I liked the voice in this book. It was very enjoyable in its simplicity, and I expect easily accessible for its target age range. However, that says nothing about the plot, with which I did have some problems. 
 Jacob is a lonely boy. We know this because he tells us he's a loser. And we meet the guy he tells us is his one friend, right before they are no longer friends. This kind of encapsulates a lot of the problems I had with this book. Everything felt somewhat rushed. I didn't feel enough of an establishment of the relationship with the Peculiars to understand Jacob's loyalty to them, especially in regards to Emma. Maybe it would have helped me understand his grasping if we had seen more of his relationship with his grandfather, and what that meant to him. 
 The mythology of the Peculiars themselves felt a little weak to me as well. The way they were described seemed much more circus sideshow to me, something discussed briefly in the book as a way they hid in plain site from ordinary people, if only briefly touched upon. But the mythology established discussed how the Peculiars had been forced into a hiding of sorts centuries before. The idea of these people just wasn't adequately explored enough for me to feel any of the stakes in their journey or survival. Jacob was told a lot more than he experienced, and what he did experience was quick and underdeveloped. 
 Additionally, I'm not really sure what purpose the pictures served. This book was marketed primarily around the existence of these pictures, and yet, they didn't really forward the narrative at all. They were inserted somewhat awkwardly within Jacob's narration, cutting the story off at odd points. Oftentimes, my imagination did as well or better than the picture. I appreciate the concept and the attempt, but I'm not sure where I stand on the execution. I do not know that it did anything for the book. In fact, I felt myself wondering if some of the problems of the story came from trying to tailor Jacob's experience to fit these photographs, like writing a jukebox musical. 
 I did enjoy the setting, I could picture a lonely isle in Wales being a little scary and intimidating. I thought of lots of fog. When the characters first mentioned the house Jacob was looking for I conjured up something like the house in the recent Woman in Black movie. The atmosphere was right, but it didn't all add up. I'd held off on reading this one thinking it was going to be scary. It was not. That's not a value judgment. The book copy just paints a more foreboding picture than the novel ever does. So, if that was a deterrent from reading the book, it should be a non-issue. 
 There is going to be a sequel to this book. So, I don't know that everything needed to feel as rushed and half-baked as it did. There is some real potential here, and I'm not by any means saying I did not enjoy the book. However, I wouldn't have minded getting a little more development and leaving off on more of a cliffhanger. 
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