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trin's review against another edition
3.0
Aging rock star Judas Coyne (surprise twist! not his real name), a collector of strange and macabre items, learns about a ghost up for sale on an "eBay knockoff" and decides he has to have it. The ghost is transported to him via the dead man's suit, wrapped in a heart-shaped box, and almost immediately Jude begins to experience buyer's remorse.
The beginning of this book—the first hundred pages or so—was truly frightening to me. A secret: vampires, werewolves, mummies, sea monsters, demons, zombies, killer clowns—these things don't scare me. Ghosts scare me. They don't even have to do anything: there's just something about them, intangible but there, watching, that scares the crap out of me. So this book freaked me out the most—in that wonderful, shivery, brrr kind of way—when the ghost wasn't doing anything, when it was just sitting in Jude's hallway, its hat in its hand, two mad, black scribbles where its eyes should be.
Then the plot happened. See, there's a reason Jude came to find out about this particular auction; Jude's ex-girlfriend's family is blah blah blah...okay: all of this is actually pretty interesting. The action did lag in the middle, when there were just a lot of instances in a row of the ghost trying to convince Jude and Jude's new girlfriend, Georgia, to kill themselves, but it does pick up again, and the whole book is generally captivating. However, as soon as the plot engages, the book stops being scary. At least to me: once its motivations are explained, the ghost became a creepy dude out for revenge, and a lot of the otherworldliness, the inexplicableness, went away, and with it the scary. There were still things I enjoyed: Jude and Georgia are both interesting, flawed characters, and I liked how their relationship developed; I even liked the slightly unrealistic ending. (It made me happy, okay? I'm a sap; shut up.) But the book lost something for me when it stopped being frightening, and devolved from something creepy and unusual to something much more done, almost an ordinary, average horror/thriller. So it's a good novel, yeah, but not a great one; I really do wish Hill's spark of originality could have burned a little bit longer. Maybe in the next one.
The beginning of this book—the first hundred pages or so—was truly frightening to me. A secret: vampires, werewolves, mummies, sea monsters, demons, zombies, killer clowns—these things don't scare me. Ghosts scare me. They don't even have to do anything: there's just something about them, intangible but there, watching, that scares the crap out of me. So this book freaked me out the most—in that wonderful, shivery, brrr kind of way—when the ghost wasn't doing anything, when it was just sitting in Jude's hallway, its hat in its hand, two mad, black scribbles where its eyes should be.
Then the plot happened. See, there's a reason Jude came to find out about this particular auction; Jude's ex-girlfriend's family is blah blah blah...okay: all of this is actually pretty interesting. The action did lag in the middle, when there were just a lot of instances in a row of the ghost trying to convince Jude and Jude's new girlfriend, Georgia, to kill themselves, but it does pick up again, and the whole book is generally captivating. However, as soon as the plot engages, the book stops being scary. At least to me: once its motivations are explained, the ghost became a creepy dude out for revenge, and a lot of the otherworldliness, the inexplicableness, went away, and with it the scary. There were still things I enjoyed: Jude and Georgia are both interesting, flawed characters, and I liked how their relationship developed; I even liked the slightly unrealistic ending. (It made me happy, okay? I'm a sap; shut up.) But the book lost something for me when it stopped being frightening, and devolved from something creepy and unusual to something much more done, almost an ordinary, average horror/thriller. So it's a good novel, yeah, but not a great one; I really do wish Hill's spark of originality could have burned a little bit longer. Maybe in the next one.
kbingham15's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
shelbymarie516's review against another edition
2.0
I would say this is a little bit like Final Girls and a bit Ghost Eater with a splash of backwoods southern featuring a drugged up Ozzy Osbourne wannabe. Only got it cause of the Nirvana song title.
A rock star with a thing for women named after southern states... where's Carolina?
A rock star with a thing for women named after southern states... where's Carolina?
12rhys23's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
skyhuckelberry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
peskydor's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mel_c_bell's review against another edition
5.0
Haunting regrets and memories repressed all dressed up in black leather and Doc Martins set to a death metal soundtrack.
First of all, this book had no right sneaking up on me the way it did and having me ugly face crying over a scene with a Ouija board…
Second, I can sum up this story with two words: Daddy Issues…
What I really enjoyed was the fact that the ghost stuff was introduced within the first fifty pages AND we didn’t have another 150 of the characters refusing to believe it. They were just like “Well, 💩 “ and got to business. Also, the whole swamp gothic revival vibe is 🤌🏼
I loved this book. Still, there is a bunch of trigger worthy content involved so 🤷🏻♀️ if you’re sensitive maybe sit this one out.
First of all, this book had no right sneaking up on me the way it did and having me ugly face crying over a scene with a Ouija board…
Second, I can sum up this story with two words: Daddy Issues…
What I really enjoyed was the fact that the ghost stuff was introduced within the first fifty pages AND we didn’t have another 150 of the characters refusing to believe it. They were just like “Well, 💩 “ and got to business. Also, the whole swamp gothic revival vibe is 🤌🏼
I loved this book. Still, there is a bunch of trigger worthy content involved so 🤷🏻♀️ if you’re sensitive maybe sit this one out.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good stuff. You could definitely pick out the learning process in Hill’s novel. He was crafting and learning to improve his craft as you were reading along. It was creepy and well written and then there were points here and there where I felt the story could’ve been fleshed out a little better. But overall not a bad read at all. I still recommend Hill’s stuff. Thus far of what I’ve read of his, not my favorite, but certainly not the worst either.
mrgeof's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Well-executed King-style horror novel with little deviation. Some aspects were really well done, others could have been tidier.