The Ghost Clause

A Novel

By: Howard Norman

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award Finalist Howard Norman delivers another provocative, haunting novel, this time set in a Vermont village and featuring a missing child, a newly married private detective, and a highly relatable ghost.

Simon Inescort is no longer bodily present in his marriage. It's been several months since he keeled over the rail of a Nova Scotia-bound ferry, a massive heart attack to blame. Simon's widow, Lorca Pell, has sold their farmhouse to newlyweds Zachary and Muriel - after revealing that the deed contains a "ghost clause", an actual legal clause, not unheard of in Vermont, allowing for reimbursement if a recently purchased home turns out to be haunted.

In fact, Simon finds himself still at home: "Every waking moment, I'm astonished I have any consciousness... What am I to call myself now, a revenant?" He spends time replaying his marriage in his own mind, as if in poignant reel-to-reel, while also engaging in occasionally intimate observation of the new homeowners. But soon the crisis of a missing child, a local 11-year-old, threatens the tenuous domestic equilibrium, as the weight of the case falls to Zachary, a rookie private detective with the Green Mountain Agency.

The Ghost Clause is a heartrending, affirming portrait of two marriages - one in its afterlife, one new and erotically charged - and of the Vermont village life that sustains and remakes them.

©2019 Howard Norman (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Unexpected

what a sweet writing. The relationships so real, so natural; so.true to life. This is a new favorite.

A glimpse at life afrer loss and all that makes what we hold close in relationships. It sweetened the distance between us and those we wait to rejoin.

Not your average ghost story.

l listened to the whole book and l think it is worthy of a listen, it builds up as the story progresses and you get to know the characters. The narration suits the book.

Too rambling for me

I found this story a bit all over the place. It really didn't capture my interest. Cool concept, just not a good writing style for me.

Too pretentious, I can't really get into it...

... though I will try again later. I think this is one I really need to concentrate on... can't just ride through while doing odd jobs...

Not a formula - unexpected - fresh

As someone who listens to a lot of audiobooks - several every week for years - this felt fresh.

It doesn’t adhere to any genre formula and therefore is not predictable. It is not super tension filled - more like a women’s fiction story - which is character / day-in-the-life driven. More of a Fried Green Tomatoes rather than a Die Hard.

The characters are likable which is a plus for me anyway. The story held my interest and had a nice ending.

I enjoyed enough to purchase other work from this author.

I'm not quite sure what this was.

This really was just like reading someone's diary. But that someone had very little going on in their lives. There was no climax, no conclusion, no questions. The couples and their relationships were, "Fictional" meaning, unrealistic. I know zero couples that interact so flatly with each other. Zero conflict emotion, zero emotion period.
I also wasn't expecting a Poetry 101 lesson.

Interesting

I've never read a book by this author before. and I've never read a book like this before. It just kept drawing me in and wouldn't let go.

Not my taste

Story dragged on. Kept listening hoping for some arc but blah, however the ending ultimately was positive

A very different ghost story

Unusual perspective, with a thought provoking storyline
The two love stories are well described... no spoiler

it sounds like an interesting plot

I was really interested in the potential for this to be a great story but the narrator is so dull that I found myself drifting off into other thoughts too much to get through the book.