Customer Reviews

Ghost Monster

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Solid, possession-ghost-ish story. Really enjoyed reading this. Some corny, out of place dialogue, but worth a read. Had a strong story line, likable characters and a good ole evil bastard. Felt the end was a bit rushed.

Save yourself the time and frustration and skip this one. Though I have been a Simon Clark fan in the past, this one is just terrible. There is no character development, a weak plot, and is altogether completely pointless. I ended up skipping through parts (something I rarely do) just to finish it. The only frightening thing occurring in this book is the length. It seemed like Clark started with a good premise and then had no idea where to go with it.

Ghost Monster is a story about the spirit of a madman and his mad men. Justice Murrain was a certifiable psychopath who used lunatics for his own personal army and tormented an entire town. His son trapped his soul under a mosaic in the local mausoleum and that was the end for Justice Murrain. At least, until coastal erosion and a decades-long vendetta cause the mosaic to be broken.

Murrain's Battle Men, as his army is known, return to possess members of the town and wreak havoc in attempt to possess Murrain's descendant and destroy the mosaic that imprisoned them for several hundred years.

Really it was a pretty good read.

The story is simple and poorly told. The dialogue is trite and sometimes silly. Author uses phrases and descriptions that come off as childish, out-of-place or repetitive. Slightly interesting for the locale and archaeological references.

Not a bad story! The opening of the story inspires a few chills, and the characters are likable. It is only towards the end when the story becomes very predictable, that this novel fails.
I also felt that the occasions where they attempted to closely describe grisly events were gratuitous. I think that the way they try to describe disembowelment and other horrors just comes off as silly and ruins the continuity of the story.
I gave it three stars because it was still a worthy read, but at no time did I feel like looking over my shoulder or locking the door!! Some books can do that......

Award winning author Simon Clark is in fine form with his latest from Leisure Fiction, "Ghost Monster". Though the tale itself isn't wildly original (an evil ancestor imprisoned for his atrocities seeks the freedom to wreak bloody havoc once more ) Clark's prose is a delight to read and his characters are engaging and well written. "Ghost Monster" is proof that "light reading" needn't come at the expense of artful prose.

Centuries ago, Justice Murrain and his band of demented shock troops ruled the small coastal town of Crowdale with an iron fist. The streets ran red with the blood of those he tormented; he took what he pleased, and pleased himself where and with whom he saw fit. Crowdale lay firmly in his grip until his death and supernatural imprisonment beneath the floor of the Murrain mausoleum, enacted by the will of a son he'd neglected to kill after maiming him for life. Since then, the Murrains have lived as outcasts, not only because of Justice Murrain's sins, but also because of their lonely, sworn duty: to watch over and secure their ancestor's imprisonment...forever.

Now, in modern day, coastal erosion endangers the graveyard and the mausoleum under which Justice Murrain's black soul resides. Day by day more of the graveyard falls into the ocean, and even though an archaeological survey team races the clock to find historical artifacts of enough importance warranting government preservation of the land, time is quickly slipping away. That, and two sons of a woman scorned by Jacob Murrain (the eldest living Murrain descendant) nurse a thirst for revenge that will blunder them into doing exactly what Justice Murrain wants most: setting him free to maim and kill again.

"Ghost Monster" is certainly a reworking of often used themes. However, it's well done, a "fun read" with finely crafted prose. Clark's characters are sympathetic and believable, which, combined with his craftsmanship, lifts the novel above it's often-revisited storyline.