Ghost Road Blues

The Pine Deep Trilogy, Book 1

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel

From a master of horror comes an apocalyptic showdown between the residents of a secluded, rural town and the deadly evil that confronts them wherever they turn.

Evil doesn’t die.

The cozy little town of Pine Deep buried the horrors of its past a long time ago. Thirty years have gone by since the darkness descended and the Black Harvest began, a time when a serial killer sheared a bloody swath through the quiet Pennsylvania village. The evil that once coursed through Pine Deep has been replaced by cheerful tourists getting ready to enjoy the country’s largest Halloween celebration in what is now called “The Spookiest Town in America.”

It just grows stronger.

But then—a month before Halloween—it begins. Unspeakably desecrated bodies. Inexplicable insanity. An ancient evil walks the streets, drawing in those who would fall to their own demons and seeking to shred the very soul of this rapidly fracturing community. Yes, the residents of Pine Deep have drawn together and faced a killer before. But this time, evil has many faces—and the lust and will to rule the earth. This struggle will be epic.

Keep chilled: listen to more in the Pine Deep trilogy.

©2006 Jonathan Maberry (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Maberry supplies plenty of chills, both earthbound and otherworldly, in this atmospheric horror novel…This is horror on a grand scale, reminiscent of Stephen King’s heftier works.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Awesome book

Great book I’m about to start the next one in the trilogy. Love J.M.s books.

What scares John Ledger? Pine Deep for sure

So glad I researched about Pine Deep after its short appearance in one of John Ledger’s short stories. Maberry is a master of its craft, loved the way each character is introduced/developed while the arc of the narrative builds up. I can easily see this being turned into a movie script even before reading/listening parts 2 and 3. If you enjoy The Stand by Stephen King, then Pine Deep will be a treat.

Halloween started

A great way to get the Halloween season started! Can’t wait to get through the series!

Good

Keeps ya interested, though not scary like King or Kuntz novels. But I’m definitely getting book #2 to see what happens!

Chilling tale

This is one story I will absolutely listen to again and again. The narrator's voice was perfect for this story. He was able to bring me to tears, terrify me, and make me smile.

Prefer Joe Ledger but....

I prefer Maberry's Joe Ledger series, but this was fine. I will probably continue with this series. I'm not much for these "horror in a small town" stories made famous by Stephen King. A steady diet of them warps my thinking.

Larry Corriea is another good author in the Man v Zombie gendre.

Takes a little to get into but stick in there

Little slow start to it but man, this story is most definitely worth your time.

IT WAS HARD TO START BUT DID GET BETTER

Story was OK not what I'm use to from Mayberry. But story line did finally pick up.

Really enjoyed this

I’m writing this review after having finished the whole series so this review really applies to the series in general rather than this first book specifically. I really like the series and found myself wanting to listen to it at every available moment. I find that Jonathan Mayberry does dialogue very well. Bad dialogue is my pet peeve and will ruin a book for me. He also manages to never let a story slow down and stagnate for hundreds of pages, which is saying something considering the length of his books. The one thing that does annoy me in his books is the amount of damage he has his characters endure. He takes it way over the top and to me, it stretches my suspension of disbelief just a bit. But otherwise, I think he’s a great writer and I’ve never not liked anything I’ve read by him. The narration wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard, but it wasn’t bad. The narrator’s voice is so deep that it didn’t lend itself well to female voices and the male voices had very little variety but I think he did a decent job of it in spite of those things. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes action adventure/horror.

Poor copy of The Stand

I’m actually a little surprised this book was published; it’s just a poorly revamped version of The Stand. Do yourself a favor and stick to the original :/