Ghoul

By: Brian Keene

Narrated by: Chet Williamson

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

There is something in the local cemetery that comes out at night. Something that is unearthing corpses and killing people. It’s the summer of 1984 and Timmy and his friends are looking forward to no school, comic books, and adventure. But instead they will be fighting for their lives. 

The ghoul has smelled their blood and it is after them.But that’s not the only monster they will face this summer....

From award-winning horror master Brian Keene comes a novel of monsters, murder, and the loss of innocence.

©2007 Brian Keene (P)2017 David N. WIlson

I love a good monster book!

Great book! If you like monsters, ghouls and vampires where THEY are the main character instead of an accessory then this is the book for you! It's set in the late 80's early 90's and I LOVED LOVED LOVED that! I feel like the three main protagonists are familiar (as well as their families, neighborhood bullies and demon dog they have to get past each day) and I can't figure out which book they remind me of....fun none the less. Timmy, Doug and Barry. Three childhood/neighborhood 12 year old friends. Timmy has loving parents, overweight Doug has dysfunctional mother & awol father and Barry has abusive/drunk graveyard caretaker father. The three boys play in the cemetery and unbeknownst to them a ghoul has secretly been released. It comes out at night and wreaks havoc on all who ventures in its path. People get killed.......but.........the ghoul has a human helper! Great fun and an awesome throwback to true horror. I LOVED it!!!!

7 people found this helpful

There are all kinds of monsters in here...

I dug this one even though it was heavy handed with 80’s pop culture references at times.

There are all kinds of monsters in here...and not just the ones that live underground. The human ones can be just as bad, or even worse.

4 Stars rounded up to 5 because of the way that Keene handled the extreme dysfunction of the relationship between Doug and his mother. It could have been horribly exploited (like a lot of this kind of thing often is), but it was not.

2 people found this helpful

Fans of IT will love this

If you haven't read Brian Keene before, you're missing out. This book, The Rising books, The Earthworm Gods, etc are all amazing.

1 person found this helpful

I was 10 years old in 1984.

A solid 80s horror movie put in audio form sprinkled with tons of pop culture of the time. Not earth shattering or original but a fun read or listen.

pleasantly surprised

i went into this book not expecting much but that quickly changed after the first chapter. great characters and great story my only quip i had was i wish the story was longer lol
if your familar with keenes past work like the rising or urban gothic definitely check this out this wont disappoint

Both scary and heartwrenching

This book has a way of messing with your head. Expecting a non-stop gorefest with lots of expendable characters, instead I got a heartfelt coming-of-age story about three friends going through some terrible times in their young life. The side story is the actual monster itself, and it worked. Some of the humans in the story were far more terrifying than the monster. Don't go into this one expecting a shallow horror read. This one is a bit of a heart-breaker.

Good story

Great story about life and growing up. Might be one of the best stories by Keene. The narrator was the biggest stand out to me. They should get this guy to do all of Brian Keenes stories

Yikes.<br />

Performance was just as bad as the story. His kids voices are cringe worthy and the story goes nowhere.

Chilling!

Ghoul both struck at the heartstrings and made my skin crawl!
Keene gives a story of three young friends who are trying to deal with leaving childhood and on the cusp of being teenagers and what the world around them is really like.
Each one of these lads has their own demons they are living with and to make matters worse something ancient has woken up in the middle of their summer break.
Brian Keene really does pull out an ace of a story here. I felt for these three boys each step of the way. Some elements reminded me of my own childhood of making camps with friends and biking through fields. Thankfully I never had to deal with anything these kids did.
A fantastic book, that is done justice by Chet Williamson’s narration.

3 people found this helpful