ghost train

fantastic had great fun listening to this. I really enjoyed it.
classic UK horror

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Brilliant!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this journey. I was kept guessing throughout the story. I loved the twists and turns and the strength of the characters.

I have given an honest review in thanks for a free audio book which gave me access to this amazing, scary story.

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Nostalgia trip on a (ghost) train

I first read this book many years ago when I was just a teenager. It has stuck in my mind for thirty odd years now, so I guess it made a reasonable impression, given that it stuck out from the crowd when I was devouring horror novels at an astonishing rate. It was a bit of a treat to revisit the novel now after such a long time.
Great literature it is not, I suppose, but what it is, is a very enjoyable, well plotted and imaginative horror story with a fair few really exciting scenes, lots of gore, and quite a few scares. Importantly, it keeps the momentum of the story going at an appropriately rapid pace (apart from a couple of dream sequences that, while well handled, nevertheless felt a bit overcooked).
The narration was mostly great. The expository bits and descriptive passages where very good, but I'm afraid I struggled with the dialogue, given that much of the action takes place in Newcastle on Tyne but nobody had a Newky accent. This wasn't a big problem, but now and then a characters voice would break me out of the immersion I was enjoying.
Overall, great fun, particularly if you like '80s schloker horror such as
James Herbert etc
I received a free copy of this book in return for a fair review

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1 person found this helpful

A mish mash of events

Not what I thought, after reading the book description I presumed it was about 2 men, who banded together to defeat the entity on the Ghost Train, who had been causing murder and suicides of the people who had traveled on the express. Mark Davis was the main hero. The first half was more to do with Mark's nightmares and remembrances of what had happened to him when he was a school boy. Ex-policeman Les Chadderton, who Mark met in the second part was obsessed in also finding this entity because of what happened to his wife. I didn't find this book one bit scary, if fact there were quite a few parts where I couldn't help laughing even though it wasn't supposed to be funny. I think maybe it was the character's voices. They all spoke a little to slowly putting emphasis on words where there shouldn't have been any and Mark sounded like a petulant child most of the time. Even the women and the little girl sounded just like the men and not one of them had a Newcastle Accent. The Scottish accent was spot on though. For me there were no 'chills and thrills' although in context the story wasn't too bad.

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2 people found this helpful

Atmospheric and wonderfully read

This is the first book I have read / listened to by Stephen Laws and I am eager to seek more. I was very happy to discover before starting the book that Hannibal Hills would be narrating it. His voice is absolutely perfect for this genre and he could pretty much read the phone book and I would still find it interesting . I adored the sound effects at the start and it just set the scene for such an atmospheric tale. The book just flowed at a great pace and the deaths were just so gruesome and highly imaginative. A good old fashioned tale of good vs evil which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. I was given this book by the author/narrator in return for an honest and unbiased review

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1 person found this helpful

Older Horror - and Very Fun!

I love older horror, be it film or literature, and this book here is right up my street. In this case, quite literally as most of it is set in my home town of Newcastle. I do like reading books set in locales I am familiar with, so this was a plus for me and I wasn't aware of this when I first requested the audio.

The book itself is suitably daft and very fun. I enjoyed the intermixing of violence, gore and comedy (although I must admit I think some of the comedy was unintentional, more a product of its time). Plenty of action and the characterisations are good. I enjoyed the idea of a train being evil and taking over peoples minds. My only complaints really was that it dragged on a bit too long and could easily have been a shorter read without losing any of the story. The exorcism of the train was also rather absurd.
I will be looking for more of Laws books based solely on this.

Hannibal Hills is such a good narrator for these types of books, and I do enjoy listening to his voice. I'm glad he didn't attempt a Geordie accent though, as that would not have sounded good.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request via Audioboom and have voluntarily left this review.

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1 person found this helpful

Great scare fest of a story

This is one creepy book. It starts off a little slow but the horror builds up gradually until it reaches screaming speeds (literally) in the later part of the book.

There is an evil entity attacking travellers on the King's Cross train, it starts weird and gets a whole lot weirder, very enjoyable (if you enjoyed being creeped out).

I've knock off one star from the story itself as some of the characters have a tendancy to repeat themselves, frequently, and I presonally find this irritating, but overall it's four stars I think.

Mr Hills is definitely best at narrating horror and does a great job here with his expressive characterisations.

I recommend this one to all horror fans unless you're easily offended by non pc language, this was written several decades ago and includes all the 'great' non pc banter of the eighties.

I received a free copy at my request and voluntarily leave this review.

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Too long

For me the book was too long to really keep the suspense going, although the narrator makes a good effort at it.

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1 person found this helpful

Much underrated writer

I've loved Stephen's novels since the start... thanks to my dad getting them from the local library and commenting on the high standard of writing. I've been rereading lately and loving them all. To tell how good these books are, i remember detail from over 30 years ago. This, Darkfall, and Daemonic are my favs.

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Superb And Scary Horror Story

I really enjoyed this cracking horror story that really has some scary and tense moments, after a slow start the story soon ramps up to a fast pace.
I enjoyed the narration by Hannibal Hills who helps bring this story to life.
I was given this book in exchange for an objective review.

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