#Spooktober-‘Ghost Road Blues’ by Jonathan Maberry

About the book…

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel

From a new master of horror comes an apocalyptic showdown between the residents of a secluded, rural town and the deadly evil that confronts them wherever they turn . . .

Evil Doesn’t Die

The cozy little town of Pine Deep buried the horrors of its past a long time ago. Thirty years have gone by since the darkness descended and the Black Harvest began, a time when a serial killer sheared a bloody swath through the quiet Pennsylvania village. The evil that once coursed through Pine Deep has been replaced by cheerful tourists getting ready to enjoy the country’s largest Halloween celebration in what is now called “The Spookiest Town in America.”

It Just Grows Stronger

But then–a month before Halloween–it begins. Unspeakably desecrated bodies. Inexplicable insanity. And an ancient evil walking the streets, drawing in those who would fall to their own demons and seeking to shred the very soul of this rapidly fracturing community. Yes, the residents of Pine Deep have drawn together and faced a killer before. But this time, evil has many faces–and the lust and will to rule the earth. This struggle will be epic.

‘Ghost Road Blues’ is the first novel in the Pine Deep Trilogy, and was published in 2006 by Pinnacle Books

A confession-this is probably the fifth time I have tried to read this book, and finally, I got to the end of it. To start with, I was sure what I was reading as it appears to be more a criminal thriller, where a small town -voted the most haunted in America-becomes the destination for a small town hitman turned crook, who has robbed someone he really shouldn’t have. He is hellbent on getting away before the people he crossed, cross him-permanently.

The town of Pine Deep reminds me a little of Castle Rock, it is a conduit for evil things, a magnet for the otherworldly such as the Bone Man, the black man named and blamed for murders which were not his fault and summarily executed by some of Pine Deep’s finest. So not only did the original killer get away, but the Bone Man has risen again, and Karl Ruger bombing towards the town just as their most profitable season, Halloween approaches.

It very much seems like ‘Jaws’ , where the common sense thing would be to cancel the corn field rides, the haunted houses and so on, tell the tourists to go home, but the almighty dollar is more intoxicating than shed blood, after all. And wouldn’t it just add to the legend of Pine Deep?

The townspeople are set against evil, with a back drop of the most wicked time of the year, and it is a literary, consuming book which develops it’s characters beautifully. When it comes to evil, Karl Ruger takes all the trophies. On the opposite side, is Malcolm Crow, a reformed alcoholic with connections to the Bone Man. Maybe I am just too impatient and expect a book to grip from the start, and to be fair, the opening is an absolute belter, but this is a book worth sticking with as the lyrical and poetic language gradually winds it’s way around your consciousness so that you can only think about how long it will be, doing menial task such as work, before you can dive back in.

This is such a layered novel, I can see why it couldn’t be wrapped up in one book and so, has been extended to 3 with short stories also set there (‘Darkness Of The Edge Of Town’ is a audiobook available as part of the Audible UK Plus Catalogue, if you are interested enough to check it out!)

About the author…

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer.

He was named one of the Today’s Top Ten Horror Writers.

His books have been sold to more than two-dozen countries.

Links-http://www.jonathanmaberry.com/

Twitter @jonathanmaberry