The Saint's Bones
The Gang: Book One
By Mark Edwards

     Saint Adalbert's High School is celebrating its bicentennial year, and what a year! Sister Providence and the rest of the staff of Saint Adalbert's have been hiding a huge secret for many years, and they never thought they'd ever have another run-in with the skeletons in their closets, but while giving her speech to the students—new and old—at orientation, Sister Providence hears a voice she never thought she'd hear again. She and the others soon begin to see signs that there is something going on, and the "enlightened" members of the school's staff begin to discover just how deep the "rabbit hole" is about to get. With the constant incidences, the hideous rotting undead thieves breaking into the school, and a group of students who are beginnng to show talents that are not—shall we say—normal, Providence and the others realize what is happening and begin to search for the kids who will become the next group to save the school, as well as the world, from an evil that only they can defeat: the kids who will come to inherit the name "The Gang."

      Noah Apple is a 12-year-old who has somehow managed to skip two grades and become a freshman at Saint Adalbert's. He doesn't know why he's been able to do so well. He doesn't even understand the answers he comes up with. He just knows that he knows. He hears and knows things that no one else can. He has no idea, though, that what began as what was going to be the worst year ever is now turning into an experience that will change his life, as well as the lives of his new friends—Jerry, Eddie, and Leonard—forever.

      Jerry Flanaghan comes from a proud Irish family that is also infamous for the antics of its teenage boys. Now that he's a freshman at Saint Adalbert's, he plans on making the most of this infamy. He has no idea that his loud-mouthed, boistorous Irish loyalty will end up allowing him to find the courage he needs to help out his friends and the ability to train himself to use his newly discovered power to stop evil from destroying everything he knows and cares about.

      Leonard Reasoner is an observer. Constantly making notes about curious happenings around the school and doing extra-curricular studying about the history of his unique school, Leonard begins to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and comes up with something that reaches beyond even his imagination. He never thought that his deductions could be logical until Sister Methelene (known better as Sister Methuselah, because she's the oldest teacher at the school and probably the entire country) lets him in on a secret so huge, so dynamically life-altering, that there's no way on God's green earth he and his friends are going to miss out on it!

       This is an incredible read! Harry Potter, watch out! The dialogue is hilarious, the plot is riveting, and the characters are so unique that there's no way you'll be able to walk away from this one without struggling to choose a favorite. I had so much trouble trying to figure out whether I liked one or the other the most that I finally had to agree to disagree with myself. Trust me, the undead armies, special powers, secretive nuns, and a school that houses one of the most powerful histories in the world will have you glued to the book with both eyes. The Saint's Bones will have you so entranced that you'll be screaming "No!" when you realize you've just finished it! It's adorably twisted and action-packed. Bravo, Edwards!