Customer Reviews

Wildwood Road

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Golden has taken an old tradition - the haunting of a man by a ghost - and given it a bit of a spin in his latest oferring.

Michael Dansky seems to have a close-to-perfect life - great job, good friends, a beautiful and intelligent wife. However, it all falls apart once he becomes haunted, and it's up to him to put things back together. What made this stand out a little is that Michael's haunting also endangers his wife, upping the ante for him to correct things.

The story is hurt by a couple of problems. First, the characters of Michael and Jillian seem a little too perfect. He smiles whenever he looks at her, they apparently never have arguments, their sex life is perfect, their friends and coworkers all love and admire them - maybe these couples really exist, but they don't make for sympathetic characters. Secondly, there is a great deal of action in the novel, often at the expense of character development or the use of Golden's writing skills. It's like the author was told to package everything under a certain number of pages, and the writing suffers.

Golden has written a lot of teen novels, and this often feels like one. The story and plotting are excellent, but there's little use of literary devices or sections that depend more on literary skill than on action taking place. It's still a good book, but not on the level of his previous effort (The Boys are Back in Town).

A fast read, but don't go into it with high expectations.

When Jillian and Michael Dansky head home from a Halloween masquerade party, there lives are forever changed. While Jillian is passed out in the back seat in a drunken haze, Michael nearly runs his vehicle into a little girl named Scooter. In attempt to aid the little girl and get her to "where she belongs," he drives her up a hill to a run-down house and drops her off. She beckons him to find her, and he promises that he will. However, upon entering the creepy manse, Michael discovers that his promise might not be quite that simple to keep.

After returning home, Michael finds himself haunted by not only Scooter, but several wraith-like cloaked women. When these women, these "husks" of women, alter Jillian in a malignant manner, Michael knows he must find a way to follow through with his promise. His love for Jillian will lead him down a path of supernatural discovery while tediously testing his tenacity.

Though I tend to love twisted supernatural tales that approach from angles that haven't been accessed before, Wildwood Road just didn't quite tickle my fancy. Much of the first hundred pages seemed to drag on rather slowly. Furthermore, when the pace finally did seem to quicken, several interludes that served little more purpose than shallow character development chopped up the flow of the plot. In addition, the characters came across as rather naïve in their actions, making it difficult to relate to them. They were far too unrealistic in many respects. By the end of the novel, the climax had passed over much too quickly and several questions still remained unanswered.

I love Golden's prose. He knows how to masterfully create vivid imagery that is at once beautiful and haunting, while he weaves together a supernatural "ghost" tale with an intricate love story. However, many things detracted from the intelligent writing and the original plot. Wildwood Road is worth a read if you're looking for something new and unique in this particular genre, but it doesn't really stand out as one of the better books on the shelves.

Saw this in a bin of new books at the library and decided to try it. I understand Golden has written several novels of horror and also some for young adults. I was skeptical and had to be sold but it was worth it.

I thought at first this was a simple ghost story but it was deeper than that. Michael and Jillian are a happy couple at a Halloween masquerade ball. On the way home occur events which will transform their lives. This is not the usual 'evil' but instead a more insidious horror, where the real terror springs from the cabal of ancient women who must feed on the innocence of the young, sucking it out of the living and leaving them horrible, vicious, psychopaths, devoid of all happiness and joy. Golden excells at his descriptions of the young couple, alternating stories from the present with those from their past - how they met, first date, fall in love, become engaged and get married. These really focus on their undying love and are very believable and beautifully drawn. When events conspire to destroy them, it is all the more sad and touching, as you want to help them get back what they have lost and escape the horror that has them captive. Each person's actions is appropriate. Each is extremely well-drawn. I cared about them both. Their world is normal and average until that terrible night. Golden creates a haunting atmosphere. The climax is fast-paced and gripping. He captures the awful sadness of the supernatural in a way few authors have managed. (Koontz' creature in 'Wathcers' comes to mind) An intelligent, compelling story in the classic horror tradition (emotional vampires, if you will). I truly enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by Golden. Outstanding read!

Taking you on a terrifying journey, the plot will sweep you off your feet. The story is original, intense, and erratic. The minute you think you have it all figured out, Golden throws a curve ball you never saw coming, but you're damn happy to see where it takes you. Also, even though the tale is very detailed, it's never weighed down with inconsequential page-filler descriptions. In other words, it is simply divine.

The characters are true-to-life personalities filled with doubts, love, and fear, and maintained in honesty. There are no road signs to help them out of their nightmares, they have to rely on their own instincts and intelligence. And that is what makes them stand-out, because you don't have to question what you would do, it's already being played out. Golden's style of writing is, dare I say it, mischievous. He has this ability to convey both repulsiveness and beauty, light and shadow; alternating between pleasure and pain. He is constantly shifting in narration; one minute he is the observer and the next conspirator. But above all that, he is the storyteller.

Burrowing under your skin, the pace is veiled, but constantly active. At first the suspense begins as a minor itch, hardly noticeable. As you go on, the itching becomes more erratic, more painful. By the time you've come to the climax of the story, you'll be half mad. But don't be fooled, working hand-in-hand with the pace, the atmosphere is the true danger. Oppressive and hostile, the ambience throughout the book will infect you like a virus. The characters' emotions seem to leak into the air, contaminating it with their fear, hate, and anguish. And I promise, it will get to you.

I had high expectations for this book after reading several reviews. I must say that I was far from being disappointed, although I thought the book lacked in a few of areas. These beings, who were afflicting Michael and Jillian, were described initially as ghosts or supernatural beings that were far from being human but as the story evolved they seemingly became more and more palpable without any explanation. At the very end Michael and Jillian were able to physically destroy these beings with a swing of a crowbar as if they were human beings. The last thing that bothered me a bit was the ending. I thought it was a bit too convoluted and a bit too "action-packed" for the sake of being "action-packed." Also, the deterioration of Jillian after her encounter seemed overdone. Other than those minor issues I really enjoyed the book. The author developed Michael into a dynamic character and you were able to feel every emotion Michael was feeling. The book wasn't very scary as you would like a horror genre novel to be but it contained enough spookiness (scary and spooky have subtle differences). It was a novel idea for a ghost story and the author executed his ideas very well.

Tired and a bit intoxicated after attending a masquerade party with his paralegal wife Jillian, ad agency artist Michael Danksy drives home with his spouse asleep. Michael dozes off, but as his vehicle veers off the road, he awakens in time to avoid hitting a girl standing on the side of the road. Concerned that a young girl would be out by herself at night, Michael takes her to her home on dark hilly Wildwood Road.

As the little girl runs inside, she tells Michael try to find me as if she is playing a game. Feeling uncomfortable that the girl charged into the dark house, Michael follows her in only to be confronted by ghosts; he escapes. Not long afterward, female ghosts assault Jillian, removing her joyful childhood memories. As Jillian turns from kind to nasty, Michael struggles to find the big dark house on Wildwood Road to bring back his wife, but finding the place seems impossible as it is not where he entered it. He next seeks the girl, but will she prove easier to locate?

This ghost story is Christopher Golden's best work to date. Michael is a terrific beleaguered hero who wants his pre-house visit life especially his endearing wife back; Jillian is fantastic as she transforms from a friendly caring person into a cynical soulless individual as the child who became the adult was erased from her memory. Fans will keep reading until they learn who the little girl is and then want to know how Michael plans to rescue his wife if he obtains that knowledge. This is a one sitting tale that will keep the audience up all night with lights on in every room.

Welcome to a Neverland for lost girls. It is an old house of empty, shadow-washed corridors where silvery ripples catch at the corner of the eye, and the smell of cinnamon and apple pie tickle the nostrils. A soft chant begins just behind the nearest closed door: "One, two, buckle your shoe..."

Pathos is one of the hardest emotions to sustain in a novel of the supernatural, yet Christopher Golden manages it very well in "Wildwood Road." This is a story bathed in wan November moonlight, a little lost girl by the side of the road, the fey touch of a Ray Bradbury in the haunting.

If the author didn't have such a sure, sensitive touch, this book could have degenerated into one big belly laugh about menopause and really awful women. But it doesn't. "Wildwood Road" reminds me of "Carmilla," by the great Victorian supernatural author, Sheridan Le Fanu. Both are vampire tales where the psychological overrides the physical torment of the victims. Women prey on women. Neither story has a tidy resolution. Golden leaves his victims maimed or dead. No one lives happily ever after--sadder but wiser would be a more apropos cliché.

He also ensorcels his readers without sickening them on gouged eyeballs and steaming entrails. Don't be fooled by Stephen King's name appearing prominently on the cover. "Wildwood Road" creeps up on the reader. It doesn't splatter open skulls with a baseball bat. What I found most rewarding about his style was that he develops his story through his characters. He doesn't just shove them into one ghastly situation after another. Even the ghostly little girl, Scooter develops a dark side. I won't ruin the story for you, but I was shocked by Scooter's real persona. I should have been ready for it, but I wasn't. Subtle is the story-telling of this author.

This book focuses on a couple driving home from a party. His drunken wife asleep, the man apparently, though NEVER explained, stumbles into a ghostly situation and area. It haunts him and the story was spooky and original - almost like a old legend you've heard with terrifying creatures - when it wasn't being dragged along, or missing pieces. Again, Mr.Golden chooses a weak male as the character; he pieces things together slowly to save his possessed wife and the little girl that haunts him...When the ending comes, you'll be asking yourself "why didn't he do this, or "why did that happen that way"? because it just doesn't make sense! There are too, too many loose ends left untied that will leave you wondering, and even more things that just aren't addressed. Again, great story, but not worth reading with so much missing. Like clues that are never explained.
Why is this house unfindable, and yet located in every country? Why was the main point of the story- the little girl - no longer important near the end?
I'm so annoyed. I'm going to have to re-sell this.

Wildwood Road is the latest novel from prolific but still relatively little known author Christopher Golden. Golden has had his greatest commercial success with a series of novels based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but along the way he has been writing some very interesting but not terribly well marketed horror novels as well.

Golden's writing is in the tradition of Bentley Little, but he manages to pull of the combination of supernatural elements from ancient mythology and the realities of the modern world more smoothly than Little does, relying more on character development and less on visceral shock value. Golden's work is perhaps less obviously scary and more creepy and troubling than that of most contemporary horror writers.

Wildwood Road is the story of an ad artist named Michael Dansky who is driving home from a Halloween party with his wife and has a bizarre experience which he at first thinks is a dream but which turns out to be much more. In a semi-drunken state, he picks up a young girl named Scooter on the side of the road and then drives her home where she leaves him with the enigmatic demand 'come find me'. He then inexplicably awakens in his car pulled off on the side of the road and his wife has slept through the whole incident.

At first this sounds like the classic 'phantom hitchiker' urban legend scenario, but it turns out to be nothing of the kind. As the plot unravels so does Michael's entire life and world view as the supernatural intrudes more and more on his existence and his work and home life are torn apart. I'm not going to share any more details than that, but the depiction of a spiraling sequence of increasingly out of control and destructive events is really very well done and the final denouement is creative and unexpected, yet still makes perfect sense.

What really makes Wildwood Road work is that Golden spends almost a third of the book developing the characters of Michael and his wife Jillian. We learn all about their friends, their backgrounds, their relationship (in a series of flashbacks), their ambitions and other aspects of their lives. He does an excellent job of painting them as real, interesting people. This means that when their lives start to fall apart in rapid and horrible ways you really identify with them and it becomes more than just scary in the way that most horror novels are, it becomes disturbing, troubling and truly horrific. What is done to them by the antagonistic forces in the story is monstrous and evil and you really feel the impact it has on them.

This book is probably not for those who expect cheap thrills and gore. It's nothing like a Richard Laymon novel. For those who want truly supernatural horror and can stand a certain amount of emotional intensity, Wildwood Road is a very good read. And if you like it you'll also want to go back and read some of Golden's other novels which fit in the same mold, including The Boys are Back in Town, The Ferryman and the particularly good and bizarre Strangewood. They're nothing like his novelizations or some of the very formulaic collaborative novels he's done. They're real, original horror - literate and insightfully written.

By the time I finished this book, I felt like I was the "lost girl", I spent so much time lost in the story. This tale is highly imaginative. The characters are strong and realistic, and the little personal details make you feel that you really know them. I absolutely recommend this book.