This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com: https://www.scifiandscary.com/ghost-train-review/

‘Ghost Train’ was the first novel by Stephen Laws, who published a number of books in the 80s and 90s (and a couple since 2000). He’s more akin to Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker than many of the other authors featured so far in Carry on Screaming. His books blend gore and psychological horror to great effect, with a Northern (UK) vibe and convincing characters. These are well crafted novels written with brain and heart rather than Guy N Smith style schlock-fests churned out to make a quick buck.
‘Ghost Train’ tells the story of Mark, a man haunted by two events from his past. As a child he and a school friend were attacked by the owner of a ghost train and as an adult he fell from a speeding train and suffered severe injuries. Months after the second event he is drawn back to Newcastle station where his unfortunate journey began, desperate to remember exactly what happened. As the plot develops he meets a policeman investigating his accident who reveals that a series of bizarre attacks and incidents have taken place on the same train line.
The book isn’t entirely successful, the mix of folklore and contemporary horror didn’t always work for me and the escalation of events at the end felt a bit rushed. When it’s good, though, it’s brilliant. The scenes of terror are often extremely effective. They’re nightmarishly bewildering, chilling, horrific and wonderfully tense. Laws throws in a number of new attacks with unrelated characters. These aren’t necessarily essential for the plot, but they are chilling and grimly enjoyable. Best of all, he captures the terrible fear of the unknown. Mark knows that bad things have happened to him, but he doesn’t know exactly what they were. His frantic search for the truth is gripping and genuinely scary. Like Mark, you need to know what happened, whilst fearing that the reality will be too much to take.
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This was my introduction to Laws, and led me to seek out everything he has written.

It's all based on a great premise... that the main East Coast rail line from London to the North of England is on a ley line that can channel power to the London End, with a view to waking an ancient demon.

Strange deaths abound on the line. Our protagonist, himself a survivor of a strange experience on a train, has to try to stop the energy building up.

The climax is a tour-de-force as the train hurtles to London, the demon grows ever more powerful, and the deaths pile up.

Laws has a wild imagination, and he likes to kill people in very gruesome fashions, but if, like me, you like your horror fast and action packed, then he's the man for you. ( )

With a very slow start, Ghost Train almost lost my attention, but after wading through a hundred pages, the story finally begins and it is worth the wait. Haunted by dreams and memories from the past, a recent coma patient has fallen under suspicion that he may have tried to commit suicide. However, in reality, he was attacked by a force that he has met before, and one that wishes to use him to empower itself to take over the world.

Sometimes I found myself barely paying attention to what happened at the beginning, but the later chapters helped to grab my interest and it never really stopped after that. Not the best novel I've ever read, but far from the worst as well. I preferred Laws's Spectre to this one, but it's still good enough on its own. ( )

The young, the old, the infirm... Stephen Laws doesn't doesn't think politically when he's killing people in a myriad of gruesome ways. Ghost Train is old school horror, with possession, demonic forces, a mystery to be solved and a finale of good versus evil against all odds. What lets Ghost Train down is the real lack of substance. Although Laws has attempted to weave considerable mystery in to the plot, the evil 'train' just doesn't have any character and as a result there is a not enough engagement. The key components are there but the writing isn't good enough to make it a memorable book. Suitable for an easy read but not Laws at his best. ( )