Genre: Paranormal
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
Let me get this straight. You’re making a programme about haunted houses and you don’t believe in ghosts?
Cash-strapped artist Adam Price is the owner of Greystones Hall, an ancient manor house he shares with a plethora of ghosts. He adores the place, but life is a constant battle to pay the bills and he’s lonely, too, following the death of his beloved grandfather two years earlier.
Lonely, that is, until the Ghosts Galore crew offer to film an episode at Greystones Hall. Adam’s a bit dubious about letting them loose in his home, but allows himself to be persuaded by the fee they’ll be paying him. Led by handsome producer Carl, dotty medium Stella and pleasant-but-nondescript historian Guy, they fill the house with wiring, cameras, lights and people. But when filming starts, things soon go wrong. The crew turn out to be using dodgy tricks. Carl refuses to believe in ghosts in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. And Stella stirs up a new and malevolent spirit, more dangerous than any that have been known at Greystones Hall before, who seems to have a violent dislike of Adam’s art.
As Carl and Stella disappear and the local vicar is powerless to help, Adam turns to Guy—who has a secret of his own—for help. Together they must solve a centuries-old mystery involving lost paintings, a priest hole, and a death that might have caused all the negative energy in the house. But that’s not all the pair discover, on a night of adventure that also brings unexpected romance…
A shorter, m/f version of this low-heat, plot-heavy paranormal romp was previously published by Fox Spirit Books as Got Ghosts? but the book has been expanded and extensively rewritten as m/m romance with a new title and cover art.
The Review
Ghost Galore documents a haunted house programme television crew’s attempt to film ghostly goings-on at Greystones Hall. Adam Price is the owner and an artist by profession, and he is willing to put up with the intrusion, as the money will prove a life saver for the Hall. What he gets is the promise of potential romance, in the form of arrogant Carl or self-effacing Guy. In addition, they all get some unexpected ghost activity, which is something the production crew were not counting on.
There are some good things going on here, it but underwhelmed me. There are a bunch of ghosts who are willing to participate like some kind of silent Greek chorus. Adam’s dead grandfather is more proactive, for sure, but the angry ghost ancestor is a bit of a let-down. He is supposed to be about to erupt like some malevolent avenging angel, causing death and destruction all around. But we do not get to witness whatever the ghost visits on the ‘actors’ and crew, other than hear them screaming and running around. I appreciate that it’s meant to be more a comedy than a horror story, but it’s more mildly amusing than side-splitting.
The uncovering of the artistic treasure trove should have been more exciting – something that should have excited the production team as it was discovered with ghostly help and vindication of the programme’s medium, Stella. It did lift the story all the same.
All in all, It’s a bit of letdown for me, with Adam bumbling around and more interested in talking to the ghost of his grandfather than to Guy, the programme’s historian / uncredited medium.
Adam more often than not forgets he’s there, or fails to answer his questions before falling into bed with him and making plans for some kind plans for a future together.
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.