Ghosting

By: Marc Johnson

Narrated by: Megan Mackie

Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

As a stay-at-home programmer living with her loving boyfriend, Mia lives a simple but good life. Like most people, she dreams, but unlike most, she has vivid dreams about her neighbors' lives. One day, she realizes that they aren't dreams - what she's been experiencing is real. Mia's able to "ghost" into anyone she chooses, take control of their body, and make them do what she wants.

Frustrated by the injustice and abuse she sees around her, Mia begins using her power to try to right the wrongs she sees. Her boyfriend, Amir, does his best to stop her, believing that no one person should have that much power, and that the system - or God - will bring justice to the perpetrators. Mia, on the other hand, has seen too much corruption in her life to believe in such naïveté.

However, the best intentions don't always work out as planned. The power begins to affect Mia in ways she didn't expect - and turns out to have consequences she never imagined.

©2016 Marc Johnson (P)2017 Marc Johnson

Rushed but enjoyable

When Mia wakes up to find she has the power to transfer her mind (although the book says it is her soul, which seems strange) into other people to control them she takes the opportunity to right some wrongs and to try make the world better for those around her. And why not improve her own situation a little while she is at it?

Author Marc Johnson has got a great concept here and works through many of the potential issues, uses and abuses that the powers could cause. He keeps the uses fairly varied and sets up some solid rules for how the system works. He even hints at a wider world of powers. It is a great setup for a story.

It is, however, let down in it's execution. The main issues basically comes down to the pacing and length. This is a very short book, a quick novella. And because of that, and the attempt to cram a lot into the short space, it simply moves to quickly. Not of the events are really given enough time to breath. It moves from one story to another, giving the barest of details of how things occur but not really letting the reader sit in it and enjoy it unfolding. Mia discovers her powers, then accepts her powers and then goes about using them within a few lines. It happens way too quick to be believable. The exact consequences of actions (or even in some cases later in the book, the exact details of the actions) are glossed over extremely quickly. Mia does stuff with her powers but other than one of two brief adventures what she doesn isn't really told. The most fleshed out is the story with the neighbour and even that is bare bones.

And then the coda, which should have some sort of fast impacting ending feels dragged out and thus loses momentum and impact.

I enjoyed the story but would have enjoyed it more if it was given the space it needed to be a full story. Or if it was to be a short story then some of the side adventures needed to be cut.

There is an amusing Freudian slip in the writing at one point, with a line somewhere along the lines of “her father died young and every man she’s been in a relationship with since…”. The movement from her father's death to romantic male relationships puts a strange context to her relationship with her father. This doesn't actually take away from the book. It was just something I found amusing.

Narration by Megan Mackie is reasonably good, but is severely let down by the audio production. She is generally clear, although I found the pace a quicker than most narrators (possibly exacerbating the "story needed space" issue). She provided voices and chracterisation to each character, some more successful than others. Generally not bad.

The audio production was what put me off. There are bells/chimes at the end and beginning of each chapter. This doesn't add anything ( a pause in narration, or a chapter titles would have be better) and only serves to draw the reader out of the story.

There was also background music to add atmosphere but this only appeared to happen at one point in the book. It should be there throughout or not at all (not at all would be my preference) but the ad hoc nature of it detracted from the book.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Great short supernatural read!

Great story, great narration. Very quick read. At times felt rushed but still very good. I could see this being a series on TV like many others where people have supernatural abilities. It could definitely be fleshed out and expanded. Some original ideas. Likable characters you can relate to. I would read another story by Marc & I would definitely listen to another narrated by Megan Mackle.


The bells were a bit annoying, especially when they were ringing while the narrator was still talking.


I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.

Body jumping

Wonderful story great theory that I have never heard of before. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is the bells at the beginning and end of each chapter were annoying. I'm glad that Mia survived hopefully there is more to come.
I received this free for an honest review from the author or narrator.

this is a qwesome short atory

i loved the story and the narrator india indian accent is perfect. i would recpmmend this short story

Nice story with a lot of twists.

I had no real thoughts going in on how I felt the story would turn out, I am happy to say this story shocked me with how good it was. The overall plot sounds so crazy, but once you see how thing unfold it starts to pull you into the world, and you really get to see things from the characters POV.
I love all the twists and turns, and how each character brings something to the plot, be it big or small each moment is worth hearing. The voiceover is amazing and brings the action to life, and I really enjoyed the ending of the book.
I was given this free copy in return for my honest review.

Original Concept

Any additional comments?

Mia has been having very vivid dreams about her neighbors. She's surprised to discover that they aren't dreams at all - she is actually inhabiting their bodies! This knowledge begins to change her and she takes extreme actions against those that she believes need to be punished. Her boyfriend Amir is shocked by the things that she's done but still loves her. He wants to find a more constructive outlet for her powers. But will this newfound power have repercussions for them both?

Ghosting had a very original concept and it made for an interesting story. Amir was probably the more likable of the two main characters, as he seemed to be more thoughtful and reasonable. I found it very entertaining except for the distraction of the bells or chimes at the beginning and end of chapters. The narrator was engaging and did a nice job with the character voices. I would have rated this a 5 but the sound effects were a little annoying. Overall this was an enjoyable listen and I would recommend Ghosting.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator. This review is my honest opinion.

Wonderful book.

I received this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review. I like the book. We'll written

Very good story of mind transference.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it's an interesting concept that holds your attention.

Did Megan Mackie do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, she did a good job narrating. I didn't care for the chiming between chapters. It reminded me of children's books to turn the page.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did cry at the end.

Story was good

I received this audiobook free for an honest review. I thought this book was pretty good. The story was pretty unique and very interesting. There were times I thought Mia was a little bit silly with her abilities and how to use them. Amir is such an understanding boyfriend and is quite reasonable when it comes to Mia's abilities. What I don't understand is why the author has stupid "bells" ringing throughout the book. It takes away from the story and cheapens the read. Not real excited about the narrator either. Not one of my favorites. Her pacing seemed to be a little bit off. I was disappointed when there wasn't an HEA until I got to the end and it seemed to work out well.

great story

rrator was engaging and did a nice job with the character voices. I would have rated this a 5 but the sound effects were a little annoying. Overall this was an enjoyable listen and I would recommend Ghosting.

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