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Ghoul

by Brian Keene (Goodreads Author)

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 1,480 ratings · 107 reviews

June 1984. Timmy Graco is looking forward to summer vacation, taking it easy and hanging out with his buddies. Instead his summer will be filled with terror and a life-and-death battle against a nightmarish creature that few will believe even exists. Timmy learns that the person who's been unearthing fresh graves in the cemetery isn't a person at all. It's a thing. And it'...more

Mass Market Paperback, 341 pages

Published January 30th 2007 by Leisure Books

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Community Reviews

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Oct 10, 2012 Jacob J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: halloween-horror-binge-2012, horror, 2012, top-notch-terror

As we all know, there is this patronizing line people use when they are ashamed of liking something. They may refer to is as a guilty pleasure, and then, as if to indemnify themselves from humiliation, will cowardly mutter something along the lines of ‘I liked it for what it was’. Well, no shit! Does anybody like something for what it isn’t? Perhaps they do. (Oh that Camus and his sanguine romps!) After all, the best thing about some books is that they aren’t by James Patterson, or one of his gh...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

From FALKNER REVIEWS

You don't have to be 34 (as I am in 2007 at the time of this review) to enjoy Brian Keene's "Ghoul" but it certainly helps.

In the summer of 1984, best friends, Timmy, Doug, and Barry are looking forward to a fabulous vacation, reading comics and girlie mags, watching cartoons and late night horror flicks, riding their bikes, trading pranks with their arch enemies, and hanging out in their dugout fort, which just happens to flank their local cemetery... a cemetery in which a r...more From FALKNER REVIEWS

You don't have to be 34 (as I am in 2007 at the time of this review) to enjoy Brian Keene's "Ghoul" but it certainly helps.

In the summer of 1984, best friends, Timmy, Doug, and Barry are looking forward to a fabulous vacation, reading comics and girlie mags, watching cartoons and late night horror flicks, riding their bikes, trading pranks with their arch enemies, and hanging out in their dugout fort, which just happens to flank their local cemetery... a cemetery in which a rather nasty resident has woken from an ancient slumber.

"Ghoul" is a nostalgic novel. It's a look back at a time when - if you were eleven in 1984, as I was - you felt invincible and the summer seemed like it would never end. It's a look back at the things that made being a child in the mid-eighties particularly fantastic. The mention of things like Thundarr the Barbarian, Trapper Keepers, G.I. Joe, "Mad" magazine, Skeletor, "Hill Street Blues", Greedo, Spy Hunter, and "The Defenders" - to name a few - gave me a front row seat on a blissfull ride down memory lane.

Oh, and there's a horror story here, too. A good one.

The monsters in Keene's books - both the human and inhuman - have a genuine bite. The monster in this one is particularly diabolical, and I love how Keene never shrinks away from giving us an insight into his antagonist's point of view - as in it's not just a mindless threat. Oh, and there's a morality tale as well. I won't give away too much, but the book really, really takes an unflinching look at how the actions of adults can have penetrating effects on the impressionable psyches of children.

In short, the book made me want to be a better parent.

A great book by a first rate writer, "Ghoul" is highly recommended, (especially if you're 34). You can check out Brian Keene's website HERE.

BY THE WAY, if you have read the book, or after you do, there's a passage on page 214 of the Leisure Paperback that is one of best passages in a book I've read in recent memory. It starts out, "He believed in Bigfoot. He believed in Ghosts." and goes on through the next page. Excellence, my friends. Excellence.
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Apr 09, 2008 Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brian Keene’s Ghoul grabbed my attention right from the prologue. The story involves three grade school buddies on summer break, each with their own dysfunctional home lives, missing people, a cemetery, and a pale, glowing critter doomed to live in the dark, underground, feeding upon the dead. Daylight will kill the ghoul.

Timmy Graco, the leader among the three, is very much into comic book collecting and music. Doug is a fat, nerdy wimp, who is a victim of maternal incest. Barry’s father is the...more Brian Keene’s Ghoul grabbed my attention right from the prologue. The story involves three grade school buddies on summer break, each with their own dysfunctional home lives, missing people, a cemetery, and a pale, glowing critter doomed to live in the dark, underground, feeding upon the dead. Daylight will kill the ghoul.

Timmy Graco, the leader among the three, is very much into comic book collecting and music. Doug is a fat, nerdy wimp, who is a victim of maternal incest. Barry’s father is the caretaker at the cemetery, who beats his wife and son just because he can.

The premise of the story is excellent, and Mr. Keene’s execution of it is about 90%. I read eagerly through the first 278 pages, then began to lose interest.

"Timmy swooned. The Kit-Kat wrapper slipped from his hand, fluttering to the ground. He knelt, his face in his hands."

If the kid fainted, then how on earth would he be sitting up, with his hands clasped around his face? Besides, the verb swoon is something normally seen in romance novels. It seems really out of place in this book. Mr. Keene used the verb swoon one more time, several pages later. It made me cringe. What’s wrong with simply fainting?

"'I . . . I know you . . .' Karen spoke haltingly, hesitant, as if she’d forgotten how to talk–or was afraid to. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy. 'From . . . Church?'
Swallowing, Timmy nodded. 'Yeah, you do. I’m Timmy Graco, Randy and Elizabeth Graco’s son. I’m your sister’s . . .'–he started to say boyfriend, but caught himself–'friend'."

That dialogue seems stilted. Never in my life have I had anyone introduce himself or herself to me by naming his or her parents.

There were several things in the story that I thought were unnecessary baggage. I understand that the story is set in 1984; I was told that right off the bat. I don’t necessarily need to be reminded via what songs were on the radio. It got intrusive after a while. The story is timeless, so repeated references to music from the early 80’s and late 70’s detract from it. Yeah, yeah, yeah–I GET it–it’s 1984. I don’t need it hammered into my head with nails.

The scene with the Doberman in which the kids squirted it in the eyes with mild acids went nowhere. It was a nice scene by itself, but it really had no purpose in the story. At best, it was an interlude of cruelty.

In the end, Timmy kills the ghoul by luring it into daylight.

Overall, I’d give this book four of five stars. The conclusion seems rushed, as if the author and publisher had a firm deadline. It could have been 50 pages shorter.
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Nov 12, 2007 Kristy Tallman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ghoul seemed quite the collage of all the horrific things we've come to know horror as. The book was well written and an easy read that kept the tips of your finger readily pressing the corners of the next page. Brian Keene seems to enjoy dipping his quill into the bloody dark depths of sex, gore and monstrous beings with a dash of salt on the wounds of a world gone wrong. After reading Ghoul it is hard to compare Keene's work to one or two specific authors but I guarantee you will enjoy the wic...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Keene's style reminds me of King. The story has a nastalgic feel. I am being carried along with the adventure of teenaged boys in the summer of 1984. Warning: rather graphic at times.

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Jan 02, 2013 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoy the way Brian Keene tells his stories. True, most modern horror authors are cast in the shadows of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, etc... But Brian Keene is able to distinguish his voice from the rest. One of my favorite characteristics about him is showing no restraint dishing out the gory details. It is such a lovely garnish to already well-woven stories that creates the complete package for my horror appetite.

Ghoul is about three boys in 1984 who play in the cemetery and get caught up in a...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Note: This is taken from my review on Amazon.

I'm going to start with the content of the book itself, which should of course be the most important part. It was a good read. The main characters were likable enough, the antagonists dislikable(?) enough and there were some underlying themes that were pretty interesting to pick up on. As others have mentioned, the "This takes place in the 80s" is a bit overplayed. There was really no logical point to set the story in the 80s either. It just seemed li...more

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Jun 25, 2008 Eric rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, horror, books-i-gave-away

This book is okay. Well-written and easy to read, except for an annoying tendence to stop the narrative for ten paragraphs of back story.

The ghoul is just a prop. The human adults are the real monsters. While that theme is nothing new, it can be effective. Unfortunately, the author hits the reader over the head with it, just in case we missed it.

Keene is well-regarded in the horror business, so I'll be trying a few more of his. I hope those are better than this one.

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Jan 19, 2012 April (CSI:Librarian) rated it 2 of 5 stars

(Originally posted @ CSI:Librarian.)

Despite being a tale as old as time, the story of boyhood friendship and scary monsters is one that I greatly enjoy. Initially, I really appreciated Keene's writing style and his character development as well as comic book nostalgia that Ghoul provided. Timmy and his friends were really well-done and very likable. As someone who grew up collecting back issues of various superhero, Star Wars, and Elfquest comics, I loved Timmy's connection to them. I especiall...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Squire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Before I begin, I want to say that the climactic chapter was very-well-written and exciting. I gave it an extra star for that.

But, overall, I was very disappointed with this heavy-handed and plodding book; especially after hearing Keene's virtues extolled for nearly 3 years.

First, while I did not mind the overuse of 80's pop culture references (I loved the 80s myself), I did feel that most of those used were forced. It's one thing to make use of period detal, but quite another have them reveal t...more

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Apr 16, 2008 Moongirl2355 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: another-one-down

My fiancee got me reading his Brian Keen books. I was really reluctant at first. Wow. Can I say I was totally floored with this book?

I kept asking myself, "What is that thing?" "What's going to happen to the boys?"

It's been a while since I read this book to remember the name of the characters but I was pleasant surprised to find myself really believing I could smell the Ghoul's breath. Yuck!

1 like · like · see review

Jul 11, 2011 T.L. Barrett rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Ghoul by Brian Keene three 12 year-olds struggle to enjoy another endless summer despite their abusive and misunderstanding parents and the incursion of a newly awakened Ghoul in their summer haunt, the local cemetery. The year is 1984 and Timmy Graco and his two best friends contend with sexual abuse, physical abuse, death, oncoming puberty, mean local dogs, and one very creepy supernatural menace. This tightly wound thriller is the perfect summer read, especially for those who remember what...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Cynthia Eaton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

MY RATING: 4.5 STARS

This is my second Keene book. I read Dead Sea several months back and really liked Keene's storytelling. I found Ghoul very entertaining although at some points my stomach felt a little queasy.

Timmy and his buddies, Barry and Doug, are on summer vacation from school. Their favorite place to play is their secret club house in the cemetery near their homes. I really liked these three boys. Timmy seems to have a pretty good home life, and his parents are the typical American m...more

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Apr 15, 2008 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Okay, not exactly "zombies" but rather "a zombie like creature", a ghoul who is awakened, is a star of this horror novel. This reads a lot like a "Stand by Me" story of best friends and their summer to remember...complete with monsters, human and otherwise. I really enjoy Brian Keene's books and I look forward to reading these every chance I get. He is solid, man!

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 30, 2013 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, monster, coming-of-age

Ghoul is the second Brian Keene novel I have read and although it wasn’t a flawless read, I definitely got more than I bargained for. A true page-turner but the main characters Timmy, Barry and Doug and the brutal issues they faced in their own homes, held my interest a lot more than the ghoul plot. The ghoul character wasn’t fleshed out very well at all (excuse the pun).
I felt in parts the social commentary really piled on (just like in Dead Sea) which really grated me and felt out of place com...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Kelleynotlp rated it 3 of 5 stars

So I finished "Ghoul" yesterday and here's what I thought. "Ghoul" was a nice throwback to a sort of old-fashioned monster story but with a bunch of non-consentual sex happening and a lot of eighties pop culture name-dropping. Brian Keene definitely wanted us to know that he remembers the eighties and that this story takes place there. *******SPOILERISH TYPE THINGS AHEAD***********

"Ghoul" is the story of how, in 1984, a small American town becomes plagued by the presence of a ghoul who has been...more So I finished "Ghoul" yesterday and here's what I thought. "Ghoul" was a nice throwback to a sort of old-fashioned monster story but with a bunch of non-consentual sex happening and a lot of eighties pop culture name-dropping. Brian Keene definitely wanted us to know that he remembers the eighties and that this story takes place there. *******SPOILERISH TYPE THINGS AHEAD***********

"Ghoul" is the story of how, in 1984, a small American town becomes plagued by the presence of a ghoul who has been trapped beneath the town cemetary for a couple of centuries. The magical symbol holding it in its place gets destroyed and it comes out to wreak havoc. Keene tweaks the ghoul mythology very slightly here and there and adds his own flavoring a-la the "commandment" from some dark "creator" that ghouls only eat the dead and should not taste warm blood or flesh. It can however kill people and wait for them to cool off so, no biggie there. The ghoul itself is a slimy, pointy headed monster as opposed to a human who has been transformed into a corpse eating thing. It makes a deal with the cemetary caretaker (the father of one of the three protagonists) for him to bring it women so it can mate with them and have ghoul babies in exchange for loot from graves its disturbed.

The conflict comes from the three protagonists; three twelve-year-old boys who live in the town. There's Timmy, the comic book nerd who likes to make up stories, Barry, the son of the cemetary caretaker who is constantly beaten viciously by his asshole dad and Doug the chubby, scared artist type who is sexually abused by his alcoholic mother. The three are best friends and are looking forward to spending all summer hanging out in their favorite place which is the cemetary. Of course, with the ghoul hanging out there and feeding and mating and what not, things get, as Seal says, a little crazy.

In all honesty the ghoul part of the story is the least interestng part of this novel for me. The relationships between the three boys and their parents and how they react to the growing situation is the best part. There is one particular scene that really struck me as having a ring of truth. It is when Timmy's father, a good dad for the most part, finds out that Timmy thinks a ghoul is committing the local murders. He thinks that Timmy's comic books have warped his mind (though it seems like he always thought that a boy who read comics instead of playing football was "weird"). To punish Timmy for "lying" about the ghoul his father pulls out Timmy's beloved comics collection and makes him watch as he tears each one in half and throws them away. This scene broke my heart. I once had a teacher tear up one of my comics in front of me for no real reason and it hurt, they meant a lot to me at that age. I completely related to how Timmy felt, but I could also relate to his dad who thought he was just doing what was right. The punishment hurt Timmy's father who cried the entire time and cried all night afterwards. He didn't want to hurt Timmy but felt like this was what was for the best. That scene disturbed me more than the graphic descriptions of his friends' physical and sexual abuse. I wonder if something like that happened to Keene as a kid?

The plot is pretty straight-forward and ends with the death of the monster. There is an epilogue where we see Timmy come home as an adult for his father's funeral where he runs into Barry who has taken over for his father as the cemetary caretaker. I thought it was a nice, if sad, touch that Barry, despite his childhood trauma, ended up just like his dad, abusing his own son. Its the kind of bittersweet twist that sort of contrasted the "happy" ending of the monster being defeated.

On the "these are things that I noticed that didn't ruin the story but were sort of flaws" side of things:

This was heavily influenced by Stephen King's "IT" and by influenced I mean a lot of stuff seemed directly ripped off. The young boys who weren't necessarily the "cool" kids, one a writer, one a fat boy and one the poor, abused kid..(Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom and Beverly Marsh respectivel from "IT") the underground clubhouse, the subterranean lair of the monster, the bullies ending up dead in the tunnels where the monster lived, the epilogue with the kids as grownups growing apart (pretty sad in "Ghoul" but not nearly as sad as Bill and Mike forgetting each other's names at the end of "IT")...this even takes place right at the same time as the "present" half of "IT" (this is set in 1984; in "IT" Adrian Mellon, the first victim of the new cycle, is killed in 1984). So, you know, that's fine, it doesn't ruin the story but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was pretty obvious to anyone who's ever read "IT" and especially to anyone who's read it two or more times.

Also, the ghoul's dialogue is a little silly. It talks as if it was being controlled by a teenage dungeon-master in a game of D & D. I get that it's been around long enough to know most of the human languages but, honestly, it didn't really work for me. I would have almost preferred a telepathic kind of communication with it's human familiar and victims. Of course, i didn't write it so, that's not up to me. Again, it doesn't mess up the story, I just noticed it.

And finally, as I mentioned above, there is a lot of name dropping of bands, shows, movies and products thrown in here in the name of establishing a familiarity with the reader. That works when it's in an offhand way or is un-obtrusive but sometimes it seems like Keene is throwing things in there just to be doing it. Everything is specific. Every poster is an "Iron Maiden" poster or a "Prince" poster. No toy is just mentioned as a toy, it is a "Star Wars action figure" or a "transformer". They don't eat mere cereal, they eat "Boo Berry". It got to be a bit cluttered.

All in all though I did really enjoy "Ghoul". This is the third in my trip through Keene country. I would still say that "Dead Sea" is my favorite of his so far but I just started "Urban Gothic" so we'll see if that holds true.

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Apr 22, 2012 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not being listed as a YA novel, this might've worked as just that.

My nostalgia for comic books aside (I'm in my forties, so the eighties reflected in Timmy's time was a few years late and much more lame)the characters resonated with me, and the hardest part of this book for me was not the allusions to Ghoul sex, or the child abuse...it was when Tim's dad destroyed his comic book collection. While I'm diehard DC-maven, it just gutted me to see his pop tearing up his Marvel-centric world.

As an a...more

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Nov 12, 2007 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no

I was not really happy reading this book. It seemed to me that there was a lot of other peoples ideas and works in this book that he put together and made his own. If you read this book you could pick up any other book and practically have the same story. Just different characters, the same plots. Sorry just wasn't impressed.

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Mar 17, 2009 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

First of all, if half-stars were a possibility, this book would have gotten 4.5 stars. Brian Keene is quite possibly the second-best horror writer behind Stephen King and maybe the best pure horror writer out there (as King's newer books shouldn't be categorized as "horror" any longer).

This novel takes place in 1984 and Keene definitely was a child of the 80s -- his references to comic books, cartoons and the music of that time period were spot-on. His novels transport you to the time and place...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Carles Granados rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: terror

Es de correcto sin más.

Primero de todo, se entiende muy bien en inglés con un nivel de First Certificate.

El libro va de más a menos, sin acabar mal. El principio es muy prometedor y impactante (la página anterior al prólogo y el prólogo mismo) pero conforme avanzan las páginas la historia es menos brutal y más lenta de lo esperado… A pesar de todo, el final, sin ser nada muy currado, es trepidante y engancha. Y el epílogo me gustó mucho por ser muy plausible y por el gusto agridulce que te queda...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Zach Hay rated it 1 of 5 stars

The story was predictable and bland and at the same time I couldn't buy into it. A lot of people say Keene writes like Stephen King. I just don't see it. Keene's prose sounds like a guy who's New Years resolution was that he'd finally "get that novel written no matter what". It honestly sounded like I wrote this book in many parts. It's not horror. It's a poorly thought out social commentary that has been told time and time again. In the last 100 hundred pages I was trudging to get through it an...more

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Aug 05, 2011 M.R. Gott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brian Keene’s Ghoul is a phenomenal coming of age story told with horror conventions. The story of Timmy, Doug and Barry in the summer of 1984 is a worthwhile read. The heart breaking epilogue to the story shows not only Keene’s talents as a writer and story teller, but his respect for reality. It is his understanding and presentation of the realties of human interaction that allows him to create plausibility in a story of a Ghoul beneath a graveyard. In May of 2011 a film version of Ghoul direc...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Eric Guignard rated it 4 of 5 stars

REVIEWED: Ghoul
WRITTEN BY: Brian Keene
PUBLISHED: January, 2012

My first thought as I read this book was how formulaic it was. It read like every traditional horror movie of the eighties. But then Keene stepped past that - he took the plot and characters to places I didn't want to go, places that made me cringe as I read. The story follows three teenage boys - best friends - during a summer filled with dreams and monsters... both those monsters that are unnatural horrors and those waiting at home...more

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May 27, 2012 Gilliam rated it 3 of 5 stars

The least interesting element of this story is actually the ghoul, a shoe-horned boogeyman which suffers from glaring underdevelopment, while the most disappointing element is the trite epilogue which casually wraps up a fatalistic tale of child neglect and abuse. Otherwise I found the tale of three boys negotiating early puberty faced with hostile and/or controlling parents to be a compelling read. But given the horrors the boys experience at the hands of the adults in this story the introducti...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Daniel Russell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reads-since-the-big-move

It's time for me to start on my Brian Keene backlog. Following The Rising, Castaways and Urban Gothic, it's now time for...

The Ghoul!

Timmy lives with his parents next to an old church with an ancient graveyard. His friend Barrie is the son of the cemetery caretaker, and his other friend Doug lives with his alcoholic mother. It's the summer of 1984, and while the boys have plans to sit around listening to Slade and the newer bands like Metallica, playing Atari and generally goofing around, fate h...more It's time for me to start on my Brian Keene backlog. Following The Rising, Castaways and Urban Gothic, it's now time for...

The Ghoul!

Timmy lives with his parents next to an old church with an ancient graveyard. His friend Barrie is the son of the cemetery caretaker, and his other friend Doug lives with his alcoholic mother. It's the summer of 1984, and while the boys have plans to sit around listening to Slade and the newer bands like Metallica, playing Atari and generally goofing around, fate has different ideas. Barrie's heavily alcoholic and violent father has broken a stone tablet in the graveyard that kept a creature sleeping beneath the ground. Now that creature is out, feasting on the dead and searching for a female...

I don't know what it was about the opener, but I got the impression that I wouldn't enjoy this book. It bordered on tacky, but in hindsight, perhaps was written this way on purpose, as it read like a scene from one of the many slasher flicks predominant at the time. The dialogue is grown worthy, and the plot of two young lovers getting it on under the moon in a graveyard? Seeing a figure that isn't there a split second later? I was hoping that the rest of the novel wasn't like this.

And it wasn't! The main characters are very sympathetic and surprisingly likable. In one scene, Timmy's world is destroyed by his father, and I don't mean with violence or anything sexual...but by god it hits you. You're there and know that something similar happened to you with your parents at that age.

The gore is there, but lighter compared to other Keene books. The Ghoul himself is actually quite likable as antagonist. He even speaks like Thor at times, which is always a plus for me.He has simple needs and just wants to get on with his existence, even if that means eating corpses and raping women in tunnels (no pun intended).

My favourite chapter of the book follows the ghoul as he eats the corpses in the graveyard, telling the lives of each one, be them good or bad, and how they all ended up with the same fate: dead and food for the ghoul.

There's a great spirit of adventure and preadolescent awakening in the trio of boys, and I think this is why the book works so well. With, say three teenagers on camp dealing with this, or three 20 somethings at college discovering a ghoul...this book might have been a flop. It's not the creature, nor the setting that make this novel, it's those boys. Most of us had that one perfect summer when we were around 12, and this book brings back all those memories. Not that I had to fight a ghoul back in Wigan in 1992, you understand.

This was a startling little gem of a book, with better character development than other Keene books (even the supporting characters have their interesting quirks) and a story that pulls you in. It was a perfect read for Halloween and certainly worth a look. Keene fans should certainly have this towards the top end of their favourites.(less)

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May 09, 2013 Bill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Am I ever glad I gave Brian Keene another shot. I had read The Rising a few years ago and although there were several typos in that publication, it was still a very gripping read.
So now a colleague of mine had been ripping through his books and told me that Ghoul was awesome.
Well yeah, it pretty much was.

It seems that Keene is channeling Stephen King with his nostalgic depiction of three 12 year-old buddies, and he does this quite well. Although, as some reviewers are keen (sorry) to point out,...more

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May 12, 2013 Tanja Seppä rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, kindle

Rating 4*/5. I've read plenty of books reminiscent of this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Three twelve-year old best friends - Doug the fat one, Barry the abused one and Timmy the normal one - are enjoying a summer together. Strange things are afoot though. A broken gravestone releases a monster. Gravestones begin to sink. People disappear. All the while Barry, Doug and Timmy are in the process of growing up and in many ways this is much more a "coming of age" story than horror. The h...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, that was kind of messed up. l've read a number of Mr. Keene's book & this one is pretty okay. I didn't find it as scary as 'The Rising' or as disturbing as 'Dark Hollow,' but it was still better than 'The Darkness at the Edge of Town.' With the 3 main characters being 12 year old boys, l got a little of a 'Something Wicked This may Comes' vibe from it, just with WAY more eating of the dead and ghoulish sex slaves. But the most depressing part comes at the very end when history repeats...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Mick Smith added it

Just finished this book, this was probably the best Brian Keene novel I have read to date. To all you horror fans out there i would recommend this book. The thing also was this was not just a horror book, but it also had an underlying story. Three boys all age 12 and best friends, finished with school, headed for a summer of fun and adventure, think "Stand By Me" from Stephen king. I found myself just as engrossed with the story involving the three boys, each with their own unique set of problem...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, horror

Ghoul is a good novel. Keene's take on the ghoul is interesting, well fleshed out, and unusual.

Strangely, though, it seems more like a subplot than the subject of the book.

The book's central focus is on the friendship of Timmy, Barry, and Doug. Most of the story revolves around the boys' relationships with their parents and each other. The villain of the piece could have been just about anything. A murderous drifter, a violent animal, or even Barry's abusive father, and it would have been just...more

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About Brian Keene

BRIAN KEENE is the author of over twenty-five books, including Darkness on the Edge of Town, Take The Long Way Home, Urban Gothic, Castaways, Kill Whitey, Dark Hollow, Dead Sea, and The Rising. He’s also written comic books such as The Last Zombie, Doom Patrol and Dead of Night: Devil Slayer. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French and Taiwanese.

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216211.Ghoul?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348535024l/216211.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216211.Ghoul?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Ghoul by Brian Keene[/url]

Ghoul

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