The Worthy: A Ghost's Story [Paperback]

Will Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2007

"I've come to find that most people ignore the dead," Conrad Avery Sutton III begins The Worthy, a wickedly funny and frightening ghost story.

Conrad had it pretty good in life -- a Porsche, pretty girls, and a trust fund full of oil money. But now, thanks to a brutal hazing incident at Louisiana State University's Gamma Chi fraternity, Conrad is dead -- a nineteen-year-old spirit suddenly without an earthly body.

Make no mistake, the newly deceased Conrad is one angry ghost, and the object of his wrath is chapter president Ryan Hutchins, a "big, bright, rising star" who, in Conrad's view, is really "the darkest black hole you'll ever meet -- and I'm not just saying that because he killed me." Out for revenge, Conrad possesses an unsuspecting pledge's body so he can finish what Ryan started, steering them toward a depraved confrontation with a surprising outcome that will leave readers gasping.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clarke's novel, subtitled "A Ghost's Story," is a winning comedy of collegiate (bad) manners, set at Louisiana State University. The narrator, an affluent frat boy named Conrad Avery Sutton III, tells us right off that he's dead, murdered by fellow Gamma Chi Ryan Hutchins, a psychotic hiding behind a charming Big-Man-on-Campus veneer. Conrad makes it his afterlife's work to bring cocky Ryan down, with the help of the frat house's salty cook, "crazy" Miss Etta. She knows Conrad is still on Earth to protect hapless fraternity pledge Tucker Graham, who, like most of the world, sees Ryan as "a big, bright, rising star." It sounds a little like a sitcom, albeit an edgy one, but Clarke fashions a hilariously addictive yarn, with crackling prose and sharp observations that consistently entertain and surprise. He drives the plot over the top with portraits of hypocritical religious fanatics and unrestrained party animals, and into baby Grand Guignol territory with a swath of outlandish killings—but it all works as black farce of a high degree. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

If the movies Animal House and Ghost got married, this novel is what their offspring might look like. The narrator, Conrad Avery Sutton III, had it all, including a bid to join Louisiana State's most desirable fraternity. Then a hazing prank went horribly wrong, and Conrad was killed. Now he's a ghost with only one thing on his mind: revenge against the fraternity chapter president who's responsible for his death. The novel somehow manages to be lightly comic and darkly dramatic at the same time. It's a clever commentary on the whole frat scene, as well as an evocative exploration of some of the practical realities of being a ghost. Lots of fun, from the zany author of the cult favorite Lord Vishnu's Love Handles (2005). David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743273168
• ISBN-13: 978-0743273169
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Will Clarke doesn't want you to know where he lives or what he's doing next. (Which totally begs the question, why does he maintain an eponymous blog?)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I smell a movie!, March 31, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Worthy {A Ghost's Story} (Paperback)

Conrad Sutton is a heck of a ghost. I could almost smell his Abercrombie and Fitch cologne lingering around me when I was reading this book.

THE WORTHY is one of the saddest, funniest, bittersweet books I have ever read. It was so good that when I finished it the first time, I read it again because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Conrad or Miss Etta or Sarah Jane or Maggie. The author paints Baton Rouge and Louisiana with with such a sexual and sweaty tinge.

And I know that a lot of people compare this "ghost's story" to THE LOVELY BONES, and it is similar in that both the narrators are dead, but that's where the similarities end. THE WORTHY delves into a 19 year old's soul (Granted that may not be very deep as most frat boys aren't the deepest souls -- even dead ones) Will Clarke spins a tale so beautiful and gothic that it's hard not to cry AND laugh out loud at the end. Something I never do. I am not a cryer! But some of Clarke's disarms you with his humor and then he throws an image at you that hits you right in heart.

THE WORTHY is worth a read or two or three. It's that good.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth of 4 Stars, October 3, 2008

By 

B.F. Spink "Author, After Midnight In Savannah" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Worthy: A Ghost's Story (Hardcover)

The Worthy is a fast-paced, often fluffy piece of fiction that grabs you quickly and won't let you go. The first-person account of a frat boy pledge's ghost (murdered by an older "active" in the frathouse during initiation rites) is often funny and often gruesome -- and it truly shows the cruel realities of life, even if seen through a dead man's eyes. The ending has a great twist, too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, April 19, 2008

By 

K. Littlejohn (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Worthy: A Ghost's Story (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book, it started off with a bang and never slowed down. I rarely read a book in one day but this was one of those books I couldn't put down. It's hard to believe it was written by a 26 year old young man. I'm a fan!