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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully Written and Engaging, June 21, 2003
After reading just two of his novels, I am becoming immensely impressed with Graham Masterton. It is a darn shame most of the horror novels written by this guy are out of print. Masterton's prose, his insightful characters, and his quirky plots are wonderful contributions to the horror genre. This book, "Spirit," is closely related to the other Masterton book I read recently, "The House that Jack Built." Both of these stories deal with your typical haunted house/ghost story, but the author does not rely on the standard explanations about spirits and hauntings. In "The House that Jack Built," Masterton argued that it is psychic vibrations and the nature of time and history that account for strange sightings of dead people. In "Spirit," he creates an intensely sad story around the idea that the human imagination accounts for the presence of those who have moved on beyond the world of the living.
"Spirit" is the epic story of the Buchanan family beginning in 1940's Connecticut. The real focus of the story is on Elizabeth and Laura Buchanan and their little sister Peggy. When we meet the family the three sisters are very young, spending their days lost in worlds of childish imagination. The sisters' favorite story is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," and the three occasionally act out parts of the tale for their own amusement, especially young Peggy. But then tragedy strikes when Peggy accidentally falls through ice and drowns in the family swimming pool. Her death causes the Buchanan family to slowly disintegrate, leading to premature aging for the father and a nervous breakdown with intermittent stays in a mental facility for the mother. Elizabeth and Laura grow up and try to do the best they can with their lives, but the death of Peggy casts a permanent shadow over everyone's life. For most people who lose a member of the family, life does go on after such a sad incident, but not for the Buchanans.
The problem comes when Elizabeth and Laura realize that Peggy hasn't gone gently into the good night. She returns as a spirit, a pale white shade dedicated to protecting her sisters from even the slightest dangers in life. When Laura has an improper relationship with the local preacher, Peggy is there to help clean up the mess in a particularly gruesome way. For over a decade, Peggy always shows up to deliver death, usually by using extreme cold as a weapon, to those who pose a threat to her sisters. It gets to the point where the two sisters feel they cannot even have a disagreement with another person without putting someone in harm's way. Then Elizabeth and Laura discover why Peggy acts in such an egregious manner. Peggy's actions in life, namely her imagination, have led to her return after death. After Elizabeth lives through an encounter with a terrifying creature invoked by Peggy, she knows she has to do something to get rid of her dead sister's influence.
"Spirit" is a deeply atmospheric story loaded with pop culture references, great character development, and a great idea about why ghosts exist. There are also extremely touchy examinations of taboo subjects and great gore sequences (imagine the consequences of a body exposed to temperatures of 200 degrees below zero). The conclusion to the story, while seemingly rushed to some extent and not all that interesting, is not a happy, "we beat the monster!" ending. The sense of profound loss Elizabeth experiences in the end is only the final loss among many throughout the story. That may be the real theme of the story: loss and how we as living beings deal with it (or don't deal with it, as the case may be).
A word to the wary: this book deals with very adult themes described in graphic detail. There is pederasty and a brutal rape scene that is sure to upset even the most jaded readers. Fortunately, these sickening scenes are not inserted into the story for mere sensationalism, but actually do add dimension to the Laura Buchanan character. At the same time, it also highlights a potential problem with the story. Elizabeth and Laura both pontificate on how they wish Peggy would leave them alone and let them take risks and decide how to live their own lives. With the descriptions of Laura's misfortunes, it is obvious that this girl does not know how to live her life. In fact, without the ultimate intervention of Peggy, Laura probably would have been in a world of hurt far beyond learning lessons about life. Despite this and a few other problems with "Spirit," this Masterton book is highly readable and absolutely worth the day or two it takes to get through it.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterton's best...so far!, March 3, 2002
I read this book over the Christmas holidayperiod and somehow it seemed to fit the mood perfectly. With it's almost fairytale like images of raging blizzards, iced over landscapes and dark snowstorms.
SPIRIT is set in rural America just before, during and after World War II and I must say Masterton captures the spirit (get it) of that time perfectly. It's about these two sisters who somehow get caught up with the malevolent ghost of there past away kidsister. This 'spirit' as mentioned in the title manifests itself in the form of a fairytale queen and she murders everybody who stands in the way, or threatens the girls. There are some real nasty, graphic scenes in here, but you get the feel that the people who fall victim to the spirit really have it coming: a pedophile preacher who abuses one of the girls, a nasty female rival at a writing agency and an even nastier movieproducer. They all get killed and/ or maimed in the most hideous ways (especially the scene with the frozen pool!)I have read most of Graham Masterton's books and this ranks up there with his best (if it isn't his best!). The man has a way of not sparing his readers the most grizzliest details and SPIRIT is no exception, it's NOT for the squeamish! But it's (luckily) not nowhere as vile as his MASTER OF LIES (gorehounds pay attention, I dare you: you won't get past the opening chapter of that book!). SPIRIT'S got a great story to back it up though and Masterton pulls of some great characterdevelopment here, especially with the middle sister, who's ambitious and not always as nice as heroes in books are supposed to be (according to literary conventions). All and all A+!! P.S: I still got Masterton's MIRROR and BURNING in my bookcloset. After reading SPIRIT I'll be getting them out real soon!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"...Who Thicks Man's Blood With Cold.", May 6, 2002
Mixed grab-bag of a book. Masterton's writing is superb and his story interesting, but the central premise is shaky, at best.The Buchanan girls lose their little sister, Peggy, to the frozen lake behind their woodland house during WWII. In the years to follow, little Peg pays them several visits - and chills people they know to death. She isn't their little sister anymore, but a creature out of their collective imagination somehow freed and made real by the circumstances of Peg's drowning, and her/its continued presence in the Buchanan sister's lives is that of an unwelcome guardian angel. Until they exorcize it, it will kill those around them - friends and family, as well as enemies. Masterton writes Americana better than most Americans - and he's a subject of the United Kingdom. His novel is epic and involving, following the Buchanan sisters from WWII to the 1960s (and beyond, in epilogue). His characters are well-drawn, complex and interesting. The texture of this novel is rich. The central premise is hard to swallow, even from someone as gifted and experienced as Masterton admittedly is at selling the impossible. The ending of the book is too abrupt, and not all that satisfying. But the read itself is terrific. Spirit is not Masterton's best novel, but it's overall a worthwhile foray into the supernatural.
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