Kate Collins has been ghosted.
She was supposed to be moving in with her new boyfriend Scott, but all she finds after relocating to Brighton is an empty flat. Scott has vanished. His possessions have all disappeared.
Except for his mobile phone.
Kate knows she shouldn't hack into Scott's phone. She shouldn't look at his Tinder, his calls, his social media. But she can't quite help herself.
That's when the trouble starts. Strange, whispering phone calls from numbers she doesn't recognise. Scratch marks on the walls that she can't explain.
And the growing feeling that she's being watched . . .
What did I think?
Holy Ghoster, Batman! What have I just read? Ghoster is not at all what I expected it to be but I absolutely loved it. Jason Arnopp has written such a highly original creepfest that it melted my brain and blew my mind. Prepare to be gobsmacked when you pick up a copy of Ghoster; also clear your schedule as you'll not be able to put it down.
Oh Kate Collins, where do I start? She needs a good talking to after deciding to move in with a guy she met only 3 months ago, not only that, it involves her relocating from Leeds to Brighton, and not only that again, she met him on a digital detox retreat after Super Liking him on Tinder. Coincidence? I don't think so, Kate! This was a car crash waiting to happen and I wasn't wrong, just not in the way I thought.
When Kate turns up in Brighton, with all her worldly belongings, Scott's flat is empty and there's no sign of him. As a paramedic, she's used to gaining entrance to homes in an emergency and suddenly finding herself homeless in a strange town certainly counts as an emergency. When she gets into Scott's flat the only thing left to show he was ever there is his mobile phone and a creepy face drawn on the glass of the balcony door. This throws Kate into even more turmoil as she has gone cold turkey on social media and smart phones since her obsession with looking at her phone caused an accident at work. Just picking up Scott's phone is like holding a cigarette to your lips after you've given up smoking. It's something Kate must do if she wants to find answers to why Scott disappeared but she must control her addiction before she loses herself again.
As scary as the story is in Ghoster, it has a more frightening underlying message: mobile phones can kill. It's good to be reminded of this as we've all heard the horror stories of fatal car accidents due to somebody texting or checking their phone, but this was a more sobering smack in the face of accidents that can be caused by the actions of a mobile phone user anytime, anywhere, anyplace. You can't go anywhere now without seeing people walking around with their heads down looking at their phones and it doesn't stop there as chances are that conversation at home is lost to the digital device to which their eyes are glued. Ghoster definitely gave me food for thought regarding my own mobile phone usage and I think switching my phone off, although difficult to do, would be a great way to have some distraction free time to do more reading.
Ghoster is very original, current and creepy as hell; with the dramatic disappearance being a massively intriguing hook, I simply couldn't put it down. You need to have an open mind to enjoy this multi-dimensional out of this world thriller; even if you expect the unexpected, it will still blow your mind. Ghoster is an outstanding book; I absolutely loved it!
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating:
Buy it from Amazon
About the author:
Jason Arnopp is the author of the new Orbit Books novel Ghoster, which Barnes & Noble's SFF blog has said, "just might qualify as the first true horror novel of the 21st Century." The Three author Sarah Lotz calls it, "a fiendishly smart exploration of obsession and social media addiction", while Cross Her Heat author Sarah Pinborough reckons it's, "twisty, creepy and utterly absorbing."
Arnopp's previous novel was The Last Days Of Jack Sparks (2016), which has been described as "a magnificent millennial nightmare" (Alan Moore), "scarier than watching The Exorcist in an abandoned asylum" (Sarah Lotz) and "The Omen for the social media age" (Christopher Brookmyre). Director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, The Da Vinci Code) optioned the film rights shortly after the book's 2016 release.
Arnopp co-wrote the official behind-the-scenes book Inside Black Mirror with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones.
Check out his four shorter-form fiction titles:
-- Beast In The Basement, a suspenseful, mind-blowing thriller novella
-- A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home, a chilling and groundbreaking short story set in YOUR home
-- Auto Rewind, a dark, emotionally charged thriller novelette
-- American Hoarder, a supernatural creep-fest available only when you join the author's free mailing list at JasonArnopp.com
Arnopp previously wrote and executive-produced the Lionsgate feature film Stormhouse and script-edited the Peter Mullan feature The Man Inside. He has also written for the worlds of Doctor Who (BBC), The Sarah Jane Adventures (BBC) and Friday The 13th (New Line Cinema).
In his past life as a rock journalist, he interviewed the likes of Bon Jovi, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns N' Roses. He was once surrounded by angry guards holding semi-automatic weapons at The Vatican. His Slipknot biography, Slipknot: Inside The Sickness, Behind The Masks, was released in 2001 and is now available as a Kindle Edition. Arnopp has also written a guide to journalistic interviewing, entitled How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else, which is also out on Kindle.
Arnopp's latest non-fiction book is From The Front Lines Of Rock. Available in the Kindle Store now, it gathers 30 of his favourite nterviews he wrote as a rock journalist, with the likes of Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Korn, Kiss, Faith No More, Garbage, Nine Inch Nails and Green Day.
When you sign up for Arnopp's free newsletter at JasonArnopp.com, you can also download his short story American Hoarder for free. You might also want to check out his YouTube channel by searching for his name there. What a wonderful world.
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