Title: Graceland Jailhouse & Rock!
Author: Karissa Love Hope
Publisher: Xlibris US
ISBN: 166985759X
Pages: 118
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Dan MacIntosh
Pacific Book Review
Some ideas for stories are very intriguing. Such is the case with Karissa Love Hope’s Graceland Jailhouse & Rock! book. Just the mental picture of two teenage Elvis Presley fanatics getting locked in overnight in Graceland (Elvis’s home in Memphis) is imaginative. Heck, a story about a pair of teenage dudes getting locked into just about any house that’s not their own, is one simply ripe for adventure and mischief. Author Karissa Love Hope had a fantastic, original idea for this work.
We learn in the book’s introduction how Hope is, herself, a bit of an Elvis fanatic. Thus, she is not only familiar with The King’s music, but she also knows much bout the personality cult that’s grown up around Elvis since his untimely death in the ‘70s. Hope gives us plenty of informational tidbits about Graceland’s history and Elvis’s and his family’s life there. The scenes where these two stepbrothers are exploring various rooms within Graceland are rich with details about the items situated there, as well as the purposes for these various rooms. It is almost as though Hope is a docent, taking the reader on an imaginary tour of the rock star’s mansion.
The primary characters in our story are Chad and Vince. They become brothers after the Presley fan parent of Vince (Carolyn) married Chad’s dad, Clint, who is also a Presley fan. These parents dressed their sons like Elvis for Halloween, and they first met at a Halloween party thrown by Clint. As fate would have it, the boys became fast friends – and later brothers – as the two parents fall in love. All seemingly under the watchful eye of the benevolent rock & roll deity, Elvis.
These boys save all their money for an ultimate trip to Graceland to celebrate the iconic rock star in Memphis at Graceland. Although we assume that Carolyn and Clint live happily ever after, once the two teenage boys board that plane to Tennessee, we never hear from these adults again. They simply disappear from the story completely. Granted, these two are not the primary focus of the plot, but the reader is left hanging a little, just wondering whatever happened to them.
After the guys get accidentally left behind by the tour guide and left in the house overnight, they encounter a ghost of Elvis. The story then takes on a bit of a supernatural tone. This Elvis ghost is friendly, a little like the old Casper cartoon. He arrives, not to scare the young ones out of his former living abode, but more as a sort of jovial tour guide. He gives them his personal tour, serves them alcohol without any reservations, and acts as their buddy more than anything else. Although it could have easily become one, this story is not a ghost story. Instead, it’s a story with a ghost in it.
These two innocent trespassers also run into the real Lisa Mari Presley, Elvis’s daughter, who is worried and concerned, at first, before becoming a friend to the guys – this time, the flesh and blood kind of pal. Before their Graceland adventures come to an end, this teen duo takes part in a candlelight vigil for Elvis on the grounds of Graceland.
Karissa Love Hope has said this book is the first in a series. She may just transform her imaginative ideas into some fine books.
