Ghoul by Brian Keene Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ghoul
Book Review: TIME TRAP
Summary: 2 Stars
GHOUL reads like a first draft of a Steven Speilberg horror movie, or the bottom shelf for Stephen King (which he's been scraping for awhile now).
It's ET gone undead and stalking and terrorizing a town, with only a pack of kids right out of EXPLORERS that stand in its way. It's set in 1984 and Keene sets his traps and hangs his hooks on virtually EVERY 80's reference he can lay his hands on (some which, even the author admits, don't belong in 1984). There's nothing 1980's he won't throw in to remind you over and over again that this is the 80's (even with the bog standard horror movie opening of teens getting it on in the graveyard - which leads to our first GHOUL attack). It's a bit excessive and manages to distract from the story from time to time because it never seemed written in, but more placed in. The Hero Kids all fit within the standard molds we all know (and some still love) and right from their introductions we can already see that, while the GHOUL is real, it's also a metaphor for the often violent and abusive lives kids lead in the shadows.
There's some striking moments, and Keene knows how to write (although most of GHOUL reads more like it was unearthed than actually written) - but this book just rides too much on the coattails of too many other books of the period. The GHOUL is not the only undead thing stalking the pages here - bits of IT, strips of STAND BY ME, you name it, you've already read it, and you'll find reading it again pointless.
Keene always seems on the edge of doing something original (THE CONQUEROR WORMS had a BRILLIANT idea, which was killed by flashbacks and first person narration and a poor choice of characters and location), something new - but he slides, slips back and falls into the comfy crack of the familiar time and time again (even the preview chapter for his next book DEAD SEA makes the same fatal mistakes - first person narration, flashbacks and oh yeah, zombies... more... zombies).
Overall GHOUL plays by all the rules, never breaks them, and never takes the chance on anything new. If the copyright didn't read 2007 on the inside, you'd swear you'd read this already - and, you already have.
Book Review: The Best Years of Your Life? No
Summary: 5 Stars
That is the bottom line of this poignant coming of age tale. The kids' voices and outlooks are spot on, as is the 80s atmosphere (though perhaps we are reminded of the latter a bit too frequently). Mr Keene is a very well-read, perceptive thinker and analyst of human nature. Perhaps most interesting is that the evil humans are treated more succinctly and dismissively than the Ghoul himself, who is fairly sympathetically portrayed. Not all the peripheral characters are integrated perfectly, and I myself found the nihilistic epilogue gratuitous and unnecessary, but the latter is surely a judgment call, and I'm sure many will find it a necessary and haunting outcome to this tale.Book Review: Touched by a Ghoul
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been waiting a long time to find a writer who could write like Stephen King. Lots of book publishers have claimed that this or that author was the next Stephen King but none of them ever lived up to the hype until Brian Keene. In some ways I think Keene is actually better (blasphemy, I know). Keene tells a story with just as much emotion and feeling but without the excessive amount of detail that King overwhelms readers with. GHOUL is my favorite of his works, doing a great job of conjuring up the 80's, and providing a real sense of nostalgia. The characters are well drawn and the ending packs an emotional punch that few horror novelists ever achieve. It is a truly great book. Watch out Stephen King!Book Review: Worth the read but not likely to be your favorite book of all time...
Summary: 3 Stars
To his credit Keene has moved away from the zombie stories that have made him well known. "Ghoul" is an original tale and I can honestly say that I haven't read another story like it. In some ways it reminds one of "It" with the boys losing their innocence to a monster, but this story is far more preverse. Sadly, Keene still has been unable to develop the ability to give his characters their own unique voices. The voice of Timmy os far too mature for a 12 year old. He makes connections and draws conclusions that most adults would fail to make and views the world from the alternating perspective of a 12 year old and a 40 year old. The same problem plagued Keene (no pun intended) in "Dead Sea" where his gay African-American protagonist, was no different than the protagonist of "City of the Dead" and "The Rising". That being said, Keene still manages to spin a pretty good yarn and for $8 I can't complainBook Review: Yeah, It's Really Good, But Did You Expect Anything Less From Keene!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
It seems Brian Keene just keeps getting better and better the more he writes. The first books of his I read were The Rising and City Of The Dead and I was not totally impressed with them, mainly due to all the hype that was surrounding them. I was expecting them to be instant classics. Both were still fairly good, though. Then I read his short story collection Fear Of Gravity and his novel Earthworm Gods and both were amazing. Ghoul is along those same lines. I feel like it is his best novel, yet. Let me rephrase that, his best book period. Yeah, it's that good. When I first heard about it I was so excited about reading it I couldn't stand it. Thankfully my friend, who is a book dealer and gets advanced reader copies from time to time, gave me an ARC of Ghoul. Good thing too, because these arc's where going for some serious dough on ebay a few months ago and the scary thing is if I wouldn't have had this copy my friend gave me I probably would've been crazy enough to pay serious dough to get a copy. Probably my most highly anticipated book in the last year......and I definitely wasn't disappointed. If you like coming of age stories and monsters of the creature variety and not the human variety, then you are going to totally dig this novel. The basic plot of the story takes place in the mid 1980's and youngster Timmy and his buddies are looking forward to a long summer vacation, but after finding graves that have been dug up in the cemetery they get something much worse than a long summer vacation, something that isn't human....something that wants there flesh. A creature that is older than time. That's the gist of it without giving too much away. Great plot, great characterization and a very fast and fun read. Those are the things that make a great novel. Makes me glad I preordered the limited edition version of this wonderful novel. Do yourself a favor and get this book, now. I guarantee you won't regret it. Most novels don't truly frighten me, as some let on in their praise, but this certainly kept me on the edge of the recliner gripping the book tightly. Full of horror and suspense. Anytime you're dealing with kids and monsters in a novel its super scary and super creepy and you're always wondering who, if any of them are going to survive the novel. No punches were pulled in this novel, either. Hint:don't get to attached to any of the characters in this one folks, because Keene will piss you off with what he does with some these characters. No doubt though, this guy Keene certainly knows how to write'em and as the old song goes, they don't write'em like that any more(old 80's Greg Kihn song, who happens to be a horror novelist himself). Expect big things from him(Keene, not Kihn). Actually he's already doing big things. I just hope he doesn't become a sell out like King did and his novels start turning into turds. King got to big for his breeches. Seriously, what was the last really great novel King had? Bag Of Bones? As far as I'm concerned there are 3 horror novelists who rule the roost today and one of them is no longer with us. Richard Laymon(R.I.P. pal), Edward Lee(you're awesome) and this guy, Brian Keene(keep on rockin'). Don't let a thing he writes pass you by. As soon as you see it's available for preorder, whether it's limited ed. or a pb, sign up for it, because you never know when you might have a hard time getting a copy, plus there's a good chance anything he writes is going to be just like this novel, SUPERB. Ghoul may very well become a modern classic. To me its that GOOD! Don't listen to what other reviewers say, they're just Keene haters. Go get your copy now, you won't regret it!!! 5.5 STARS ALL THE WAY!!!