John Maberry: Ghost Road Blues

[eyez0nme]

I've been hearing only good things about this book, but never got a chance to read it. Is it as good as the people rave about, or overrated?

 

[eyez0nme]

I just got myself a copy, and, man, it's better than King's recent novels.

The drought is officially over. The pretentious solipsistic navel-gazing of the Abyss generation has long since gone the way of the dinosaurs, the rank amateurism of the self-publishing internet pioneers who rose from their ashes has failed to crack the mainstream, and now a new crop of writers has emerged that is returning horror to the glory of its King-led heyday.

In Ghost Road Blues and now, Dead Man’s Song, Jonathan Maberry rushes headlong toward the front of this pack, proving that he has the chops to craft stories at once intimate and epic, real and horrific, and to create the kind of fiction that should bring disaffected readers back to the fold. Jonathan Maberry is one of the brightest new lights in contemporary horror.

-- Bentley Little

I usually read the big three: Koontz, King and Straub, but after reading the Publishers Weekly review, which compared Jonathan Maberry's GHOST ROAD BLUES to Stephen King's THE STAND, I thought I'd read it just to disprove it because I hate it when they compare some new writer to the King. Well, here's me with egg on my face. GHOST ROAD BLUES does read like Stephen King, only PW got it wrong: it's not like THE STAND, but it IS like SALEM'S LOT. As much as it pains me to break my rule of saying nice things about someone who has been compared to King, this guy is great. Really great. I won't spoil anything in the book, but I do want to say this --it is going to scare you. No question at all about that.

-- Amazon Reviewer

It reminded me of Robert McCammon's earlier works.