Ghost River

By: Chad Ryan

Narrated by: Andrew Gibson

Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Some places have a history so dark it stains the soil.

Orphan Rock is one of them.

For years, the Northamm family has served the Crooked Woman. Bound by sinister magic, they commit unspeakable acts to save themselves and the ones they love from something wicked that’s stirring beneath the dirt.

Harpies in the hills. Demons in the dark. Lonely girls who command giant earthworms that tunnel between worlds.... Anything goes in this twisted tale of monsters, mayhem, and revenge. A contemporary dark fantasy with elements of horror, Chad Ryan’s Ghost River is a gritty and desolate journey into the peaks and gulches of the human spirit.

Advisory: Ghost River explores sensitive subject matter, including graphic violence/death, disturbing imagery, misogyny, domestic abuse, child abuse, racism, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Listen with caution.

©2020 Chad Ryan (P)2023 Chad Ryan

Twisted and macabre

This isn’t a book for the squeamish. It’s heavy on the gore, sexuality and violence. But the scope and the stakes of the tale under it all grows bigger with every “page.” Has strong Clive Barker vibes (particularly Weaveworld).

At times, it was a tough listen, but Andrew’s narration is phenomenal. His tone is just right and he play characters immaculately.

If you’re into dark fantasy/horror, I recommend giving this a listen.

Wildly Original

Wildly original, warped, and creepy as hell!

There is a lot to unpack here and I'm not sure I'm able to describe it in such a way as to get your attention. First things first, though, if you have any triggers this may not be the book for you. It's brutally violent, with wild ideas, places and creations. If you think you might have a problem with it, you probably will and it's really best that you stay away.

Now, picture a family living in a small desert town. Next, throw out any ideas you might about that family and enter the world of Ghost River. A world where ancient promises and vows are still upheld to this day. A world where people and children become...transformed. A world where the corruption goes all the way down, deep into the dirt. Now, the scene has been set and I will add nothing more to spoil the story for you.

Focusing on how this book made me feel-it was a full range of emotion. At times I was happy for Minister and Ester, (not sure how it's spelled, since I listened to this on audio), and at other times I pitied them, and yet at other times, I loathed them. The coyote and the snake. The Pig Father. Spider girl and the boy wrapped in barbed wire. The sisters of sorrow. The boy king. Machado the sheriff. All of which had my emotions changing from one moment to the next.

Ghost River features an old world trying to stand fast against the approaching modern world. Bad as that old world was, I still am not sure that the new world will be any better. As I mentioned, I experienced a full range of emotions while reading and I know I will be thinking about this world for a long time. Even though it took a bit of patience to stay with this, I trusted in the author's ability to make it all clear, and he eventually did. It's astonishing to me that this is the author's debut novel. I am excited to see what he does next!

The narrator, Andrew Gibson, is new to me, but he did a terrific job with this. I'll be keeping an eye out for his name on Audible, because I was truly impressed.

Highly recommended, but please heed my warning above, and the author's warning at the beginning of the book. Then, prepare to be blown away!

*Thanks to the author for the Audible download in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!

It’s all in there

This is a ride for horror fans, it packs in everything that you would expect for the genre and the narration is on point. As far as the story goes it was good though there was something missing that I couldn’t put my finger on. Great performance, decent story. Give it a shot.

Like nothing else

Ghost River is a wild, horrifying, fantastical story set in the Arizona desert. Absolutely excellent narration!

Definitely Dark Fantasy

This is a very dark book. It doesn't even stray into extreme horror, with super detailed descriptions of outlandish and terrible things, but it does have a lot of real life awful mixed in to its fantastical group of characters. Less of a warning and more of a heads up, its dark but not cartoonishly so.

The next point is that there aren't really any good guys. We have the protagonists and that antagonists, but sometimes its really hard to root for the main characters. I love antiheroes in general, and I don't expect every story to have a paragon of virtue as the main character, but, for me at least, it did put a damper on my overall enthusiasm for the book.

The sum total though works, it tells a good and complete story, it makes sense, flows, and had an interesting cast. It's not my top 10 of 2024, but I will say that based on the strength of this book I will preorder whatever book Chad Ryan writes next.

I give this book an 8/10, and I will probably read it again a few years from now when the details have faded.

Closing note - I did get this audiobook version free as a review copy, but I had already purchased a physical copy and its worth a purchase for sure.