I received this novel from the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.
The synopsis for Ghoster promised an interesting mix between horror and social media technology, so that it was too appealing a premise to let such a story slide by: it’s impossible not to notice how many people are absorbed, compulsively so, by their phones’ screens – on public transport, on sidewalks, even in restaurants where interaction with other tablemates has been replaced by fixed stares at those screens – and I was curious to see how the horror element would dovetail with this widespread phenomenon.
Kate Collins is a senior paramedic and she’s addicted to social media – or rather was: after her manic absorption caused her work partner some grievous damage, she decided that the best cure for her obsession would be to revert back to a basic model of phone, one where actual calls and text messaging are the only way to connect with the rest of the world. While participating in a “techno detox” retreat, Kate meets Scott Palmer, who quickly turns out to be the man of her dreams: after less than three months, Scott asks her to move in with him, and Kate leaves her job and life in Leeds behind to relocate with Scott in Brighton. When the day for the big move comes, however, Kate discovers that Scott’s flat is completely empty, the man does not answer her increasingly frantic messages and the only thing he left behind is his smartphone.
Needing to know what happened, Kate finds the way to unlock Scott’s phone and discovers the man seems to have built their relationship – such as it was – on a mountain of lies and things left unsaid: the Scott that comes out of his phone bears little resemblance to the one Kate fell in love with, and what’s worse, the empty apartment, where power has been disconnected, is haunted by ghostly presences that leave mysterious and disturbing scratches on the inner surface of the front door. Kate’s downward spiral, compounded by the return of her addiction to social media, is unstoppable and each new discovery drags her deeper and deeper into what looks like a descent into madness.
Ghoster turned out to be a book whose two components – the story and the characterization – seem to be at odds with each other: while the first works well, because the need to understand what really happened remains a constant drive, the latter did not work well for me, mainly because I could not connect with Kate and found her increasingly vexing if not downright stupid. At some point we learn that Kate has been working as a paramedic for fifteen years, so postulating that she started as early as eighteen, she must be thirty-three years old at least: however, the person we get to know in the book thinks and acts more like a thirteen year old – and I’m certain there are far more mature and responsible thirteen year olds in the world than this woman.
Kate is selfish and self-absorbed, an adult displaying all the worst traits to be found in those paint-by-the-numbers teenage characters giving YA fiction its bad reputation. Constantly complaining about the unfairness of life in general, she often looks prone to lay the blame on others, and when she admits her own failings she does so in a superficial, semi-serious way that belies the earnestness of the acknowledgment. This frivolous approach represents one of my main contentions with Kate as a character: even in the most grim of situations, she always resorts to some pun, or pop-culture reference that has no place in that context and often made me wonder about the real “mood” the author wanted to impart to the story. If Kate Collins was to be the embodiment of addiction to technology (or addiction at large), she does indeed display many of the symptoms – as denial of the problem, distance from the people wanting to help her, out-of-proportion reactions when faced with the naked truth – but in the end that offhand attitude, the false self-deprecatory jokes, spoil the desired effect and turn Kate into a caricature rather than a character we can believe in or relate to.
On the other hand, the story itself fares much better, because there is such a weirdly terrifying escalation in the discoveries Kate makes through the contents of Scott’s phone – not only the fact that he’s not the man she believed him to be, or that he seemed to entertain other relationships while they were dating and getting more serious, but the disturbing pictures and videos stored on the device. And of course there are the ghosts appearing in the empty flat, which are frightening on their own and even more so when Kate finds their living pictures in the phone’s memory bank, or the weird scratches on the front door, or the definite sensation of being watched. The build-up, through false leads and shocking discoveries, takes us toward a surprise revelation that is unexpected and at the same time makes a chilling sort of sense, the kind of scenario whose deepest horror lies in its surface appearance of normality.
Sadly, the reveal takes what feels like a long time to get there – what with having to wade through the quagmire of Kate’s constant whining, foolish antics and outlandish theories – and when it happens, its intended impact has been dulled by this improbable heroine and her preposterous behavior. Once I reached that final chapter I had the definite impression that the novel’s core concept might have started its life as a short story – a compact, imaginative, delightfully scary story on the dangers of technology addiction – and that it was later padded, quite unnecessarily in my opinion, with Kate Collins’ journey of discovery. Which on hindsight looks somewhat wasteful…
My Rating:
Oh Maddelena, this review is KILLING me. I’m so disappointed!! I’m sorry this didn’t work for you, and I’m surprised that Kate is in her thirties. The blurb makes her sound a lot younger, and indeed it appears her characterization makes her much younger than her actual years. There’s nothing left but to read it myself and see what I think!
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The story itself was worth the effort of dealing with Kate 😀 so I don’t consider it a total loss, not at all. Still, I keep thinking this would have worked better as short story.
Looking forward to your review, I’d love to hear other opinions about this book.
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Great review… I just finished this one and wrote mine last night. It really got me contemplating the unlikable protagonist and whether I still liked the book if I wanted to scream obscenities at the Kate! Ha!
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I choose to approach this book with a split personality 😀
A part of me enjoyed the story and was eager to discover the mystery at its core, while the other kept throwing insults at Kate… 🙂
I look forward to reading your review!
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Haha!!
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YA.
Nothing else needs to be said…
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That’s the problem: this is NOT a YA novel… (((HUGE SIGH)))
😉
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Ohhhhhh…..
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That’s disappointing. I was really looking forward to this one! I might still give it a try but I really dislike when the MC makes bad decisions…
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If it was meant to showcase the side-effects of phone addiction, it might have gone a little over the top…
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Aw man, that’s unfortunate. I like how you see it as an excellent novella and that it was simply unnecessarily padded into a novel. I like the premise though and somehow it reminds me of one of King’s books? I think they made a movie about it too… something with cellphones exploding and all hahaha Great review nonetheless! 😀
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Thank you! 🙂
The horror/mystery part had indeed some King vibes, and that’s the main reason I managed to finish the book and did not turn it into a DNF because of that unlikable main character….
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Ahhhh, you are getting to all my anticipated books well before me! 😀 I’m glad though, because I get to be prepared for what’s coming. So disappointed that this one did not meet expectations, I’m really anxious for my own read of this now! Jack Sparks is one of my all time favorite horror books and I had high hopes for this one, hopefully it’ll work better for me now that my expectations are tempered though! It’s definitely on the TBR for October.
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I remember your enthusiastic review about the author’s first book, and I meant to read it – unfortunately, like many of its brethren, it lay abandoned by the wayside, and now I might try to go back to it to give myself a better feel for his writing skills.
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Sounds bad, sorry this one turned out to be such a bummer – the YA tag you attached to it seems well deserved, for all the wrong reasons 😉
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Crafting a YA-flavored story was probably not what the author intended, but that’s the “vibe” I got – even though I might be wrong….
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Oh drat – this is an upcoming read – ‘expectations managed’ I suppose. Deep sigh.
Lynn 😀
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I’m eager to read more reviews on this one to see this story through some different perspectives…
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Damn! When I started reading your review, I was DEFINITELY getting the vibes that this book is going to be SOO MUCH FUN and that you liked it but shoot! I am so sorry that the potentially good story was destroyed by unnecessary elongation! I COMPLETELY AGREE that sometimes there are some sub plots that just ruin the complete novel…AND I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS! It’s such a shame though because after reading the first part of the review, I was actually thinking of adding to my tbr but now, I am not so sure seeing that you gave it 3 stars..
SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I loved your honest and detailed review! 😍😘😊
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Thank you!
To be even more honest, though, I have to admit that I have been known to dislike books that others loved, so my advice would be to give this one a try nonetheless if you are intrigued by the story. I would love to hear other comments on this book from different points of view! 🙂
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Oh? Well, yeah…the story about the guy disappearing and the flat being haunted by ghosts sound…i don’t know…interesting…hahah!! Maybe I will check it out, I don’t know but I am sure as hell not in a hurry about it. ❤️❤️❤️😊😊
HAVE THE HAPPIESTTTT OCTOBER, Maddalena! ❤️❤️
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Thank you! And you as well! With LOTS and LOTS of great books on your shelf! 🙂
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😍❤️🥳
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Aww no, I had hopes for this! Sorry it didn’t work out for you, Maddalena! I really like the premise, and the Black Mirror-y vibe of it, but Kate’s characterization will probably make me want to throw my kindle at the wall. 😀
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Your comparison with Black Mirror is spot on, so I think that might be the… saving grace of this story, main character notwithstanding: the last chapter is where the true horror lies…. 🙂
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