Jason Arnopp – author of The Last Days of Jack Sparks, a Radio 2 Bookclub pick – returns with a razor-sharp thriller for a social-media obsessed world. Prepare to never look at your phone the same way again . . .
Kate Collins has been ghosted.
She was supposed to be moving in with her new boyfriend Scott, but all she finds after relocating to Brighton is an empty flat. Scott has vanished. His possessions have all disappeared.
Except for his mobile phone.
Kate knows she shouldn’t hack into Scott’s phone. She shouldn’t look at his Tinder, his texts, his social media. But she can’t quite help herself.
That’s when the trouble starts. Strange, whispering phone calls from numbers she doesn’t recognise. Scratch marks on the door that she can’t explain.
And the growing feeling that she’s being watched . . .
About the Author:
Jason Arnopp is the author of the Orbit Books novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks, which has been described as “a magnificent millennial nightmare” (Alan Moore), “scarier than watching The Exorcist in an abandoned asylum” (Sarah Lotz) and “The Omen for the social media age” (Christopher Brookmyre). Director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, The Da Vinci Code) optioned the film rights shortly after the book’s 2016 release.
Arnopp co-wrote the official behind-the-scenes book Inside Black Mirror with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones.
In his past life as a rock journalist, he interviewed the likes of Bon Jovi, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns N’ Roses. He was once surrounded by angry guards holding semi-automatic weapons at The Vatican. His Slipknot biography, Slipknot: Inside The Sickness, Behind The Masks, was released in 2001 and is now available as a Kindle Edition. Arnopp has also written a guide to journalistic interviewing, entitled How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else, which is also out on Kindle.
My Review:
If you’ve read Jason’s previous book The Last Days of Jack Sparks (my review is here), then you will kind of know what to expect when you start Ghoster, but if you haven’t read it then prepare to have your mind blown and your sanity questioned.
Ghoster starts off like an normal thriller/mystery with a brilliant protagonist Kate Collins. A paramedic who has met the love of her life, unfortunately he lives in Brighton and she lives in Leeds so after a whirlwind romance she up sticks, leaves her friends, flat and job of 15 years and moves down to start a new life with Scott. However, Scott hasn’t been replying to her texts, emails, phone calls, WhatsApps for the past 18 hours and she’s getting a little bit nervous (understandably!).
Bravely (or stupidly) Kate decides to make the move anyway despite complete “radio silence” and arrives at Scott’s flat to find a) it’s been completely cleared out b) only his mobile phone is left in the flat.
I’m not going to give anything else away here except you need to expect the unexpected and enjoy the ride, because Jason Arnopp has created one of the funniest and entertaining female characters in Kate Collins. Ghoster is a cross-genre, completely nuts, weird as hell, funny as f*ck story about social media and how much we rely on our phones and the downsides of addiction, but for me personally I absolutely adored Kate with her hilarious observations, her brilliant put down lines, her snarky and sarcastic approach to life.
I have absolutely NO doubt that this book will divide readers but who wants to please everyone? It’s funny, original, thought-provoking, nuts, weird and totally entertaining.
My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book for an honest review and a huge thank you to the amazing blogtour organiser for putting this epic tour together and co-ordinating nearly 70 bloggers to take part and share their thoughts with the world (!!!)
Please don’t forget to follow the tour and see what everyone else has to say about Ghoster.
