Ghouls Gone Wild

A Ghost Hunter Mystery

By: Victoria Laurie

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Psychic M.J. Holliday finds herself in a witchy situation. When M.J. and her friends travel to a small town near Edinburgh, Scotland, to film the first installment of their new cable TV show Ghoul Getters, they find plenty of spooky action in a series of supposedly haunted caverns. But when they discover the body of a maintenance worker, the cause of death is reminiscent of an old legend involving a witch's wrath.

Keep chilled: listen to another Ghost Hunter Mystery.

©2010 Victoria Laurie (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Hard to say what I liked least...

What's more frustrating, the narrator or the story? The narrator is excellent at caricatures, like your embarrassing great uncle after a few drinks. Her Scottish accent mostly sounds like the Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie, except when it slips into Lucky Charms Irish. The one gay character lisps and sounds like Big Gay Al on South Park. It is really, really grating. The story has gigantic holes you just have to look past, like the slowness with which news travels in a small Scottish village. A crew of ghost hunters with a camera crew show up in a village, anywhere, and I am certain the entire village will be aware pretty quickly. Deaths start occurring around them, people will immediately know and be suspicious of them. But not in this village. There is an embedded love story, of course. It is painfully cliche. And then there are the little details of the story - things like the narrator's phone working in both the US and UK.

I listen to audiobooks while I walk to work, run errands and do chores - so I go through a lot of them. I generally prefer mysteries and urban fantasy. Without trying, this author should have been able to get at least a 3 star from me, but the terrible accents, the silly plot, the sillier love story and the sloppy details - this is pretty awful.

Hmmmm...

This was my first time listening to MJ and for some reason, I didn't like it as much. It was not quite as light and fun as the others. I don't know if it was the subject matter or the tone of the narrator (who did a good job, but MJ is funnier in my head).

OK Ready for the Next One

This book was ok. I like the story line, the relationship twist, but don't know was not as good as the other ones. To much to fast not sure story line was ok but slow. Not I have to get in the car and listen. Ready for the next one. Maybe it was just me. But, I'm glad we have a twist in the relationship but sad at the same time. Would like to see where it is going to go.

Scooby-doo - where are you?

These series reminds me of the Scooby-doo cartoon more and more. Gillie is the Shaggy type, MJ is Daphne, Stephen or Heath can be Fred and you can fill in other characters with misc ppl. The same, "It was.... all along!" typical Scooby-doo ending. I'm not saying this to knock the story - because I enjoyed it. It's just very Scooby-doo

interesting

I really like the work this author does. I'm not sure what's up with this reading of this book but I noticed many more mistakes in this reading. I hope it is not continued into the next books. multiple times the narrator used the wrong character voice... like she forgot who she was reading as.
also, I'd rather not hear accents if they are not that good.

Not my favorite in the series so far

I have listened to the previous books in this series and so far I have liked this one the least. I knew who the “bad guy” was from basically the beginning. MJ was a lot more whiny and entitled and acted like a newb from the word go. Gilley was my least favorite part of this book. He has been my favorite character in the previous books, but he was just annoying, hysterical, and unreasonable throughout a majority of this book. He too acted like this was his first day at school. This case just lacked all of the professionalism that the previous books have had.

The love twist in this one was a little too cliché. It’s a classic case of actors who fall in love with their love interest on every movie they make. I hope MJ doesn’t end up having a romantic relationship with every man she works with.

Eileen Stevens was great as usual except that her Scottish brogue was less than amazing lol. It’s a tough one to get right so I don’t fault her too much on that. It didn’t detract from the story enough to stop listening.

I will probably still listen to the next in the series and hope the characters show some personal growth and maturity.

Love this series

I have the whole series and have listened twice. The narrator is fine. I love Gilly and MJ and Doc. These are pretty spooky!

Captivating and scary!

In this fourth entry in Victoria Laurie's ghost buster series, the entire staff of the Ghoul Getters’ TV show spends some harrowing time in Scotland filming the first episode of their TV show. MJ Holliday, Gilley Gillespie, and Heath Whitefeather are drawn there by a short video shot by a location scouting team showing a local man giving tours of caverns below the town near Edinburg. He demonstrates the strength of the paranormal energy by walking a puppy closer and closer to the opening of the caverns. The puppy becomes agitated and terrified as he nears the caverns. MJ is so upset after watching this that she vows to go to Scotland and find that dog and be certain he is taken care of after being so severely traumatized.

Years ago residents were dying from the bubonic plague. The surrounding villages built barriers to hold the sick in and later set the village on fire. Not only people cursed with the plague died but also any healthy people living there. Heath and MJ go into the caverns their first night to set up equipment only to find a real person lying dead in the tunnel, a maintenance worker there to change a light bulb.

At the beginning of filming, they can feel all the psychic energy in the caverns, so MJ asks any souls interested in moving on to knock on the walls. The thunderous sound that followed scared Gilley and the filming crew so much that they run away. This leaves Gopher, the producer of the show, to pick up the abandoned camera and continue taping. A shadowy figure of a woman on a large black broom flies by them so the remaining three call it a night.

MJ and team visit the murdered maintenance man’s neighbor on land that holds the ruins of a castle. They notice that she also has a big black broom on her stoop. She fills them in on her seven sisters, since her oldest sister nursed the residents of the town before an angry mob chased them into the caverns where the fire was set. The oldest sister was so angry that she vowed to return every 100 years to kill any members of two families that led that mob, and one of them is the Gillespie family.

Gilley discovers that he is a direct descendant of those Gillespies. He is hysterical with fear when he realizes the ghost is out to kill him specifically so covers himself with magnets that repel spirits. The ghost and three other shadowy figures on brooms are here 35 years before they are due, so someone must have summoned her early. Who, and why? MJ and Heath are overwhelmed several times by the sheer energy of the witch and other spirits.

I found myself tired and worn out after some of the busier scenes when they encountered so many ghosts or were so scared that people were running for their lives. MJ and Heath are truly challenged to solve the murder and catch the witches and help the grounded souls. Gilley stands by MJ with his heavy load of magnets. It is together with Heath that they finally calm all those souls.

Sad tale

Is the witch/ghost mean? Yes. Does she have a good reason to be the way she is? Definitely. Good story offers insight into the minds of people of centuries ago. If bad things are happening, it must be because someone is a witch and it's her fault. Even as the witch is wreaking havoc, MJ shows understanding and compassion. Warning: There are some disturbing scenes that might not be palatable for every listener.

Once again I enjoyed Eileen Stevens's narration. Good accents and differing characters' voices.

Least Favorite

The solution stares you in the face long before the bodies stop falling. As for MJ... I actually considered her a twittering little fool in this book. Maybe it's because I expect a professional investigator to use her mind, her skills in observation and her advertized talents while doing her job. Overall, a very disappointing story in a series I've enjoyed in the past.