Welcome to the fourth of my ‘Reading the Rainbow’ posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2023 book advent – each cover representing a different colour – and review them for you!
April is WHITE and the book is Ghoster by Jason Arnopp.
Read on to find out more…
Blurb: Kate Collins has been ghosted.
She was supposed to be moving in with her new boyfriend Scott, but all she finds after relocating to Brighton is an empty flat. Scott has vanished. His possessions have all disappeared.
Except for his mobile phone.
Kate knows she shouldn’t hack into Scott’s phone. She shouldn’t look at his Tinder, his texts, his social media. But she can’t quite help herself.
That’s when the trouble starts. Strange, whispering phone calls from numbers she doesn’t recognise. Scratch marks on the door that she can’t explain.
And the growing feeling that she’s being watched . . .
Review: I really did fall into the trap of believing this was a standard psychological thriller: the suspicious romance; characters disappearing mysteriously; ominous threatening phone calls and texts… all the signs were there!
Even when the spooky stuff started creeping in, it felt easier to doubt main character Kate’s sanity, especially given her self-confessed addiction and insecurity issues. So when it blossomed into out-and-out paranormal horror towards the end of the story I was pretty startled. Like Kate, I had simply ignored the warning signs that were there all along.
And speaking of Kate, I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly keen on any of the characters we meet in Ghoster but Kate especially was a complete idiot. I can’t say I was very invested in her survival, given she seems to have the instincts of a lemming on crack! Normally this detachment from the characters would hinder my enjoyment of a book, at least a little, but it didn’t really matter here because – exactly like Kate – I was already on the curiosity hook and needed to know what was going on regardless.
There is an obvious theme about the dangers of modern addictions – screentime, social media, porn – which is not the least bit hidden or underplayed, but the ending of the story suggests that there is a heavy dose of satire or parody at work, and that subtlety was never part of the plan.
And the book does exactly what I assume it was intended to do: it kept me reading, desperate for the satisfaction of an explanation, and it kept me thinking about it after I had finished reading (the door gouges, the blue lights, the ‘candle’ and more)… quite a long time after I had finished reading, actually. I was entertained, creeped out and thought-provoked, and you could say Ghoster haunted me.
I’m very glad, under the circumstances, that I didn’t choose to read it on my mobile phone!
Thirty-five days before he disappears off the face of the Earth, Scott Palmer stops licking his ice cream cone and lays that look on me.
– Jason Arnopp, Ghoster
That hungry wolf look. The one that leaves me way too keen to be devoured.
The glass sheet of the sea reflects a high mid-afternoon sun as Scott says, “Well, why don’t you live here, then? I’m serious, baby. Why don’t you move down here and live with me?”
He broaches this idea so casually that it feels neither huge nor stupid, despite being both of those things.
Purchase link: Ghoster on Amazon
About the author:
Jason Arnopp is the author of the terrifying novel Ghoster, which Barnes & Noble’s SFF blog said, “just might qualify as the first true horror novel of the 21st Century.”
Arnopp’s previous novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks (2016) has been described by Watchmen creator Alan Moore as “a magnificent millennial nightmare”.
Arnopp co-wrote the official behind-the-scenes book Inside Black Mirror with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, and has written Doctor Who fiction for the BBC.
In the author’s past life as a rock journalist, he interviewed the likes of Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns N’ Roses. Arnopp’s non-fiction book From The Front Lines Of Rock gathers 30 of his favourite interviews he wrote during this era, with the likes of Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Korn, Kiss, Faith No More, Garbage, Nine Inch Nails and Green Day. His Slipknot biography, Slipknot: Inside The Sickness, Behind The Masks is now available as a Kindle edition. Arnopp has also written a guide to journalistic interviewing, entitled How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else, which is also on Kindle.
Jason Arnopp’s amazing Patreon supporters form a community of VIPs, for whom the writer makes exclusive monthly vlogs, answers questions, shares insight into his process and generally treats like royalty.
Sign up for his free newsletter for readers, The Necronoppicon, at JasonArnopp.com!
Website: https://www.jasonarnopp.com/
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Bookshine And Readbows 