My initial impressions of Jackaby were that it's gonna be too supernatural and unrealistic and isn't gonna be appropriate for someone my age. But— I was completely wrong. Jackaby is the perfect mystery for young adults who enjoy some supernatural factors but still want appropriate realistic factors in a novel.

Jackaby is the first book of a 4 book series. In Jackaby, book one, Abigail Rook our narrator is a young adult who starts handling life on her own. Abigail comes to New Fiddleham, New England. Desperate to find a job and get a roof over her head, she gets a job as an investigative assistant to Jackaby, a detective who investigates all things  supernatural. Jackaby and Rook soon encounter their first case together when there's a supernatural serial killer on the loose in New Fiddleham. Jackaby and Rook meet some new allies and work together to find the murderer and save New Fiddleham before they put some of the people they care about at risk. 

The Chicago Tribune explained Jackaby as “Sherlock Holmes crossed with Buffy the vampire slayer.” I couldn't agree more. Jackaby contains a classic mystery while the  supernatural aspects  give the book a more exciting touch. 

But an appropriate book for young adults has enough realistic portions, and  Jackaby does exactly that. Especially with the character and narrator Abigail Rook. Rook is a young adult who is trying to figure out what she wants to do with life; she's opinionated and smart. While she can be more outgoing and smart, Abigail is also very polite and reserved, especially when she meets new people. These are qualities that we often see among young people today, which is relatable. Jackaby’s plot was easy to follow and clear and concise. There was never a time that I felt I needed to go back and reread.

Although the overall plot is one of the most important pieces of a book, the one thing that I think might be even more important is the characters. Jackaby’s character selection matches the energy of the plot and is diverse. One thing that I noticed within the book is that every character has a foil character, which enhances their own characterization through contrast . A really good example of this would be Jackaby and Marlow. Jackaby believes in all things supernatural and his job as a whole is based on supernatural things, he’s funny and loves to make jokes, and is very empathetic. But  Detective Marlow, hinks anything supernatural is a hoax. The sense of conflict that we get between Detective Marlow and Jackaby really adds to the carefree and goofy side of Jackaby and This side of Jackaby being what makes him such a likeable character.

I would recommend the book Jackaby to any young reader who loves a mystery book that has a sense of supernatural added to it. Jackaby has a wide variety of characters that make the book more enjoyable and allows the reader to decide which character they relate to the most. The plot of  Jackaby is easy to follow and well thought out. Jackaby is a great book for any adult who has enjoys mystery and books that have a touch of supernatural, or an egaging book.