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Brad Strickland
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The Stone, the Cipher, and the Shadows: John Bellairs's Johnny Dixon in a Mystery Kindle Edition

by Brad Strickland (Author), John Bellairs (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 33 ratings
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A flu epidemic ushers in a plague of dark magic in this spooktastic mystery featuring teenage sleuth Johnny Dixon from The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost.
 
Though forty miles away, Duston Heights is not safe from the flu that’s raging through Boston. When Johnny Dixon’s grandmother falls ill, he’s sent to live with his neighbor to avoid infection. So many locals are getting sick that school is canceled for a week, and the reclusive Dr. Abram Ashburn comes out of retirement to make house calls.
 
After seeing a scary vision of his bedridden grandmother outside of a window, Johnny starts to feel on edge. Then he and his best friend find what looks to be a weird map of a cemetery in Dr. Ashburn’s house. One specific grave is marked with an “X,” the burial place of a woman who practiced witchcraft in the seventeenth century.
 
The townspeople recover from the flu, but they can’t escape the terrifying illusions and shadow people that now haunt them, unless Johnny and his friends find the key to unlock the secrets of the graveyard before a dreadful prophecy comes to pass . . .
 
Praise for The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost
 
“Fans of the series will enjoy this new supernatural adventure, which reads so much like Bellairs’s books that they won’t believe he didn’t write it.” —School Library Journal
 
“Strickland’s story is eerie, suspenseful, and true to the personalities and writing style of Bellairs, who began the Johnny Dixon series . . . This is good reading for adventure enthusiasts as well as for series fans.” —Booklist
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  1. Reading age
    12 - 18 years
  2. Print length
    167 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 12
  5. Publisher
    Open Road Media Teen & Tween
  6. Publication date
    October 4, 2022
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  11. ISBN-13
    978-1504081634
  12. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BF9FLZ27
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Teen & Tween (October 4, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2134 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 167 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

About the author

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Brad Strickland

Brad Strickland

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I was born on October 27, 1947, in New Holland, a mill village about 50 miles north of Atlanta. In 1964, I had the good fortune to become a student in the Georgia Governor's Honors Program, where my love of reading and writing grew deeper.

My very first professional story, "The Third Grave," was bought by ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE and appeared in that publication in 1966. Then it was over thirty years before I published again.

But eventually I did begin to write for publication. Alone and in collaboration with my wife Barbara, my late friend Thomas E. Fuller, and fantasy artist and writer Joe DeVito, I have now written some 75 published books. I'm also a professor of English at the University of North Georgia in Gainesville, GA--about six miles from where I was born.

It's probably no great secret that I am also Ken McKea, writer of the Jim Dallas series of Florida thrillers. McKea is kind of an alter ego who lets me write stories a little different from a standard Strickland tale.

Barbara and I have two wonderful grown children, Jonathan (married to Rebecca), who is the Jonathan Strickland of FW: THINKING, a weekly Webcast. He is also Senior Writer for howstuffworks.com. Our daughter Amy (married to Tim Sweeney) is the Head Puppeteer for the Puppetry Arts Center in Atlanta.

The nest isn't empty. Barbara and I also have three cats and two dogs, and that's enough to keep us busy.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
33 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

B. Burke
5.0 out of 5 stars So happy to have a new Johnny Dixon book!
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book was excellent! Brad has big shoes to fill, as he was originally hired to finish Bellairs' unfinished manuscripts and create from his story ideas after his passing in the 1990s. While there is a difference in their styles that longtime fans will notice, Brad still manages to write compelling fiction in the same tradition, that still feels "Bellairsian". I am beyond thrilled to see a new story with Johnny, Fergie, and Professor Childermass, and I feel like the flu pandemic backdrop attempted to show the importance of public health measures, especially in the wake of COVID-19. The story itself is compelling, building up the sense of mystery and bringing the details together with an unexpected twist in the end. Definitely a worthy read!
3 people found this helpful
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Dabobeans
5.0 out of 5 stars What an Unexpected Treat
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
I have been a fan of John Bellaires books for years. Brad Strickland completed a number of John Bellaires books after his death. I don't know if "The Stone, Cipher and the Shadows" was another uncompleted book, or a new one completely from Mr. Strictland. The book is great and continues the"Johnny Dixon" series. I did not know that this book was scheduled for release and what a treat it is. I hope there are more to come.
8 people found this helpful
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Joseph K. Burkholder II
5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back Johnny Dixon!
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
In a long awaited return, Johnny Dixon and the Professor must attempt to stop a ghostly enemy from taking advantage of a flu epidemic to gain power. This book shows that Brad Strickland still has his Bellairs skills intact, and even throws a nice analogy to the COVID pandemic in order to appeal to young readers. Johnny's pals Fergie and Sarah make this a true return to Duston Heights, the first in 23 years! Well done!
5 people found this helpful
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nieciedo
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Fan Fiction
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2022
Verified Purchase
I grew up with the books of John Bellairs and the worlds he created and the tales he told within them have been integral parts of the landscape of my imagination. Strickland did us a tremendous service in finishing the incomplete works Bellairs left behind - The Ghost in the Mirror is one of my favorites. The stories that he has written on his own, however, can’t measure up to the originals. Strickland is his own person with his own voice and skills but the stories he writes in Bellairs’ world and using his characters do not feel right.

This installment feels as flat and two-dimensional as others he has written. The characters feel like caricatures of Bellairs’ creation without depth or even purpose of existence. The plot is opaque and resolved by a tidy deus ex machina that is unbelievable and only explicable after the fact. The Bellairs books have never really been “mysteries” and this is even less so. A series of events happens to characters and then the story ends.

The real problem in this installment is setting it in the midst of a fictional flu epidemic that has effectively zero influence on the plot and instead reminds us of the miseries of the 2020-21 era that most of us would like to forget.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MF Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars Feels like vintage Bellairs
Reviewed in Canada on March 2, 2024
Verified Purchase
There's nothing nicer than reading a new book by a favourite author, and it's usually never the same, even if a series continues when such authors pass away. But Brad Strickland might as well be channelling John Bellairs, the way he keeps the characters so true to the Bellairs originals. This book has the same building sense of menace, the same beloved character quirks, and the same satisfying and exciting climaxes. I've never seen a writer continue a series so faithfully and with such spot-on nuances that make his books feel like the real deal. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Magical, sinister, funny, and just perfect.
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Anna-Liisa Mottonen
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in Canada on February 27, 2024
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It arrived quickly in good condition.
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