A few months ago Brian Keene and I were exchanging e-mails like we normally do once in a while. We were discussing my review of Take the Long Way Home, a book that Brian was nice enough to sent me. In one e-mail in particular Brain said to me; “Wait until you read Ghoul, I think it’s my best work to date”. Well normally and for good reason I’m always comparing Brian to a fine wine, He gets better with age. And Brian was right, this is his best book to date. To me it’s the best novel he has ever published. And there are many reasons as to why I think that is.
If I have to compare the story of Ghoul to any other books/stories I’ve had the pleasure of reading; well lets just say my famous Keene is the next Stephen King quote would stand true. Ghoul is like “It” meets “The Body” (Stand By Me for you people who only watch movies and don’t read).
Ghoul is about three good friends; Timmy, Doug and Barry. Timmy is our main character in this book, and the story kind revolves around him as the leader of this mini posse of twelve year olds. The boys are your normal average twelve year old kids. They love their comic books, star wars figures, and most of all love to explore the neighborhood. Most of all they have their turf, which happens to be a cemetery. In the cemetery the boys have built the best underground fort ever, which they simply call “The Dugout”. The year is 1984, the summer of 1984 to be exact, and the boys are just beginning their summer vacation. Like every group of twelve year olds, they have their bullies, their fears and that feeling of discovering their sexuality and girls. But besides the great adventures and friendship these boys have with ones another, they each have problems of their own to deal with at home. Timmy has the least of the problems, as his parents are good normal parents whom are just trying to raise their son the right way. Doug has no father but lives with his drunk of a mother whom, well; I won’t give it away but her care for her son is somewhat limited. And then their’s Barry, who’s father is an abusive drunk. It’s with Barry’s Father that the Ghoul really comes into play, as his father is the care taker at the cemetery. The Ghoul lives in the ground and feeds on the dead bodies of the once living, it’s not made clear right away of how and why the ghoul is there, and I’ won’t give it away here in this review. Because I want you the reader to go buy it. But lets just say that everything in the plot comes together, The boys, the ghoul and the real monsters in the book; the adults.
Adults are the real monsters. That what Brian Keene wrote on the signed book cover he sent me for when Ghoul came out. He’s known for writing cool quotes on everything he signs. But I always wondered how that quote would relate to a book titled Ghoul. The fact of the matter is that within this book, Brian teaches his readers a few things. A few things that I caught onto as I prepare to become a parent myself. One topic is how when we grow up we tend to forget how great it was to be a kid. When we have kids of our own we tend to want them to behave and be good. We tend to not understand why kids want to go out, play in the woods, dirt or local watering hole. Why kids pretend to be their favorite action star or super hero. As adults we tend to let our work lives and the need to provide by making money take over, and forget about what really matters most; the good things in life. At my age I tell every young teen I see that I would give my left nut just to be their age again. There’s nothing better than being young and having nothing but your imagination to worry about. And Brian Keene made me feel twelve again. This book is not only a book that is full of horror, but full of childhood adventure. As adults we grow into something else, sometimes we’re the loving beings that kids want to look up too, and other times we become monsters, and we do things that scare that innocence out of the children who view the horrors which we expose them too. Within this book Brian Keene show us that. He does not forget to let his adult readers know that we were once twelve years old, and how wonderful and exciting those great times with your friends were.
Besides bringing the reader back to their childhood, Keene also delivers on so many levels in this novel. The character development is out of this world, and one can’t help but get caught up in the trial and errors of each character in the book. The story has it’s light and dark spots to it. You feel light hearted and innocent when your running with the boys and you feel a sense of dread and darkness in the shadows on the Ghoul and some of the adult characters in the book. Keene not only gives you well written characters, he also instills their feeling in you as well. And what about the horror in the book? Well the horror comes in two forms in this book. Some of it feels dark and fictional and gives you that great sense of being scared, while the other form is that of real life horror’s and it makes you think about the lives that some children live with at young age; and how innocence is lost when it should be the only thing that matters when your young.
Ghoul is a book that covers many of life’s greatest issues, ones that are pressed on the life of going from childhood into adulthood. How as we get older we tend to forget the better things in life. However, Keene does one thing with this books conclusion that actually bought tears to my eyes. In the end we all realize the purpose of what’s important in life, some would say love, but family is actually the answer. Though the good and bad times the characters in this book have, it’s all boils down to that in the end. That message is what makes this book so special.
Overall, anyone who can’t grab the emotional concept behind this book must be a monster themselves. Keene not only scares us with this book, and he not only brings out the child in us all, but he opens our mind to some of the most horrible and important things that life has to offer. And in the end all that should really matter is the love you have for your family that counts, and that in order to protect that love you’ll do anything for them. But at the same time their is always that monster that’s waiting for you, whether it’s inside your soul or out there waiting to get you, that the you will always have those scars in life that last forever.
Now go buy this book, it’s Keene’s best work to date, and I stand by that statement.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
