Simon Guthrie’s life has changed. Once
a master chef with thriving restaurants that people were beating down doors to
get into, he’s living alone with only his former wife’s dog Jeremy to keep him
company. Gail, the wife he dearly loved, is gone. She died as the result of a
tragic car accident. Simon suffered a brain injury from the same mishap, but he’s
on the mend and living in a dream home that he had built to his specifications.
However, things are not as they appear, and he finds trying to achieve normalcy
in the idyllic, deserted setting difficult—what with restless ghosts crying out
for help in the middle of the night and all.
This is the intriguing premise of THE
GHOST MAN by Michael J. McMann. Overall, I enjoyed the book and the host of
characters. It’s well-written and keeps moving at a nice pace, but I did
experience some road bumps on the way to the very neat ending. I love good
endings so I did appreciate this one. I’ll start with the negatives first.
While the basic grammar was fine, I did
find the story littered with “telling” phrases. It really slowed things down
and undid some of the drama that could have been heightened without these minor
details tripping up the story. For instance (and I’m paraphrasing. This is not
a direct quote), “He heard the clock strike midnight as he mounted the stairs,”
should have been changed to, “The clock struck midnight as he mounted the
stairs.” It’s such a ridiculously small detail, but it makes such a huge
difference.
The other problem was that there were
huge passages of a veering storyline that could have, and should have, been
edited out. I’ll state again that I LOVE backstories and details and prose so
that’s not the problem. The problem is that the chunks of information interfered
with the novel’s taut atmosphere and produced a laxity that had me skipping
over pages. If an author is going to do this, make those passages so compelling
that I’ll want to get lost in them. However, if the story is just getting lost,
cut them out—no matter how much you love them. The latter seems to be the case
here so be forewarned.
The positives? The characters,
characters, characters! How refreshing to have a Doris Fowler taking a lead
role instead of some impossibly beautiful gamine that appear and fall all over
the protagonist in helping solve the mystery. I was taken by this love interest
and appreciated how the relationship progressed. Next, the story—it’s a good
one! There are plenty of twists and turns, and you’re duly rewarded by the
aforementioned stupendous ending. And really, who doesn’t love a good exorcism?
Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Bring on the demon-fighting priests! Get
out the pom-poms as you cheer them on.
There are ghosts, cemeteries, murders,
axes, psychics, wolves, and a lot more packed into this novel. Oh, and there’s
one scene that you just HAVE to read! I don’t do spoilers, but this one
involves a very weird rainstorm. It’ll have you diving under the covers and
screaming, “NOOOOOO!” as you cover your head. I should mention here, that that
scene was so effective because there was no deviating from what was happening.
There was just enough descriptive phrasing to make it horrifying and chilling.
Mr. McCann got it right on that one.
All in all, I enjoyed THE GHOST MAN. I
would recommend it and am looking forward to reading more of his work. I’m only
giving it 3.7 stars because of the problems noted above. If those negatives were
cleaned up, I would have no problem giving THE GHOST MAN five stars. None.
If you’re looking for a midnight read
that has some thrills, chills and very quirky characters, give THE GHOST MAN a
try.
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