Ghost Road Blues: A Thrilling Pine Deep Novel

J. Waymack: Wow. This was recommended by Steven King…and he was sure right. Keep up the good work and keep writing like this.

United States on Nov 01, 2023

Mac6uffin: My only problem now is I want the rest of the story. Too close to Halloween to finish both sequels. Maybe next year? But this is my jam - spooky small towns filled with literal and metaphorical monsters. Interesting normal characters to boot.
Recommended for horror fans.

United States on Oct 28, 2023

Dean McCaskill: This is one of my favourite books I’ve read in a good 15 years! Maberry is fantastic and this book was the first of at least 20 I’ve read of his. He’s a great guy too from what I can see. Always answers back on socials. Yeah. Read this!

Canada on Jul 08, 2022

Crusader: Wow! What a spooky and creepy story!

A small backstory:

The town of Pine Deep is just steeped in haunting lore of the Bone Man as something tragic happened thirty years before in Pine Deep. Now every year the town has a haunted hayride festival that commemorates the lore. Though this year something comes barreling through the small town in the way of three criminals and they are notorious for crimes they have committed in the past. Things are about to get interesting when the criminals show up as the haunting in the town slowly comes to life encompassing them all.

Thoughts:

There are quite a few characters to keep track of in this story so I didn't go into any great detail of each one of them - it was best to give a background on the story itself instead of going into character detail. Main characters that stand out in this story are: Terry Wolfe, Malcolm Crow, Valerie Guthrie (Crow's girlfriend), Iron Mike Sweeney, Tow Truck Eddie, and Vic Wingate, plus the criminals: Ruger, Boyd, and Tony.

The story itself seems slow at first and I did notice that there is up and down ratings/reviews on this book, but though it might seem to be a slow burn the...

United States on Aug 31, 2021

M. B.: As the first book in the Pine Deep series, Ghost Road Blues takes you on a page-turning adventure with well developed characters. The perfect mix of paranormal and thriller, this book is a definite must read

Canada on Jul 26, 2021

Irene: At last. An author who can write in a literary style in the genre of horror. The characters are credible, which makes you care what happens to them, the plot is plausible, always difficult in this genre, the themes are universal - and the language is beautifully constructed, surprising and poetic. A rarity. Taking me ages to read - to savour - which is how I like to read a piece of literature. I had to google literary authors in the horror genre before coming across this author, so recommend this to other readers, to avoid having to wade through 'best selling authors' and wasting time that way.

United Kingdom on Jul 23, 2016

jcorrell: It's tough to review this book as a standalone novel, since, as numerous reviewers have pointed out, this is the first book in a trilogy. As such, there really isn't anything close to a satisfying "ending", where plot lines are wrapped up in any way. In fact, the book kind of just "stops" without any resolution of the building conflict between good and evil, and throws in a very predictable cliffhanger ending to hook you for the next book. There really isn't any reason to read this book by itself without following it up with the next two books (which I haven't read yet), since that would be akin to stopping a novel halfway (or in this case, a third of the way) through without finishing.

But what you WILL find in this book is both good and bad. I'll list my opinion of the pros and cons here, since the large amount of 5-star reviews for this book were, in my opinion, a little misleading and don't tell the whole story.

The good:
1) The author certainly has a large vocabulary and knows how to paint a scenic picture. His prose is very descriptive and even though it can get overly-weighty at times (see the first "bad" point below), there's no denying he can...

United States on Oct 27, 2015

R T Twinem: It is always a pleasant surprise to discover a horror story that really gives good meaning to what horror writing is all about. Ghost Road Blues at it's heart is the struggle of good and evil in the quaint little setting of Pine Deep, a quiet little Pennsylvania town now enjoying the good times but hiding a secret long past but not long dead. Into this idyllic setting roars the psychopathic Karl Ruger and his accomplish Boyd set on destruction and heading for a showdown with reformed alcoholic and all time good guy Malcolm Crow....if you add to this a list of characters tow-truck Eddie, iron Mike Sweeney and the despicable Vic Wignate then you have all the ingredients for a cracking read. The style of writing and the tautness of prose really makes Ghost Road Blues rattle along..."There was a scent of blood on the dark winds, and the promise of much, much more; a perfume of destruction and pain carried to every part of the town, even to the darkest and most remote of places. The secret seemed to sink into the rich earth of the town, seeking out those who craved that aroma."......and the lovely theme running through this thrilling read..."Evil..it don't never die" the bluesman said...

United Kingdom on Feb 10, 2013

Rwools: I managed to carry off the worst trick with this author I brought the 3rd of the trilogy before the first two so had to wait for Amazon to kindly bring me the first instalments.

As a stand alone novel this just does not work the very last page should have a "to be continued...." or "We'll be back after these adverts" so be warned don't by it as a stand alone novel, you need "Dead Mans Song" as well.

It's also worth knowing that this story refers back to an event 30 years in the past. I almost felt like I'd missed the first of 4 books in the series.

As for the story thats here it's pretty good. The author manages to make you care about most if not all of his characters. It's suitably gruesome and creepy without taking it into the realms of Stephen Kings darker works and theres a smattering of humour. I've never yet read a novel that I can say I'd need the light on for this or I couldn't put it down but this does have a sense of foreboding throughout. I'm now going to read Dead Mans Song to find out what happens!

United Kingdom on Sep 23, 2009