Ghost Radio.

Title/Author: Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout.

Genre: Horror/Supernatural.

Publisher: Harper.

Source: Purchased.

Favorite character: Alondra.

Favorite quote: n/a

All in all: A little confusing, but creepy and had a good premise.

Synopsis: Emanating from the cramped bowels of a dimly lit station—the demented dreamchild of hip, melancholy host Joaquin—Ghost Radio is a sanctuary for sleepless denizens of the night lost halfway between this world and the next. A call-in talk show that invites listeners to share scary stories about vampires and poltergeists, it is a bona fide cult phenomenon. Joined in the booth by his darkly beautiful girlfriend, Alondra, and his devoted engineer, Watt, Joaquin masks his skepticism, encouraging callers to withhold nothing as they spin nightmares and grotesqueries they swear are true.

But the wall separating reality from delusion—the living from the dead—is crumbling because Ghost Radio is going national, picked up for syndication by a huge conglomerate. And no one—not Joaquin, Alondra, or Watt—is even remotely prepared for what's coming next . . .

My Thoughts: I loved the premise of this book. Listeners call in to a late night radio show and tell their ghost stories.  But something else exists within the radio signals and it has a price to exact from main character and radio host, Joaquin.

The events in Joaquin’s life seem to have led him to Ghost Radio. He lost many people throughout his life and I wondered if he is trying to make contact with them or just make sense of what happened. I think many people question the afterlife after losing a loved one. But is he battling with his own guilt or is something more insidious traveling on the radio waves?

Can the Spirit world can hear radio signals? Can they see the living through a window that is “Traversed through portals, through disruptions of things.” Is the “fabric of reality held in place by the tension that exists between the domains of the living and the dead?” These are all ideas that Joaquin comes in contact with along with other concepts of ancient civilizations. Yes, ancient civilizations. I know. Confusing. At least to me. I wasn’t sure and neither was the main character, if there actually is something supernatural occurring or if he’s going insane.

I sympathized with Joaquin to a point. He revealed a lot. I knew about his painful childhood and the people he lost, but there was something about his personality that didn’t make me adore him. His reluctant girlfriend, Alondra is a more interesting character, and although she features prominently, the reader does not hear from her POV much. I loved the chapter that told about her and Joaquin’s relationship from her perspective. It also showed Joaquin in a different light and let me get to know him better through her eyes.

My favorite parts of the book are the ghost stories that the listeners called in to tell. They were creepy, very clever and broke up the book nicely. Also interesting are the drawings included in the novel that correlate to a Polaroid diary recorded in his youth. 

Things seemed to speed up at the end, but I also got a little more confused, like tumbling down a hill and gaining momentum. The culmination, though, was very creepy, bittersweet and a pretty cool ending to a ghost story.

Challenges:















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