Ghost Road Blues

I'm floundering between feeling "eh" about this book and having mildly enjoyed it. It was certainly disappointing as a " horror" novel. If I wanted to read about the propensity for evil in everyday people I would read a crime novel which is closer to what 80% of this book felt like. I typically don't enjoy crime novels, hence the lack of them on my shelves. Hell, I could pick-up a history book or the newspaper to read about shitty people doing shitty things. That said, the few actual horror elements were satisfactory if nothing particularly special. I think I've just been spoiled by reading Barker, Keene & co. Those authors creep me out and write disturbing things. This book elicited few of the emotions one expects to have when reading show more horror. I'll give Maberry another chance, but suffice to say this book isn't what I'd classify as true horror. show less

Jonathan Maberry has been lauded as one of the new kings of horror, which in my mind sounds a bit ridiculous…it’s like the horror world is waiting for Stephen King to either a) retire from writing or b) drop dead of a heart attack so that some other writer can rise up to claim the throne. I don’t really see this happening in other genres…is it just a horror thing?

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to get to this book for several years now and I FINALLY managed to read it about a month ago. The story (part 1 of the Pine Deep Trilogy) is told from multiple perspectives (and I do mean multiple - there are a lot of characters to keep track of here), but all of the action is centered around the small town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania. Pine show more Deep has been billed as “The Spookiest Town in America,” with its plethora of haunted hay rides, Halloween shops, and tourist attractions, and the townspeople take their job seriously. But thirty years ago, Pine Deep experienced true horror with a series of violent murders, which were eventually pinned onto an innocent black man. The man’s ghost still lingers in the area, serving as a counter-force to the monstrous evil that was responsible for the murders years ago. And now, with the calendar about to switch over to October, the evil force has begun to rise again.

The bulk of the story follows a trio of vicious criminals, who crash their car in the middle of a field on the outskirts of Pine Deep. The State Police learn that the men may still be in the area, and what follows is the largest, most frightening manhunt in Pine Deep history. Karl Ruger, a man suspected for sadistically murdering a group of senior citizens several years previously, is believed to be in the area with the other two men, and he is the key to unleashing the evil slumbering in Pine Deep.

Ghost Road Blues is the epitome of what I’m referring to when I talk about a “horror novel with substance.” The characters are very well-rounded (which is a MUST if I’m reading a horror novel), and Karl Ruger is a terrifying half-man, half-supernatural being. After so many horror novels, it’s hard for me to be genuinely unsettled by a horror villain, but Karl Ruger did it for me. Kudos to you, Jonathan Maberry. I tip my imaginary hat to you. The controlling evil force is much more supernatural in nature, but we don’t see much of that. It’s just a vague, hinted-at presence that I expect will emerge in one of the next books.

Beneath these supernatural elements is an inside view of the workings and politics of a small, rural town, and if you think that there can’t possibly be anything new to say about small-town horror, I suggest you pick up Ghost Road Blues. The town is created so vividly, and the characters are so realistic that it gives the story a lot of depth…think something along the lines of Derry in It, for any Stephen King fans reading this review. And small-town horror means small-town fears. Mike, a thirteen-year-old boy with a vivid imagination, lives in fear of his abusive stepfather. Terry, the town’s mayor, struggles with an addiction to anxiety pills and has to overcome his suicidal desires on a daily basis. The idea of fear pervades every layer of the book. That, to me, is a successful horror novel.

Recommended for: horror fans, or anyone who doesn’t mind reading horror but doesn’t necessarily consider themselves a bonafide horror fan. Readers who don’t enjoy being scared will not want to read this one. Strong language & violence, not much sex.

Readalikes:

Ghost Road Blues is part of the Pine Deep Trilogy, so if you enjoyed this book, you’ll definitely want to pick up Dead Man’s Song, the next book in the series. Jonathan Maberry has also written some other terrific horror novels, from the Joe Ledger series (Patient Zero is the first) to the YA Benny Imura series (Rot & Ruin) to Dead of Night, a stand-alone zombie novel.

Any of Stephen King’s novels about small-town horror would be great readalikes. It is probably his masterpiece, but ‘Salem’s Lot, Pet Sematary, Needful Things, or Under the Dome would be good suggestions as well.

NOS4A2 – Joe Hill. Maberry & Hill are considered the two new kings of horror, and for good reason. NOS4A2 is another substantial horror novel (in both content & length) that is extremely atmospheric. The “small town” concept is not as pronounced as it is in Ghost Road Blues, but the characters are very well-developed and the story packs an emotional as well as a fearful punch. show less

Thirty years ago in the town of Pine Deep, under the light of a Halloween moon, an evil child killer by the name of Griswold ate the pointy end of a guitar when a blues guitarist known as "The Boneman" put an end to his reign of terror. Griswold's body was thrown into a swamp never to be found again. The funny thing about evil is that it has this tendency to linger and fester. It lays in wait. Thirty years later a career criminal and his two cronies stall out in the town of Pine Deep while fleeing from a drug deal gone bad. This little event is the hairpin trigger that sets off events in Pine Deep once again.

Potential reader, be forewarned, Ghost Road Blues is part of a trilogy and will leave you with closure issues. This is the book show more of questions not answers, so make sure to have at least book two in hand if you find yourself drawn into Maberry's horrific world of Pine Deep. show less

Ghost Road Blues
By Jonathan Maberry
Maberry is always good for a horror fest with plenty of gore to go with it! It has characters that made me really hate them and others to really love them! A town that has supernatural monsters and flesh and blood monsters!
A crazed supernatural being that took over a body until a brave black blues guitar player finally killed it. Then racists killed him. Now, decades later, it's back with a new host, the racists are still around, and a vicious band of thieves crashed their car in this unlucky town. But the ghost of the blues player is back too, to help even the field a little.
Suspenseful, gory in spots, has child abuse in it, an attempted rape (she was ok), and severe racism with a beating to death. show more What I am trying to say is that it's not for the faint of heart or disturbed by these things. I would want to know before going into a book. The book was good but I had to keep reminding myself, " this is not real!", as I read the gruesome parts. show less

It's hard to express why it was that I was let down by Ghost Road Blues. It starts off strong, with a legitimately terrifying scene with a twist. It builds the suspense through the beginning, leaving you in fear of what may happen. It's got a handful of characters that you grow to truly care about, and is filled with characters that are truly reprehensible and frightening. The peril feels real, and you become genuinely interested in how, or if, the heroes will triumph. It sounds like the recipe for a great horror novel, right? Right!

So, why did I feel more disappointed than horrified? I'm not entirely sure. The best I can come up with is that the suspense left me feeling more like this book was a thriller, and less like a horror novel. show more Which would have been fine if that's what I was looking for. There's really nothing wrong with the book, but the payoff of a horror novel seems to be missing. Not the pre-Halloween read I was looking for. show less

Excellent novel in the King/McCammon horror camp. Seemingly disparate multiple threads are nicely woven together eventually to bring the book to a "conclusion." Oops, sorry it is a dreaded series (Pine Deep) book and there are two more novels after this, so what I thought was a nice compact little novel, isn't and nothing except the body count is resolved and even that isn't certain. Well anyway, this one was good as long as you don't care what happens next.

The problem is I think this is going to devolve into another [b:It|18342|It (pennywise)|Stephen King|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309376909s/18342.jpg|150259]. There is seemingly no way that as many elegant strands can be interwoven like there was in this first novel. show more There are signs already in Ghost Road that it is going to develop into another "ancient evil" in Pine Deep (or Derry, or Oxrun Station, or etc.) I guess I should maybe have a more open mind. I have started the second in the series, [b:Dead Man's Song|215606|Dead Man's Song (Pine Deep, #2)|Jonathan Maberry|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388231802s/215606.jpg|208735] but I'm not optimistic so far.

This is an addenda after reading all three volumes. Don't waste your time, unless... GRB is by far the best and most innovative book in the Pine Deep trilogy and can be enjoyed on its own. I would say this saga goes somewhat downhill, more of a gentle decline, into the formulaic "curse plagued town monster fest" sub-genre as the trilogy unwinds. If you are into that gig, well get this rig because that's what we have here and a good one it is. I'm not that into the supernatural thriller sub-genre so the subsequent two books in the series lost at least half a star for that. show less

I managed my expectations pretty well for reading this one. I wanted regular horror and got it. It's October, after all, and isn't this the season to enjoy a run of scary?

Or is it simply the desire to see evil as plain as day, to root for the underdogs, to gather up all the misfits and see all the jerks and the ultraviolent assholes of the world get their comeuppance?

Maybe a bit of both.

Fortunately, there's a lot of bigger-than-life characters in this small town and the good guys are good pretty much all the way through. The bad, however, are really bad. :) And did I mention a recurring string of gruesome murders in a small town known for it's spectacular Halloween festivals meant to scare your pants off?

Yeah, well, aside from a few show more great scenes and pretty epic buildup, I'm gonna have to hold my horses to see the grand explosion because this is a trilogy!

That's fine, of course. Sometimes a tale is very long. I just have to wonder what it might have been like to have this as one gigantic tome like the good old days of epic horrors instead of the bite-sizes publishers think we want. *shrug*

So maybe I'll just pretend it's one book. That's the ticket! And people think that readers are without imagination! I'll show them! show less