Lily's parents both work for the electrical company in the slowly decaying town of Crater, New York. They are tired of working long hours trying to keep the power going despite ongoing "phantom drains" that they have decided to move away in order to find better jobs so they can spend more time with their daughter. Lily had a scholarship to Brightwick Academy, but this is in jeopardy after she gets a D in science. Instead of being able to spend her last summer in her beloved hometown hanging out with her friends Alex, Troy, Enid, Lyle, Kyle, and her crush, Jon, Lily has to spend her mornings at the public library, volunteering, in order to keep her place. She is so angry with her parents about the movie that she even sneaks out so she can bike around town with her friends at night. After one of their balls goes into the derelict Blackwood Manor, the kids have to go in to retrieve it and find strange things. The group figures out that the odd apparatus is a ghost catcher, powered by phantasmanite, and proceed to try to catch ghosts, which may be causing the power problems. The kids can "swallow" the ghosts, and see their former life; one of the ghosts, Mrs. Cutler, the owner of the mean dog they pass on the way to school. Lily and her friends know that ghosts often linger when they have unfinished business, and the biggest clue to the matter they have are the Blackwoods themselves. They rely on the library for finding out information about the family. The parents, Hemlock and Belladonna, and their two children, Oleander and his brother (whose name I forget; my e reader has been dying regularly, so I can't look it up right now) were instrumental in building the town, including a lighthouse, aquarium, greenhouse, and impressive clock tower. As Lily and the others make inroads in capturing the ghosts in glass bottles with the phantasmanite, the power seems to come back online. The lighthouse hasn't worked for years, but when they remove the phantasmanite, it once again shines brightly. It takes a while to figure out what has kept the town so immune to change for so many years, but once Lily and her friends figure this out, they are able to improve matters for both Crater and the ghosts, although Lily's family still moves away.
Strengths: Middle school students don't like change any more than most people, so Lily's reaction to having to Crater and go to a fancy new school is completely realistic. There's enough town history to keep things interesting, and I loved that the group went to the library and got help with the microfiche to read old newspaper articles. Even though swallowing the ghosts was a bit odd, it was helpful that the kids could see a glimpse into the ghosts' lives on earth. Parents are kept out of the way, so that the kids can bike all over town and get into the abandoned buildings in order to deal with the ghosts. There are som egood droup dynamics, and some expected drama. There aren't as many mystery or action graphic novels as there are introspective memoirs, so this was a nice change.
Weaknesses: The children's reactions are all a bit overwrought, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. I wish there had been just Alex, Jon, and Lily; this would have allowed there to be more exploration of Lily's crush on Jon, and perhaps a little friend drama with Alex over the move.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Sedita, Seraydarian, and Hamaker's The Pathfinder's Society or TenNapel's Ghostopolis.

Lily will be moving at the end of summer but before she goes, her and her friends work together to figure out why the town is full of ghosts and what they can do to fix it. A fun read that felt a bit like ghostbusters with a younger more diverse cast. I liked the illustration too and read through it pretty quick so enjoyed the pacing.

I did not enjoy this book. It felt choppy and poorly written. No smooth transition from page to page.

This book seems OK. Kids might enjoy it. I shall be DNF thing as I just find it annoying. It feels like every single character is constantly anxious and no one can be calm and we haven’t even really gotten into a lot of the ghosts yet.