This is maybe a 3.5 I did really think I'd be higher but I didn't really like the direction that the story led to. I'm pretty sure this has been said before but I thought I'd be a scary book about ghosts perhaps and they'd turn evil and eat Jacobs face off (well something like that at least), but it wasn't at all like that. 
 But damn those pictures were the creepiest thing. At the end of the book it says that the pictures were actually real you know, some were a little tweaked but they were picture that actually belonged to collectors. Now I don't know about you but that makes the prospect a lot creepier knowing that they were actually taken and not just made form computer magic or whatever you want to call it. (The pictures definitely boosted the rating up a ton) 
 The book itself though wasn't anything special... Maybe it's because I was expecting more but AHHHHHH! OK I JUST REALLY WANTED THE KIDS TO TRY AND KILL JACOB (obviously they wouldn't though because there's a second book and I think a third one too?) BUT AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE ABOUT CRAZY GHOST KIDS THAT TRY TO KILL THE MAIN CHARACTER! 
 The plot 
 Maybe I should explain what this is about Jacob (the Main character), as a kid has always been told stories by his grandfather about his experiences on his time during World War II. These stories always sparked Jacobs interest as a kid but as he got older he began to realize they could not possibly be true 
 "The tallest tales were always about his childhood, like how he was born in Poland but at twelve had been shipped to a children's home in Wales. When I would ask why he had to leave his parents, his answer was always the same: because the monsters were after him. Poland was simply rotten with them, he said" 
 Jacobs grandad would go into great detail as to what the children were like at the children's home and even show him pictures: 
 "I held the snapshot closer. The girls feet weren't touching the ground. But she wasn't jumping--she seemed to be floating in the air. My jaw fell open. 
 "She's flying!" 
 "Close" my grandfather said "she's levitating. Only she couldn't control herself to well, so sometimes we had to tie a rope around her to keep her from flying away!" 
 One day Jacob get a call form his grandfather, who's old and not as "sharp" as he used to be. The call is strange, so Jacob goes to his house make sure he's ok. When Jacob arrives at the house it's a disaster and his granddads no where in sight. Eventually though he finds him in the forest behind his house covered in blood on his last strand of life. And as he dies he makes a request of Jacob: 
 " "go to the island," he repeated. "You'll be safe there. Promise me" 
 "I will. I promise" what else could I say? 
 "I thought I could protect you," he said "I should've told you a long time ago..." I could see the life going out of him. 
 "Told me what? I said, chocking back tears. 
 "There's no time," he whispered. Then he raised his head off the ground, trembling with effort, and breathed into my ear: "find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of old mans grave. September third, 1940" I nodded, but he could see that I didn't understand. With his last bit of stength, he added, "Emerson--the letter. Tell them what happened, Yakob." 
 Grandfather now dead, and Jacob overcome with grief. But as he stands over his now dead grandfather he sees a figure in the forest, the monsters that his granddad had described before. 
 And of course because this is a book that needs an actual story Jacob goes to the island in Wales to find the children's home, in hopes of discovering what his grandfather was trying to communicate that night and to see if maybe they'll have answers to what he saw in the forest (or if he's just plain crazy). 
 last thoughts 
 Overall it was a very interesting read, and even though I didn't like the direction that it took it was still exciting. The best thing about it was definitely the pictures. If it sounds interesting read it (but if your looking for a scary or creepy ghost story with serial killing children this isn't that book). Hehe I'll be reading the next book sometime in the near future and watching the movie (like the day it comes out) I have a feeling I'm going to like the movie a lot more than the book (BECAUSE TIM BURTONS DIRECTING IT). But first book not too bad it's somewhere between goodish and okayish (if that makes any sense at all), I'm going to see where this series leads and hopefully I like it! :)