To avoid becoming monsters, we must be aware of how profoundly our programming affects us. There are two scenes in GHOUL that keep me up at night, neither of which deal with the actual ghoul (which was extremely scary). The scenes involve a young man named Barry, and……and it might be time for you to stop reading if you want to remain unspoiled. I mean, I'll try not to get TOO specific, but to make my point…yeah. Minor (or, arguably, major) spoilers. The first scene involves the three boys and th...

Terrific coming-of-age story about three young boys growing up in the 1980's who must battle an underground-dwelling ghoul to save their town and overcome their own fears, which are caused largely in part from their own personal demons. Keene's writing is sharp and smart and the relationship between the three friends is well-developed. My only criticisms concern the dialogue of the ghoul, which comes across as corny and not very scary. It would have been better if the creature kept quiet. Plus,

"Life goes on, after the thrill of living has gone" so goes a famous John Cougar Mellencamp song ("Jack and Diane") referred to in this brilliant coming of age novel. We're back in 1984 (great music, Dio, Iron Maiden, Prince) and see three 12 year old boys spending their summer holidays. The book starts with a great sex scene on a cemetery describing the characters involved in an outstanding way (no kidding). Then something is set free within and terrifies the living and the dead. Well, over the...

4.25 stars.This is a coming-of-age horror story, set in a small Maryland town, in 1984. It's a re-read of one of my favourite horror novels, by one of my favourite horror novelists. Most horror enthusiasts favour Stephen King as one of their favourites (if not the favourite) authors, in this genre. But my triad of fav horror novelists are Edward Lee, the late Richard Laymon and Brian Keene. Timmy (the protagonist) and his best friends Barry and Doug, lived in a more innocent era: 🔹When there was...

What a fantastic coming of age story! Loved it 🖤

"Orwell was wrong," his grand-father said."Who's that?""George Orwell. He was a famous writer. You'll probably learn about him when you get a little older. He wrote a book called 1984.Took place now, but back then, it was the future, of course. Society was supposed to be a bad place by the year 1984. Not a good time to be alive. But he was wrong. These are the best times of them all."Brian Keene's Ghoul was a real blast of a read for me, a touching, intense, and sometimes disturbing coming of ag...

Review originally appeared at Cemetery Dance: June 28th, 2019“Boys have scars”, he thought. “Some of them fade—and others don’t. Some scars stay with us for life.”—Brian Keene, GhoulEven though this book was originally published some years ago, stories this good are timeless and a well-written book can find its audience yesterday, today and tomorrow. Ghoul will now join the ranks of my favorite coming-of-age horror tales. And I know what some of you are thinking right now, “We know all about Bri...

As we all know, there is this patronizing line people use when they are ashamed of liking something. They may refer to is as a guilty pleasure, and then, as if to indemnify themselves from humiliation, will cowardly mutter something along the lines of ‘I liked it for what it was’. Well, no shit! Does anybody like something for what it isn’t? Perhaps they do. (Oh that Camus and his sanguine romps!) After all, the best thing about some books is that they aren’t by James Patterson, or one of his gh...

Excellent story, highly recommended!!!

This was a nice retro coming of age horror story. Though the 80's references were way too heavy handed during the first section of the novel (nearly one, sometimes two every line) the author lightened up on the music and tv references and got on with the story. It's about a young boy and his two best friends and the summer when they must deal with everyday monsters as well as a slimy, corpse-eating ghoul. It's a fun monster book with a realistic ending if you're in the mood for such things.

Solid. I rolled my eyes all the way through the first chapter--it reads like a movie of the week. But after the first chapter, the book settles into some honest, moving territory. I liked the ending, but found the epilogue rushed and skimming across interesting depths. A definite page turner, but not a masterpiece.

A considerably darker, more horror-ish version of Stranger Things. In 1984, three 12yo friends discover, and battle, a ghoul in their local graveyard, and also family and life problems. It mostly lacks the sentimentality of these sorts of "Boys' Own Adventure" stories, replacing it with straight horror. I enjoyed it very much.

I was expecting to like this, my first Brian Keene novel. What I wasn’t expecting, was this to be, not only one of my favorite books of the year, but one of my favorite books of all time! I kid you not. This book is that good. I experienced an emotional maelstrom reading this book. I cheered, I cried. The ending shattered my heart. This novel was a perfect snapshot of my middle school years. I loved the characters Timmy, Doug, and Barry so damn much, seeing so much of myself in them. I wished I

Somebody was watching them.A figure crouched atop a tombstone twenty yards away. The darkness hid its features.This is my first Brian Keene novel. As such I don’t know how representative it is of the rest of his work. I will say that he doesn’t muck around when it comes to the grim factor. Right from the opening chapter of this novel things get violent, although to be fair, there is a bit of a plateau in the middle. I appreciated the fact that the author manages to tell a lot of story in not so

Am I ever glad I gave Brian Keene another shot. I had read The Rising a few years ago and although there were several typos in that publication, it was still a very gripping read.So now a colleague of mine had been ripping through his books and told me that Ghoul was awesome.Well yeah, it pretty much was.It seems that Keene is channeling Stephen King with his nostalgic depiction of three 12 year-old buddies, and he does this quite well. Although, as some reviewers are keen (sorry) to point out,

This is copy 348 of 500 hardcover copies printed and signed and numbered by Brian Keene.

I finally plucked this one off of my TBR list and I’m kicking myself for not doing it much sooner. Our story takes us back to 1984 Central Pennsylvania, as we follow the adventures of a trio of twelve-year-olds, Timmy, Doug, and Barry. The boys spend their summer hanging out in their underground clubhouse located in the unused part of a cemetery and away from their parents, some of which are abusive alcoholics. Barry’s dad is the worst of the bunch, and just so happens to be the cemetery’s caret...

Brian Keene is like a generic version of my favorite splatterpunk authors. Guys like Laymon, Ketchum, and Lee have such distinctive voices I can almost guess the author identity after reading a few random pages. Reading Keene makes me guess the author could be anyone. The writing is dry, flat, and ordinary.No offense to everyone who disagrees.

From FALKNER REVIEWSYou don't have to be 34 (as I am in 2007 at the time of this review) to enjoy Brian Keene's "Ghoul" but it certainly helps.In the summer of 1984, best friends, Timmy, Doug, and Barry are looking forward to a fabulous vacation, reading comics and girlie mags, watching cartoons and late night horror flicks, riding their bikes, trading pranks with their arch enemies, and hanging out in their dugout fort, which just happens to flank their local cemetery... a cemetery in which a r...