• Unholy Ghosts

  • Downside Ghosts, Book 1
  • By: Stacia Kane
  • Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
  • Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,494 ratings)

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Unholy Ghosts

By: Stacia Kane
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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Publisher's summary

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack.

In a future world under attack from the undead, the powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a dangerous drug lord who wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in a dangerous attraction to the drug lord’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

©2009 Stacey Fackler (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“[A] dark futuristic urban fantasy….atmospheric and well written.” ( Publishers Weekly)
“Gripping….Vivid characters and a wonderful sense of place….I was enthralled.” (Charlaine Harris, New York Times best-selling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels)
Unholy Ghosts is a wonderful, weird, wild tale filled with gritty magic, punk rock, and macabre spirits. Kane’s world is dark, dangerous, and haunted, populated by hustlers, junkies and exorcists…and you’ll never want to leave. Simply the best book I’ve read this year.” (Caitlin Kittredge, author of Street Magic)

Featured Article: Seek Out the Strange and Supernatural with the 45 Best Paranormal Audiobooks


The folklore of just about every human culture is rife with stories that feature talking animals, shape-shifters, demons, witches, spirits, and more. Whether you arrive seeking horror, thrills, romance, or fantasy, there’s a title here for you. And with a slate of narrators that includes famous actors and award-winning voice artists, it’s impossible to go wrong with any of these picks.

What listeners say about Unholy Ghosts

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting world....

This is the first book in Kane’s Downside Ghosts series. The fifth book in this series, Chasing Magic, comes out the end of June 2012. This was a gritty urban fantasy and a creative idea featuring some very flawed characters. I enjoyed it for its creativity. I listened to this on audiobook.

The audiobook was decently done. I wasn’t crazy about the narrator; her voice bothered me a little. The narrator did distinguish between characters fairly well; although a few of the male characters sounded very similar and were hard to tell apart. I wouldn’t strongly recommend listening to this on audiobook, but it was okay.

Chess is a Church witch in a world where the Church of Real Truth runs everything. Some time ago the ghosts rose up and murdered two-thirds of humanity. The third that is left is beholden to the Church of Real Truth for keeping the viscous spirits locked up. Chess is a debunker for the Church and checks out hauntings to see whether they are real or not. Chess has a secret though; she is also a drug addict heavily in debt to a dealer named Bump. Bump forces her to check out a haunting at an airport for him in order to clear her debt. Little does Chess know that Bump’s job for her will collide with some other dark happenings that involve the Church.

The concept behind this world is intriguing. It is an urban fantasy with a post-apocalyptic feel to it. Two thirds of the population was murdered by ghosts during Haunted Week. Now the rest of society ekes out what living it can while supporting the Church of Real Truth. The Church of Real Truth keeps ghosts trapped in the City of Eternal Life and grants large rewards to anyone who has a haunting (since it means the Church failed in its duty to contain ghosts).

Pretty interesting world but also very dark. It follows that the characters are incredibly dark as well. The story also has a number of parts that make you think “Yuck!” Kane doesn’t pull her punches on gory descriptions.

Chess is an interesting character. She is a drug addict so a big portion of her life is driven by her need to feed her habit. This gets her into some trouble and sucks her money. Interestingly enough though she functions okay for her job and manages to hide her addiction from her co-workers. What also makes her interesting is her dedication to do what needs to be done. At one point she has to choose between a day of oblivion sucking on the pipes and hunting down some info; she chooses to do her job despite her yearnings. She also occasionally uses drugs to aid her in her work; speed to keep her awake during a curse that makes her want to sleep...stuff like that. So she functions remarkably well considering.

Chess has a very dark background; she bounced through foster homes, many of which she suffered numerous kinds of abuse as a child at. This is occasionally discussed but never in great detail. I just wanted to mention it because it is one more level of darkness added to the story.

The characters surrounding Chess are just as flawed and just as hard to like; but they still have a lot of depth and are well done. Even though these characters are all hard to like, that doesn’t mean they don’t engage the reader well. Of the surrounding characters my favorite was Terrible; he is basically the hitman for Bump and gets assigned to protect Chess on her investigation. Terrible is a wonderful mix of contradictions; he is loyal yet vicious, he is quick to injure and kill yet gentle with Chess. Really he is just a wonderfully interesting character.

The mystery in the book is very well done and the plot never slows down. There are many seemingly separate story arcs that tie in well together. There were a couple times in the story where Chess made logical mental jumps that didn’t make sense to me as the reader; I suppose you could blame the drugs but hopefully in future books the reasoning will be better done.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book. I didn’t like the characters a ton, but they were interesting. I loved the idea behind the world, the mystery, and the magic. I am curious to learn more about this world. Just a warning that this is a pretty dark and gritty urban fantasy; so if you don’t like gross, gory or gritty I wouldn’t recommend reading this book. Recommended to fans of dark and gritty urban fantasy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Yay! It's A Series!

Any additional comments?

This was a very enjoyable story, and the narrator was incredible! It was slightly predictable, and the "F" word was used in abundance... If you're sensitive to that kind of language, this book is probably not for you... But over all, the story drew me in. The author and narrator had me in the first chapter, which for me, rarely happens. This is one of those rare series I will buy all at once and listen to back-to-back. Usually I like to space them out so I don't get bored with the characters, but usually I don't bother writing reviews, either. It's a good "future earth" or "dystopian" or "urban fantasy" type story. Can't wait for my credits so I can get the next in the series!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wow! Just... Wow

I love paranormal fantasy, paranormal romance, really most anything in the Fantasy genre. I also love to read a good series. I own way more titles than any one person should, but this is my main form of entertainment. That being said... this is probably one of the most unusual series I've ever read. Really different!

This book, the first in the series, started off a bit slow and at first I didn't care for the narrator at all. I was thinking I'd wasted a credit and the story was stupid and the narrator sounded like an uneducated gang member. I thought the narrator sounded like that because the heroine WAS an uneducated gang member and so were the rest of the characters. I was outside pulling weeds and had dirty hands and was basically too lazy to wash up and change books. Thank goodness! I now own all five in the series and I read them back to back.

The main character, Chess, is a fairly powerful witch in a very nasty world. The premise is that vengeful ghosts got loose somehow and killed a large segment of the world's population. In this world ALL ghosts are vengeful and want nothing more than to kill the living, and somehow they all got out at once and started wreaking havoc. The only people that could put the ghosts back where they belong and protect the living are witches that get completely tattooed in protection and power symbols. Since these witches are the only people who have this ability they basically take over the world, create a giant bureaucracy & government structure, outlaw all organized religion, and kill anyone who tries to release or contact any of the ghosts. Okay, that sounds bizarre but we all know how to "suspend disbelief", right? Then comes the fact that our heroine is a freaking drug addict. Huh? And she's sleeping with her pusher. Really? And falls in love with the gang enforcer who might be forced to kill her if she screws up. Yeah, okay.....

Well, this all just works. Chess is one of the most interesting characters I've ever read -- she alternates from being totally fascinating to infuriatingly stupid to amazingly heroic. She is profoundly damaged by her childhood and the state of the world, but she is loyal and dedicated and really tries to do good and to help people. She just has this tiny little problem where if she can't get a fix every so often she goes into full meltdown withdrawl. She works for this new government and they've basically saved her life by educating her and giving her a quite respectable job that almost pays enough to keep her in pills, cigaretts, blow, and booze.

Each book in the story has a core mystery/adventure/deathly situation solved by the end of the book. However, the books are chronological as far as her personal and work relationships and should be read in order. With her bosses and coworkers on the one side, and the gangs, pushers, prostitues and junkies on the other side, Chess is in constant conflict even without all the nasties she has to deal with. The plots are original and suspenseful, never boring. The narrator is a perfect choice, but I would love to hear her talking to someone in real life. She does the job so well I can't decide if she'll sound like a college professor or a suburban snob or actually an uneducated gang member. Which is it?

I guess these books would not be for everyone. If you've never made any bone-head mistakes or dipped your toe into the less-than-savory parts of the world then you probably would hate Chess and all her friends. If you've ever skirted the edges or have some understanding of the subculture then these people will ring true and are even sort of admirable. Good job Stacia Kane & Bahni Turpin, thanks.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Unholy is right!

This is a dark story and there is a heavy and constant thread of the main character’s struggles with drug addiction. At times I found the ongoing focus on her drug cravings and symptoms to be distracting, but I think this was in part due to how real/accurate the author portrayed real drug addiction. That being said the author does a great job developing her characters in a way that brings them to life and she created a highly engaging listen. Stacia Kane writes in a way that makes you feel the emotion, which varies from fear, disgust, desperation, addiction and triumph to list just a few.

The story, characters and emotions are made even better by the amazing narration by Bahni Turpin. This is the first time I have heard her narrate and I am so impressed with the skill and energy that she brought to this book I will be looking for other works she has done.

At this time I have only completed the first book of the series, which was well worth the credit. It kept me riveted from the very beginning and the intensity did not diminish. I am excited that Bahni Turpin is the narrator for the remaining four books in the series, which encourages me even more to continue with this series. If you are looking for more of a summary of the story I recommend referring to T. Hernandez’s solid review titled “Not for the faint of heart.”

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great new (to me) series

I really enjoyed this series.

The narrator does a fantastic job and the story is very compelling. Can wait to hear more about Chess and Terrible.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not easily impressed, but was!

What made the experience of listening to Unholy Ghosts the most enjoyable?

A relatable character: to be more specific its not about her addictions its about her coping mechanisms that are so grungy, dark, cynical, and self-loathingly human. It seems to become more and more difficult these days to find a book in the fantasy/fiction category that doesn't fill its pages with a flimsy storyline and cheesier pornography. The story line isn't full of fluff, I am seriously happy I listened to this book.

What other book might you compare Unholy Ghosts to and why?

I found this book after being in a reader-rutt from the Fever series, it helped pull me out of it.

What about Bahni Turpin’s performance did you like?

She was great, I thought her characters were all well done.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

DEFINITELY WORTH EVERY SECOND

What did you like best about Unholy Ghosts? What did you like least?

I AM SOOOO ADDICTED TO THIS SERIES THE WAY CHESS IS ADDICTED TO DRUGS!!! STACIA KANE IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!

What did you like best about this story?

The charactors, the settings, the word the amazing Stacia Kane has created. I love EVERYTHING!!

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Made the charactors sound more like they are written. Chess doesn't whine (at least no where but in her head) and Terrible may think he's only a useless thug HE IS SMART AND WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM YOU REALISE HE IS!!!

Was Unholy Ghosts worth the listening time?

YES! YES! YES!

Any additional comments?

Get ahold of Stacia Kane's other work. YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED!!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

detour from the usual

I bought this book a long time ago and couldn't get into it. I suppose it was just my mood, because wow, I am so glad i gave it another chance. It is complicated to describe what the book does to you. If you let it, you can can get swept right into chess' world, her addiction, her strength and her bad decisions. The world that Stacia Kane makes is though provoking, with the ghosts and the church. If addiction or drug use bothers you, then dont bother. Initially, i couldn't figure out why it was a part of her charachter, but you come to see it what allows her to function. But as all addicts, it causes a lot of problems also. I hope it is addressed in a further book. Addiction is always a downward spiral, so she has to hit rock bottom and change at some point for us to continue believing it.
I don't know if i could have read this book. What Bahni Turpin does for all the characters is nothing shy of brilliant. The speech would have tripped me up, but turpin brings it to life and makes you feel the emotion behind the charachters. Especially Chess and Terrible. It is a gritty book, but i am so glad i gave it another go. I am reading the 4th book now since it isn't on audible... hint hint!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

This book was a disappointment. The story dragged and never really hooked me. I downloaded the book after i read many positive reviews, but i don't know what the fuss was about. The narrator really bugged me when she tried slang for different characters. I made myself get through the book, but i'm not going to continue the series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Could be a guilty pleasure

It's always a pleasure to find a story that breaks a little new ground in its genre. Stacia Kane does so with Unholy Ghosts. Main character Chess is often annoying, addicted to drugs, and walks a fine line between competency and incompetency in her profession of Debunker. She is also a character with an appealing amount of determination to do what must be done. I hope Kane continues to build on Chess' character, and address her level of drug addiction in upcoming stories. Supporting characters were just beginning to jell by the end of Ghosts. Lex is a mystery. Terrible was wonderful and the most real after Chess . . . The structure and people of the Church need to be fleshed out. Lastly a word about the narrator: Wonderful!

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