Ghoul

Three twelve-year-old boys that are looking forward to spending the summer in their hidden fort, doing what boys of that age do...eating junk food, reading comic books, and talking about girls. Things are right on plan until the boys are faced with having to battle monsters...both real life ones in their own homes and the ancient terror that has taken up residence in their town’s cemetery: a ghoul. I have always liked this type of horror because it’s such a definitive time in our lives. It's been many years, but I remember being twelve. Everything seemed larger than life, and even the smallest thing felt like the world as I knew it was surely going to end before I went to bed. At that age so much of our mortal existence depended on show more the adults in our lives. If something should have happened that you were sure was "Twilight Zone" fodder, something that threatened your stable young life, you could just tell the adults in your world that were surely put there to grant your every wish... (HA HA), and even though they never really believed it...they would try to make "IT" go away" and make you feel better. In horror stories the children are always to be believed, even if they tell their adults that there is a glowing, naked ghoul that is hell-bent on impregnating the women of the town...those that it isn't planning to have for lunch...in its lair right under the town's cemetery! That pretty much describes what the boys encountered in this story.... an overly excited, corpse-eating ghoul in the "home life" of two of our young protagonists, Doug and Barry. I won’t go into details because that’s for the reader to discover. You’ll go into this book expecting a "creature-feature" offering with only blood and carnage, but you will close the book with tears in your eyes and your heart torn in half. This author is very, very good at presenting this kind of story. He will take you on a journey with Ghoul, and it will be visceral, painful and emotional. If this is your first time with Brian Keene, consider this an amazing introduction to horror at its stellar best. show less

I had things to get done today. I had a list. I got one thing checked off and then picked up Brian Keene's Ghoul. Only other thing I accomplished today was reading the book, the entire book. I inhaled it like it was chocolate. Wow, where to start? I have come across Keene's name through several other authors I have read and decided to try one of his books. I drove to the nearest branch of the county library that had a copy and picked up Ghoul.

I started it and was immediately creeped out. It has all the creepy requirements: cemeteries, kids who are just starting their summer adventure and something proceeded by an odor that makes people gag. I am familiar with some of the places and events mentioned in the book which made the fiction show more less fictiony. Is this how Maine people feel reading Stephen King?

The main characters were great. They were the kind of kids I hung out with at that age. They had vivid imaginations and used the cemetery and woods around them to act out their stories. It is all so beautifully innocent until the monsters so up. The pacing was great, self evident by the fact that I did read this in one day. The epilogue was heartbreaking but still the perfect ending for this book.

I will be checking more Brian Keene out of the library and not getting a whole lot done when I have one to read. show less

This is my absolute favorite Brian Keene story, which takes it just above The Rising. It provides an excellent look into the past, through the eyes of a little boy and his two friends as they deal with monsters, both supernatural and all too real. From physical and sexual abuse to strict parenting, all of them suffer in some way from the adults in their life, so much that one of them has a father that has made a deal with a horrible force of nature, one that originates from a land outside of America. Over the course of the novel, the boys figure out that they have a ghoul infestation and try to find out how they can get rid of it, even if it costs some of their lives. This novel also showcases that classic Keene semi-downer ending, show more depending on how you feel about it, and suffice to say that it is well done.

Definitely for anyone interested in horror or for engaging characters that actually mean something to the reader. Five stars out of five. show less

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 show more 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. show less

REVIEWED: Ghoul
WRITTEN BY: Brian Keene
PUBLISHED: January, 2012

My first thought as I read this book was how formulaic it was. It read like every traditional horror movie of the eighties. But then Keene stepped past that - he took the plot and characters to places I didn't want to go, places that made me cringe as I read. The story follows three teenage boys - best friends - during a summer filled with dreams and monsters... both those monsters that are unnatural horrors and those waiting at home in the guise of family. Once I got into this book, I couldn't set it down - it owned my attention. The ending left me a bit unsatisfied, but it was honest. 'Nuff said.

Four out of Five stars

Keene's covering old ground for the horror genre and as a tribute to the old school stories, especially those from comic books, this novel lives up to expectations. In fact Keene even sets the book in the 80's to complete his revivalist approach. However, these attempts at misdirection do not mask the fact that 'Ghoul' is shallow and ultimately does not suspend the reader's disbelief. There are too many unlikeable characters and too many bad people in concentration. These factors make 'Ghoul' a very easy read, akin to Shaun Hutson, with the required amount of horror and gore, yet ensure 'Ghoul' is am unmemorable entry in to the genre.

It has been a while since I've read one but it does seem like most horror authors have to put out at least one. I'm talking about the "coming of age" horror story. GHOUL is Keene's addition to that specific sub-genre.

Timmy, Barry and Doug all live in a small town and are looking forward to enjoying their summer vacation. Unfortunately though there is a ghoul imprisoned in the cemetery and he is accidentally released.

I'll admit that it does sound kind of cheesy but it does not read that way. Their summer's imaginative adventures slowly becomes a true life challenge. In addition to the horror of a ghoul, each child's personal family life of hardship is revealed to each other. And through that the novel's theme of family life is show more illustrated, maybe a bit heavy-handed. My only real negative was sort of along the same lines; the story is a bit to by-the-numbers. The details around the three main characters are different and more intense than what you would expect but the general direction of the story is a tad predictable. Keene is still great and a wonderful read but I would look elsewhere if you want to see him at his best. show less