Young Iron Mike Sweeney has his own problems to deal with, too. They start with the name of Vic. Iron Mike lives under Vic's roof, and Vic beats him almost daily — viciously, but deep down, Vic is afraid of him? He's a threat to Griswold's plan, but how? Each time Vic lashes out at him, you feel the sting and taste the salty blood. It's an uncomfortable feeling, conveyed in simple words and straightforward description of action.
The Bone Man knows that Iron Mike is special, just like Crow and Val. The Bone Man died that faithful night thirty years ago, but just like evil that can't be stopped, good cant' be stopped, either. Like evil, good waits and waits until it sees an opening, a crevice to breathe. Like evil, good has it's followers, too. They just need a nudge in the right direction, that's all, to get them started.
"Now you're playin' the Blues," the Bone Man said. He strummed his guitar.
"You still won't win," said the voice. A rumble of distant thunder followed his words. "I've got two more books to go and Maberry will fall in line, just like Ruger did."
"Er, right...let's see, where was I?" I continued my review.
Ruger's swath of destruction begins in the cornfields, continues in Val's home, and gets fortified in a sickening encounter in Dark Hollow. Ruger is the catalyst that accelerates Griswold's plan for Pine Deep — and maybe every other town and city.
Maberry builds the foundation for the coming battle with classic horror elements like a bug-filled homunculus messenger, reanimated dead guys, and a fast approaching Halloween season while he positions his combatants in Ghost Road Blues, but leaves much of the why for later.
Of course, comparisons to other noted horror authors are highly likely, but for the present, Maberry's style focuses on his character's actions, not their thoughts, and this moves the story fast and furious. Ghost Road Blues is both event and character driven, using a disarmingly simple style that conveys the thoughts and feelings of his characters without endlessly describing their thoughts and feelings. Yet within this simplicity lies a writer who knows the elements of horror inside and out, and can call them up in a whirl of terror-filled images.
Considering that Ghost Road Blues won the Stoker Award for Best First Novel, I eagerly look forward to reading Book Two: Dead Man's Song.
"Wait a moment," said the voice. "You didn't mention that your copy of Ghost Road Blues was personally sent to you by Maberry, and he autographed it for you. Personally. Oh, and there's that little business about you being a contributing editor to his magazine, Cryptopedia."
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!
2 - IL
Thanks!
3 - Faisal
I bought this book and read it solely becuase of the fact that it won the Stoker. After reading it, I have seriously started doubting the credibilty of the Bram Stoker Awards and all those authors who have chipped in with their blurbs. Pathetic does not describe it adequately. Its far worse than that. Badly written, extremely painful to read, this is by far one of the worst books I have ever read. Mr. Maberry should take some basic classes in creative writing. If he wants to convey that something was scary he will write "it was unspeakably dreadful and evil" and so on. This so so so so so bad :( :( :( I would have been better off reading some hack. At least they deliver and are not pretentious.
4 - Barb Harris
Wow...sounds like that last jackass has some kind of personal beef with the author. I thought personal attacks weren't allowed on these blog boards.
As far as my take on Ghost Road Blues goes...my book club just finished reading it (31 members), and we agreed that it was an excellent book, and particularly strong for a 'first novel'. Even out here in sunny Los Angeles I know I felt the creepy chill of the small eastern Pennsylvania town. This book would make a very, very spooky film.