Ghoul by Brian Keene Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ghoul
Book Review: Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this book because of the great attention to detail Brian Keene took in crafting the characters and allowing us to feel sorry for the ghoul. Wonderful job! I recommend this book to anyone who likes old horror movies or is a fan of the 1980s.Book Review: Ancient Evil Unleashed
Summary: 4 Stars
Three boys on the edge between being boys and being young men experience a fateful summer in the 1980's. The three have been inseparable for years. They have an underground, secret clubhouse that they build full of comic books and girly magazines. One is the son of an abusive graveyard caretaker. One has a father who ran away but he always hopes he will return. The third (our narrator) is from a more stable home. But as the Summer begins bad things begin to happen. People disappear. People Die. Graves and tombstones begin to sink into the ground. The caretaker seems to suddenly have a lot more money than usual. Our narrator is puzzled and tries to figure out what is going on.
An ancient monster often called a ghoul had been trapped in the cemetery until a stone seal was accidentally broken. The ghoul wants two things. It wants to eat and it wants to reproduce. It has enlisted the caretaker to help it in its goals and rewards him with spoils taken from the graves it ransacks. Thanks to comic books, one of our heroes manages to guess at what is going on and plots are hatched to put a stop to things. But then the ghoul steps up its plans and things move at a breakneck pace until the final scene. A few final points are made in a contemporary epilogue where the boys are now adults.
It is interesting to see a Brian Keene book where he is not ending the world. His rehashing of ghoul legends and tying them into a larger mythology was very interesting. I wonder if we will see more books concerning this back story (CONQUEROR WORMS seems to already fit). Although Keene does not end the world in this book it is not a happy story. This is a horror novel complete with monster and an end of innocence. The whole thing felt a lot like something Stephen King would put together. At the end of the book is an excerpt from Keene's next book that has zombie rats crawling out of a New York sewer and starting a new zombie plague (I can't wait!). I found the whole book fresh and disturbing. Check it out.
Book Review: Another "12 year olds vs Monster" book
Summary: 4 Stars
It would seem that at some point, every writer of horror novels has to write their "coming of age" tale that involves 12 year olds doing battle with a big nasty critter. This is Keene's version of said tale.
Three 12 year old boys (Tim, Barry, and Doug) are on summer vacation when a nasty ghoul is awoken beneath the town's cemetery. Rather than this being set in the standard 1950's-1960's this coming of age tale takes place in the early 80's. If I recall correctly it is 1984. The kids listen to the music of the time and have the "flock of seagulls" haircuts. They obsess over comic books and riding their bikes all over town. They have constructed a nifty fort bordering the cemetery where Barry's dad is the caretaker.
Though the monster here is gross and horrible, this book focuses more on the monsters in real life... abusive parents, terrifying adults, alcoholism, and all of the things that you figure out as a young child just might be scarier than the boogey-man. There really isn't anything new in this tale, and I wouldn't say that there is anything shocking unless you are just starting to venture into the Horror Genera and haven't already read the other "Coming of Age" tales that are out there. Still this is a fairly good read, it's a fast read as are most of Keene's novels. If it weren't for the violence, sex and themes then I would almost say that his writing in this book is more along the lines of young adult or teen novels. Still it's an enjoyable ride, I read it in about 3 hours and though it wasn't as fulfilling as some of his other works, I didn't regret reading it.
Book Review: Another Ghoulish Read...
Summary: 3 Stars
Brian Keene's latest novel is good, but far from his best.
If you are new to this writer, you want to read his very best first, and in this order: 1# The Rising 2# City of the Dead 3# Conquerer Worms.
But GHOUL is still a pretty solid horror tale. Brian Keene does a stand-up job at taking the reader back to the 80's. Something that is not easy to do well. Robert McCammon did it with A Boy's Life. Another classic in the horror fiction genre.
If you like a fast-paced horror read, then GHOUL and Keene's other novels are well worth the time to read.
Book Review: Another Great Brian Keene Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
I have read Brian Keene's "The Rising", "City of The Dead", and "Terminal" and they are three of my favorite books in my personal collection. "Ghoul" is a great read but I think it falls short of the quality of the books mentioned above. I found the three young boy characters to be very believable and likeable and the villians nasty enough to root against. The plot was strong overall but I felt at times Keene tried too hard with his 1980's pop culture references to bring his readers into the world of June 1984. He used them to the point of being a bit distracting. I also noted a couple of instances where he was a bit repetitive describing some of the people and places in the novel. I got deja vu reading these passages the second time and felt they were unnecessary. The ghoul himself was a nasty piece of work and a lot of fun to read about. He was a great villian. I also liked Keene's realistic ending and themes concerning the changes we go through as we pass from children into adulthood. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and highly reccomend it. I just felt it is not quite as good as the other three novels that I have read by Brian Keene. I certainly look forward to reading more books by him.