• Ghostland

  • Ghostland Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Duncan Ralston
  • Narrated by: Joe Hempel
  • Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (172 ratings)

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Ghostland  By  cover art

Ghostland

By: Duncan Ralston
Narrated by: Joe Hempel
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Publisher's summary

People are dying to get in. The ghosts will kill to get out.

Discover and explore hundreds of haunted buildings and cursed objects! Witness spectral beings of all kinds with our patented Augmented Reality glasses! Experience all the terror and thrills the afterlife has to offer, safely protected by our Recurrence Field technology! Visit Ghostland today - it's the hauntedest place on earth!

After a near-death experience caused by the park's star haunted attraction, Ben has come to Ghostland seeking to reconnect with his former best friend Lilian, whose post-traumatic stress won't let her live life to the fullest. She's come at the insistence of her therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler, who tags along out of professional curiosity, eager to study the new tech's psychological effect on the user.

But when a computer virus sets the ghosts free and the park goes into lockdown, the trio find themselves trapped in an endless nightmare.

With time running short and the dead quickly outnumbering the living, the survivors must tap into their knowledge of horror and video games to escape...or become Ghostland's newest exhibits.

©2019 Duncan Ralston (P)2020 Tantor

What listeners say about Ghostland

Average customer ratings
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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

A great start to the trilogy!

The premise and setting of this story intrigued me from the jump, and what followed did not disappoint! Like an R rated Goosebumps mixed with West World with evil ghosts. This one is a ton of fun

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

Just Okay

I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. It was just okay. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters nor the town. The narrator didn't really give me what I needed, he was just okay. Not sure if I will read the next book.

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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

Pretty good

I have to put fifteen words or more. Enjoyed the book the premise was cool.

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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

action packed crazy land;)

I really enjoyed this book, 2 companions racing agaisnt a mad man in a haunted amusement attraction. cannot wait for book 2.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Loved it!! A must read/listen to book.

I loved this book! Characters are so well developed. It’s a whole new take on ghosts! And almost right away there is an unexpected shock. Love it when books suck me in from the very start. You must right a continuance (or have you already?). I read a lot of “end of the world “ books and may I say apocalypse by ghosts (Ghost Apocalypse sounds better lol) is brilliant! Oh and that line about “shaving an asshole and putting him in a uniform” cracked my up! 5 ✨ narrator does a great job also!!

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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

Awesome book

It’s a bit gory but that’s horror these days for you... The author left a way for him to ( I’m assuming) write a second follow up book to this one. I honestly can’t wait!! This book is like a crazy ,scary roller coaster... it makes you think how the hell are they going to do that?? If you like ghosts and you like some gore then this book is for you!!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Lost in translation

Though the storyline was unique, the author’s telling left much to be desired. It was difficult trying to follow along and picture the scenes as they were being described. It was as if the author has trouble translating the visions he saw in his head into written words.

I found myself having to pause, go back, and replay a scene multiple times because the scene being described lack context and details.

This book left me feeling unsatisfied, like eating a sugar free dessert.

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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

Pleasantly surprised.

I didn’t know how much hope I should have for this title when I started it, but I’m really glad I gave it a shot. As some of the reviews have stated, (mostly the bad ones) it’s like 13 ghosts meets Jurassic Park. I, personally, loved that about it! I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the other books.

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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

loved it!

Right from the beginning it was non stop action and a veritable smorgasbord of ghosts. Reminded me a bit of 13 Ghosts but with more variety. I really liked the main characters and at the end found myself getting emotional. The narrator was perfect. Literally the only thing I wasn't too keen on was the author's tendency to describe the breasts of all the female characters. I'm definitely looking forward to his next book but I would hope for an equal amount of description of bulges and breasts.

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14 people found this helpful

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

Bringing my Therapist to Ghost Six Flags

First of all I would like to acknowledge how incredibly difficult it must be to write a novel. And this author appears to have written several novels so must be doing something right- or “write” as the case may be (cringe-worthy humor kinda like the play on words with ghosts/spirit/ghoul sprinkled throughout this ghostly tale). By a ghost-writer (Drum roll filled by rim-shot).
Ghostland is an experience that cannot be described (but here goes).
First a positive: This book really moves along. NOT boring. No “dead zones”. (Add: Rimshot). However, character development, motivation and plot exposition are relegated to the last car of the roller coaster in lieu of ghosts killing people.
For example, does everyone really hate protagonist Ben and does his best friend avoid him for 4 years because he died for a minute and is home-schooled or rather is it because he really is annoying? Would best friend of Ben (Lillian) who has avoided him for 4 years because his heart stopped when he saw a ghost really agree to go to a ghost-themed amusement park with him? Answer: Yes if your therapist comes.
Lillian is more screwed up about Ben’s sudden death 4 years ago than seemingly Ben is- and Ben is the one that died.
Does Ben really believe that all of his cardiac issues stem from seeing a ghost- the ghost he wants to confront and kill at Ghostland? Can you kill a ghost-isn’t that superfluous?
I could understand if Ben’s classmates “ghosted” (Insert: Drum roll, rim- shot) him if they thought he was this crazy kid who had a heart attack after seeing a ghost and everyone thought he was a crazy ghost boy, but rather than suggesting this, Ben’s pariah-like status is explained by “nobody wants to be around the kid that died”. People don’t want to be reminded of their own mortality. I hope the Ghostland theme park marketing team knew that this one kid was shunned by a whole town after dying for a minute when they decided to build a whole theme park about death in that same town.
Also, with his heart issues, Ben should have been flat-out denied entrance to the park (conveniently worked around).
Security guard after finding cardiac meds in Ben’s bag but still letting him in: “Well you look like you have a big heart.”
Well yes it you’re talking about cardiomegaly which is a heart condition! It’s one thing to have a cardiac history but quite another thing to have a heart disease diagnosis that requires you to have medication on hand in your backpack. Furthermore, this cardiac disease most certainly should have caused him to have a heart attack in the first half of the book with all the calamity and chaos swirling around. But who am I kidding? Murderous-atrocity-ghost-park is good family fun- don’t let your ability to sustain a normal heart rate stop ya!
Having said that, is a good premise for book and or movie. Ghosts are real and we can catch them (Ghostbusters anyone)? But instead of containing them, Capitalistic USA wants to profit off them and so they build a theme park with real ghosts (and not just any ghosts- Serial Killer ghosts- and their victims)-and anticipate everything will turn out JUST fine- kinda like in Jurassic Park??
Any time something gets explained you’re left with far more questions than answers. Major plot- lines dropped: Ben blowing up the house?
Some exhibits in the park are hologram-characters and some are real ghosts. Not sure about the how/when or why of this. Characters in the story keep exclaiming that these ghost issues have never happened before-yet it’s opening day.
The first scene in the book takes place 4 years prior to opening day when Ben sees the ghost in the house (being transported to Ghostland ) and subsequently keels over after his heart stops. What was going on with development with the amusement park for those four years? Catching ghosts?
Some of the exhibits seemed really interesting but just mentioned in passing-like the Wild West ghost town- and certain characters would have been interesting to know more about- there is a ghost-dog! But no time for that- we are Fastpass-ing through this park setting.
Another thing you can look forward to as previously mentioned, is the nerd humor which is walks a fine-line and is reminiscent of “Dad Humor” or jokes sponsored by Bazooka Joe, and the grating romance between the teen protagonists. The author describes virtually every single female character’s breasts as well as the teenage boy’s various states of arousal during a particularly challenging scene involving a naked sex nun which kudos to you if you’re able to get past that part!
Clearly this male author is channeling his teenage proclivities in his male protagonist’s description of female ghost genitalia. A good bit of the book has none of this (some may call gratuitous female sexual anatomy descriptions and sexual behavior). But once it gets going it is unrelenting-almost like the author forgot or someone gave him notes to sexualize this book (the lead character is an 18 year old boy for God’s sakes!!). Maybe he was given an algorithm on how much gratuitous sex needs to be in the book, but he didn’t want to go back from the very beginning, so just threw it in towards the end. Here you go. Sex stuff.
There’s also a part where he has one of his side characters- a black man- compare Ghostland to a “modern-day plantation”. Yup. That’s a thing that happens.
In a way, I want everyone to experience Ghostland. It was a book that made me laugh so much (not for the intended reasons) and, were it not for its unapologetically horny nature, I would recommend it to anyone just so they can experience the rollercoaster (rimshot?) I did.
Shoutout to the narrator who tried his hardest given the material- the accents were a little much though.

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