A review by trisha_thomas
The Ghost Tracks by Celso Hurtado

2.0

I had been hoping for a great spooky October read. I wanted the paranormal feel and the great jump scares. Instead, I got a book with just a lot of violence. I'm sure the point of the kid from the wrong side of the tracks was to make the violence seem "normal." But almost every night he was in a fight with a stabbing or baseball bat beating. There was violence in every form: child abuse, stabbing, domestic violence, rape and even a really (truly) awful scene with a dog (tread lightly if you can't handle animal abuse). And since every person had just entered this kid's life, it was really hard to imagine he went from just sitting on the couch drinking 100 glasses of milk a day and watching tv to talking to a detective daily. But maybe it was just the story didn't give me enough to go on, to make these transitions seem smooth and for me to believe this kid was this tough.

Also, I wish I'd had this kid's job. A hundred bucks for every time he arrives just to talk to someone about the paranormal? Sign me up, I'll listen to all their stories.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Edelweiss. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.