Ghoul

Before I begin, I want to say that the climactic chapter was very-well-written and exciting. I gave it an extra star for that.

But, overall, I was very disappointed with this heavy-handed and plodding book; especially after hearing Keene's virtues extolled for nearly 3 years.

First, while I did not mind the overuse of 80's pop culture references (I loved the 80s myself), I did feel that most of those used were forced. It's one thing to make use of period detal, but quite another have them reveal the thoughts and emotions of your characters. I've always been of the opinion that if you must use another artist's work to give yours meaning, what's the point of yours?

Second, a coming-of-age story should not be self-referential. Keene constantly let's us know that his characters are losing their innocence with the events of this tale. It's as if this novel is so important to Keene's psyche (and who can doubt that he is Timmy Graco), that he simply couldn't bear it if his audience didn't get it.

Third, while his three protagonists have very well-drawn characters, his supporting cast is nothing more than uninteresting pasteboard monsters (thick as the boards nailed over the window of the cememtery's utility shed). The only half-way interesting one was the doberman they tortured.

Finally, there is a strong sense of self-doubt and -pity about the execution of this novel. From it's plodding treatment of it's subject matter to the overly-ornate images and referneces, it all culminates in a bizarre epilogue that brings it all together in a sappy realization that nothing changes. The ghoul is gone, but the world turns out to be the real ghoul and it's still around.

Not a book I can recommend. ( )

MY RATING: 4.5 STARS

This is my second Keene book. I read Dead Sea several months back and really liked Keene's storytelling. I found Ghoul very entertaining although at some points my stomach felt a little queasy.

Timmy and his buddies, Barry and Doug, are on summer vacation from school. Their favorite place to play is their secret club house in the cemetery near their homes. I really liked these three boys. Timmy seems to have a pretty good home life, and his parents are the typical American mom and dad. Things at home aren't so well for his buddies though. The home life of Doug and Barry are disturbing and I truly felt horrible for those two kids.

The boys begin to notice things are not quite right at the cemetery. Timmy puts a plan in place and takes matters into his own hands with the help of his friend Barry.

This isn't just another creature story, but also a coming of age story for Timmy and his friends. I think the ending really topped-off the story in a very appropriate way.

Overall, I felt this was a very good story and would highly recommend it for fellow horror fans. ( )

Timmy, Doug and Barry are 12-years old and best friends for life. Summer vacation has finally arrived and months of adventure await. However, the purity and naivety of youth is upended when our three brave adventurers learn that there are monsters in their midst. A Ghoul has been unleashed in the neighboring graveyard and is consuming corpses and seeking human women to breed with. Of course grownups don't believe much in monsters, so it is up to the trio to discover the secrets of the graveyard and save a town in peril. The boys learn much that summer. Monsters are not necessarily born, sometimes they are made. Abusive parents can be just as bad as the literal monsters.

Ghoul is a solid horror novel with well developed characters. Brian Keene expertly captures the sanctity of youth and embellishes parental flaws to demonstrate how much of an influence a parent truly has on their child. I enjoyed the parallels the author explores between the Ghoul in the graveyard and Timmy, Doug and Barry's parents. You will hate the adults in the novel far more than the Ghoul and I have a feeling this was the intention of the author. Once again, Keene delivers. ( )

A graveyard has something not living subsisting there - plenty of bodies to eat.

Three boys are friends - the violent father of one of them being a graveyard minder.

Add in the girlfriend of a man who was eaten very recently and is rather fancied by the Ghoul for procreation purposes and you have a good old people vs monster story.

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2012/02/ghoul-brian-keene-2/ ( )

Just okay. The adults in this book were horrible people and worse monsters than the ghoul itself. Story was good, characters (the kids, anyway) were good, but I HATED the adults. Also, I hated the abrupt ending. I wanted to know what had happened after the kids escape. Did the police come? Was Barry's father blamed for everything? Did Timmy's dad apologize or was the relationship fractured? Why the F*** didn't grown up Timmy say anything to grown up Barry? As far as the monster in the book, meh... Everyone else was so much worse... ( )