by 
Jack Finnegan is a normal boy of fifteen, who lives in a trailer home with his mother in a place just referred to as “The Hill”. He is regularly late to school and constantly made fun of by his class mates because of his absent father. But still life is good for Jack. He has his favorite hangouts, some good friends and most importantly his video games not to forget his mother whom he loves above all. To add more spice to his life is Anna Shepherd. Newly transferred , little is known about her except the fact that she is the daughter of the “evil” physical education teacher Mr. Shepherd with his infamous “piercing grey eyes”.
‘She had long blonde hair, so bright that even the crappy fluorescent light in the school seemed to dance off it. Her eyes were a deep blue, so blue they almost didn’t look real. She had fair skin and a slender frame, but there was no doubt about it – she was the most beautiful girl in all of River Heights, and quite possibly the world. (At least in Jack’s opinion).’
Mr. Shepherd with his “piercing grey eyes”, “broad, muscular shoulders”,“light, blonde hair meticulously groomed” is the teacher he has detentions with when he gets late to school (which happens almost everyday) and so his situation with Anna is pretty complicated even if we ignore the fact that Anna seems uninterested in anything or anyone except books which are her constant companions!
All this is suddenly a thing of the past when one day after a certain incident Anna suddenly appears at his house and so changes the story of our hero forever. For the first time in his life he is enjoying an evening with the girl of his dreams and even planning a night of movies with her when suddenly all this is cut short. They are attacked by strange looking men in the diner and before Jack knows it he is neck deep in a fight that looks like it is out of a “star trek” movie.The story is swiftly out of the normal, everyday routine to the fantasy, out worldly realm with deadly armies, spaceships, ancient civilizations, unknown languages. Anna, it seems, is the target of these strange men and as Jack tries to save her he gets to know more about this strange girl leaving him a changed person.
I was kindly provided the e-copy of Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Plane by the author i.e Matthew Kadish to read and give my honest opinion about it and I am so glad I read the book!!
I loved the concept and the writing style of Matthew Kadish. The character sketches are lively and so vivid that they create a picture of the characters in our minds making the people in the book more real, like the description of Professor Green
‘ He was a tall and lanky man, with a shock of uncombed white hair and an equally unkempt beard of matching color…’
or the description of Ms. Deitz ‘with her large, bulky dresses that would have looked better upholstering a couch than being worn by any sane human being, and her black horn-rimmed glasses and perpetually-permed hair’.
I loved Jack with his ‘never back down’ attitude and his sense of humor even in adverse conditions. Anna is initially shown as a non-social girl, more interested in reading books than in befriending people but gradually develops into a more mature person with multiple facets to her personality!
The characters are beautifully developed and act their part, however small, brilliantly in the story.
It is a beautifully written novel but I sometimes felt that it could have been made shorter and more concise without negatively affecting the story line.
All in all a sincere effort by a promising author and a fun read. I give Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet
a 4.1 out of 5 and hope to go on more adventures with Jack in the future.
If you loved Harry Potter then this book is tailor made for you and you should not miss it. 🙂
This book was kindly sent to me by the author, Matthew Kadish and I am very thankful to him. This review of the book is my own and in no way influenced.
