The Curse of the Boggin by D.J. MacHale

Somehow this week I got hold of two books about magical libraries.  This first one is about Marcus, who was orphaned at a young age, and is being raised by step-parents.  One day he starts having random supernatural experiences.  As he tries to figure out what is going on he finds out that his birth parents left him a large brass key that opens the door to a magical library.  In the library are histories of supernatural experiences, some of which are still being written.  He finds out that his parent's story is one of these and, with the help of friends, tries to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion by battling with the powerful and wicked Boggin.

This is a pretty intense and creepy fantasy.  Of course, we wouldn't have expected anything else from the author of the Pendragon series. Marcus and his friends are interesting enough as characters, but the strength of the book is in its fast paced, running-away-in-terror, action scenes.  Give this to the reader who likes Lockwood and Co and the Gordon Korman action fantasies.  (242p.)