Customer Reviews

Ghost Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like the Ghost Music that Gideon plays, this book moves along melodically, leaving you haunted, but satiated at the end. This book is a psychological thriller that will leave you with chills down your spine, and a must read for anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to have sex with a ghost. I couldn't put it down.

Moving into a new and very expensive apartment, Gideon Lake (known as Lalo), glimpses his neighbor leaving the building with her husband and is immediately smitten. Upon meeting her face to face he invites her to lunch in his apartment and their affair begins, quickly moving onto a trip to Europe together. And this is where it all started to get a bit unreal for me. I'm sure there are some fools in the world that would just jaunt off to Europe (alone, they don't travel together) and go straight to a random address and let themselves in, but most of us just wouldn't.

Whether it is the author's intention or not, right from the beginning I knew what Gideon didn't - and it made me want to reach through the pages and throttle him. And when he finally `got it' in the middle section of the book, he didn't exactly react in the way I thought he should.

That said, Ghost Music is a well written book - Gideon as a character is well-drawn even if he is a little slow on the uptake and the events that Gideon sees are spooky and more than a little disturbing. The dialogue is convincing and the story kept my attention the whole way through the book.

The ending of Ghost Music may not be to everyone's tastes, it is quite quick and may feel a little rushed to some readers but if you've already guessed all the twists and how it's going to end there's no need to have it drawn out further, so perhaps that was the author's intention all along. A good, solid read.

Ghost Music has a certain Gatsbyesque quality to it, at first; the delicate woman who is married to the violent and boorish man and the thoughtfully quiet man who loves her from a distance. You soon find out that the book is much more than just a love story. Gideon is drawn to Kate in a way that confuses him and their bond is strong. However, things in his new building get stranger and stranger until it become apparent that something odd, even ghostly is going on. As Gideon's affair with Kate progresses, their trip to Europe makes things even more bizarre and horrific. It is then that you slowly learn what is really happening.

I don't usually read horror, but I must say that I really enjoyed this book. It is perhaps not as traditional as most horror books because there is not a lot of gore, but it is creepy and the horror itself is much more psychological. I noticed that those more practiced in this genre commented that Graham Masterton's books are usually filled with a lot more blood and guts, but that's what made this book much more appealing, in my opinion. There doesn't have to be stomach turning gore for it to be scary. Masterton takes his time setting up the mystery and when the last half of the book arrives, you are trying desperately to figure out what could be happening. I thought the story was spooky and emotional with just the right amount of action, blood and plot twists that keep you guessing. I really enjoyed it and would reccomend it for horror fans and non-horror fans alike.

Masterton has a skill over many years in genre hopping. The fact that he writes in areas other than horror is evidence enough of this aspect to his skill. In this story, Masterton works with deft ease in creating a romantic story where the musician Gideon falls in love with Kate,so she becomes a spiritual muse with a more than physical side, and the success he has achieved up til then has allowed him to buy more "up-market" in real-estate, so he is in a building where there is a collection of characters that perfectly dovetail with the everyday story that Kate draws him in to. And, as the bits of the story start to draw together,(and Masterton develops this with consumate skill) and things start to get eerie, then the gradual reveal of which character steps into the world of the living, and which is in the land of the dead, becomes slowly clear.The elements of revenge in this love affair of the spirits, is a pure Masterton work of the world beyond that inhabits our own. Another well crafted scare, with a satisfying denoument.

I enjoyed Ghost Music through to the end and appreciated how different it is from Masterton's other novels. The story is hauntingly romantic and sad but well written, and DOES become pretty horrific more than halfway through. The novel displays Masterton's talents as a versatile writer.