• About
  • How To Help

Literophilia

~ Feeding Your Literary Addictions

Literophilia

Tag Archives: october 2008

Ghost Radio: A Novel

06 Wednesday Aug 2008

Posted by Chrissy in Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ghost radio, harper-collins publishers, leopoldo gout, october 2008

Book: Ghost Radio: A Novel by Leopoldo Gout

Publisher: Harper-Collins Publishers

Furnished by: Harper-Collins’ First Look Program

On Sale Date: October 2008

Publisher’s Description: “From the cramped bowels of a dimly lit Mexican radio station, Ghost Radio is beamed onto the airwaves. More than a call–in show to tell scary stories about vampires and poltergeists, Ghost Radio is a sanctuary for those sleepless denizens of the night, lost half way between this world and the next. Joaquin, the hip, melancholy host sits deep in a fog of cigarette smoke, fielding calls from believers and detractors alike. He is joined in the booth by his darkly beautiful girlfriend, Alondra, and his engineer, Watts. Soon, what began as a cult phenomenon is primed to break out to mainstream audiences. When a huge radio conglomerate offers to syndicate their show in the U.S., and Ghost Radio becomes a national hit with an expanding legion of hardcore fans, neither Joaquin, Alondra, nor Watts is prepared for what is about to happen.

A former punk rocker, Joaquin has had two devastating near–death experiences–accidents of shocking and horrific proportions. He emerged the sole survivor after these events, walking away even as his parents and later, his best friend and cohort in music and mischief–Gabriel– perished. Though a charismatic host, he remains a skeptic even as he begins to notice a curious and troubling phenomenon–Joaquin feels himself drawn further and further into the terrifying stories he solicits on the radio. Slowly he loses control over his circumstances, and finds himself unable to distinguish between the real world and the world populated by the nightmares on Ghost Radio. He is not alone, and as the voices of the dead begin to drift onto the airwaves–in essence ‘calling in’– they produce tragic results.

He cannot shake the suspicion that the agent of his crippling ailment is someone from his past, someone with a grudge to repay, and he is forced to confront his past and his own mortality, in order to save that which is most precious to him, and repair the crumbling wall between the living and the dead.”

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Review: Ghost Radio is the story of Joaquin, a Mexican talk show host who hosts the popular late-night radio program from which the novel gets its namesake. His girlfriend, Alondra, is the radio’s co-host, and their friend Watt does the engineering. We meet these 3 just as Ghost Radio is starting to hit it big and is offered a chance for syndication in the United States. However, the trip to the US brings up memories and stories for both Joaquin and his girlfriend, and this is where Joaquin’s business begins to bleed over into his personal life more than he had ever imagined possible.

The mysterious events of Joaquin’s past begin to return with a vengeance, this time with a supernatural tinge to them. And, as if being haunted by his past while still having to DJ to an entire listening audience every night isn’t enough, it seems that the stories his listeners tell are beginning to effect him as well. Joaquin’s life slowly becomes a battle between a waking nightmare and the “real world”, gorily trippy enough to drive anyone without the strongest conscious into complete insanity.

Overall, the book is thrilling and suspenseful. If you really allow yourself, you can be dragged into Joaquin’s dark, weird world and find yourself going crazy right along with him. However, some odd jumps in time and narration, and a sudden urge to resolve everything with your typical happy Hollywood epilogue at the end, kind of sours the story at points. It’s definitely worth a read, though, if you like to be surprised by the head games a book can play with you.

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Pinterest
  • Google
  • Reddit

Like this:

Like Loading...
Hello! Welcome to Literophilia. We're here to feed all of your literary addictions! Please see our "About" page and the "How to Help" page for more information. And as always, feel free to let us know what you like, what you love, and what should come next. Happy reading! ___________________________________________
Subscribe to the Literophilia feed by Email

Subscribe to our RSS feed! ___________________________________________

Navigate

  • About
  • How To Help

Categories

  • BBNN
  • Giveaway
  • Interview
  • Review
  • Rx for the Literophiliac
  • Weekly ARC Roundup
  • Yours, Chloe Parker

Recent Posts

  • Giveaway: Perverse by Larry Rodness
  • Author Interview with Larry Rodness
  • Perverse
  • Dream Eyes
  • Kim Harrison Chat on Goodreads
  • Chloe Parker’s Top 5 – Comfort Books
  • I, Nemo
  • ARC Roundup: 6.12.09

2008 a.a. milne a lion among men angie fox arc august 2008 author barry isaacson barry unsworth book news books candlewick press confessions of a contractor cristina henríquez debra ginsberg dope sick feburary 2009 for the book lover free books ghost radio ginnetta correli Giveaway goth gregory maguire harlequin harper-collins publishers hideo okuda Interview kevin krohn lala pipo land of marvels larry rodness leopoldo gout lewis carroll marshmallow press mehet morat somer october 2008 pagan kennedy penguin group perverse putnam random house return to the hundred acre wood richard murphy santa fey writers project sarah weinman september 2008 severed ties shaye areheart books shopping stefan brijs syrie james the angel maker the dangerous book for demon slayers the dangerous joy of dr. sex the gardner heist the grift the horse boy the kiss murder the lion the witch and the wardrobe the long fall the lost episodes of beatie scareli the robe of skulls the secret diaries of charlotte bronte the shining the world in half top 5 twitter ulrich boser vampire vertical inc vivian french walter dean myers walter mosley winnie-the-pooh

Avid Readers

  • 3,399 book worms
April 2018
S M T W T F S
« Jun    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  

Archives

  • June 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • January 2009
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com
Advertisements

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: