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 The evil that once coursed through Pine Deep has been replaced by cheerful tourists getting ready to enjoy the country’s largest Halloween celebration in what is now called “The Spookiest Town in America.”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)

A good story here somewhere

There's a good story in this book somewhere, but there's two major issues we had with it. First is the narrator. Tom Weiner speaks in a very clipped tone and it takes a LOT of getting used to. His narration almost made us quit 2ish hours in. The second being the story. Once the story begins it's pretty neat, however there's a lot of filler. It's like hey this would be a cool horror book, and someone else says yeah, but make it 3! There's not enough content in book 1, whether that's fixed in book 2, I don't know and we're not sure we'll listen to the rest of the trilogy or not. We sort of want to, but if it's a lot of filler, then it'll put a big drag on our motivation, granted Weiner's narrative style doesn't help for a story like this.

As for the story, there's some cool stuff in here. Villains are a bit one dimensional. Vic is a pretty terrible guy, same with Ruger. The good guys are generally good, and have some dimension to them, with possibly too much detail. I will say the ending isn't really an ending of a book, it's more like the end of a chapter. Nothing is wrapped up. So, if you get through this, and enjoyed it, you're in for books 2 and presumably 3. Not ideal, but it did come out in 2006.

Small town Blues

I truly enjoyed this book. Jonathan Maberry is now one of my favorites. Tom Weiner's voice is great.

Definitely reading the rest of the trilogy!

This story was so good, I was absolutely hooked! And the narrator just killed it!

Better than I thought

It took me a while before I started this book but after I did I was positively surprised. I really liked it

A surprise

It took a long time for me to get into this story. It was because the start of the book was pretty slow. But once over an undefined slow hump, the story grabbed me and I was glued to what happened next.

I am very interested in the next book. I would recommend this book.

really enjoyed

kept me on edge of set.
narrator reads fast but does a good job
his voice of villain was very creepy.
fixin to start 2nd book

Ok, but not for the faint of heart or easily bored

For me, this book is hard to rate. I felt the narrator does a good job and by the end of the book a decent story starts to come together. However, getting to the end is not for the faint of heart. The language in this book is non-stop and not for anyone sensitive to frequent use of the F word. The author also has a strange fascination with male genitalia, especially in the beginning, with frequent references to crotch grabbing and erections.

This book has a couple of incredibly loathsome characters. There are some good ones as well. However, the majority of the first 70% of this book is taken up by the loathsome. Things also take a while to get going. I think I could have listened to the first couple of chapters than skipped to the last 4 hours and been good. I will admit that by the end of the book things finally picked up enough for me to be interested in what happens in book two. I'm still undecided if I'll get book 2, but it's at least somewhat positive compared to almost quitting this book halfway though, which I never have done with an audible book before.

Pleasantly surprised

I was surprised at how quickly I was hooked by the author. Great storytelling! I’m going to be getting some more books from the author.

Scary

This book was amazing. It was entertaining . Spooky and scary. Some of of the characters were lovable and some you couldn’t help but hate. I loved every minute of this book.

Pine Deep, Where Monsters Are Still Monsters!

I’m not a fan of turning Monsters into misunderstood, sympathetic, quasi good guys. Monsters should ALWAYS be Monsters! There should always be a clear line drawn between good and evil, right and wrong. Ghost Road Blues, the first installment of The Pine Deep Trilogy is definitely GREAT at making that clear distinction. I read The Trilogy once a year in the fall, ending by November First. Minor complaints, are these. They are a little over descriptive. Also the editor wondered off, or forgot what they were doing a few times. So there are some continuity issues, but the story is unique. The BEST of its kind I’ve ever read. So, I just shrug off the inconsistencies, and enjoy The Ride once a year. I Highly Recommend It!