meyer, he is a pretty confused teen. Bored with school, he has gone down a troublemaking path to get into a secret and pretentious brotherhood. Sentenced to janitor’s work after getting busted on a particularly crass piece of “art,” Duke becomes a bit more introspective and less concerned with being a cool guy, dating the cheerleader, and partying. He spends a lot of time alone and starts to be drawn to Cora, a goth girl and the principal’s rebellious daughter, who has no time for him.
When a sudden illness puts him in the hospital, he meets the eight-year-old boy who will change his life. Jaime is Duke’s hospital roommate and they pass the time with stories of themselves as superheroes. Duke, suddenly confronted with the tenuous nature of life, seeks a way he can help the terminally ill boy, whose sister, he discovers, is the unattainable Cora.
Having rekindled his love for writing, Duke and Jaime together pen a book of adventures of their superhero alter egos, Ghostboy (Jaime), Chameleon (Cora), and the Duke of Graffiti. The writing turns into much more and the unlikely duo, and often the begrudging Cora, help little Jamie get through the items on his young bucket list as his time seems to be running out.
At the outset of GHOSTBOY, Duke Meyer starts with almost no redeeming qualities. He lies, he vandalizes, and his priorities are stereotypical of an over-privileged teen who gets whatever he wants. It is not until he has to work alone and he meets Jaime that he starts to grow into a really likable character. He has strong family ties and by the time he meets the endearing Jaime, he is much more of an open book, where he used to be sneaky and secretive. All of the characters end up being mostly likable and the story moves fast enough to be engaging, but not so fast as to eclipse the rich character development.
GHOSTBOY, CHAMELEON & THE DUKE OF GRAFFITI stands out as a serious and emotional lesson about the price of getting deeper and knowingly letting in an unexpected friendship that has no chance of lasting but will never be forgotten.
~IndieReader.