Jason Arnopp – author of acclaimed cult hit The Last Days of Jack Sparks – returns with a razor-sharp thriller for a social-media obsessed world. Prepare to never look at your phone the same way again . . .
Kate Collins has been ghosted.
She was supposed to be moving in with her new boyfriend Scott, but all she finds after relocating to Brighton is an empty apartment. Scott has vanished. His possessions have all disappeared.
Except for his mobile phone.
Kate knows she shouldn’t hack into Scott’s phone. She shouldn’t look at his Tinder, his calls, his social media. But she can’t quite help herself.
That’s when the trouble starts. Strange, whispering phone calls from numbers she doesn’t recognise. Scratch marks on the walls that she can’t explain. And the growing feeling that she’s being watched.
Kate refuses to leave the apartment – she’s not going anywhere until she’s discovered what happened to Scott. But the deeper she dives into Scott’s digital history the more Kate realises just how little she really knows about the man she loves.
________
Let’s get this out of the way, and it might be a spoiler - Jason Arnopp writes horror fiction. I did not know that. Despite buying his previous novel, The Last Days of Jack Sparks, on a recommendation, I haven’t actually got round to reading it. And, when offered the opportunity to take part in the BlogTour for GHOSTER, I recognised the name and was intrigued by the social media angle. I was expecting a thriller about our reliance on technology but oh this is so much more.
Kate Collins is a fantastic character - witty, foul-mouthed, intelligent, a little insecure, and thoroughly relatable, likeable and entertaining. Arriving from Leeds to live with her boyfriend in Brighton, she finds his apartment abandoned, emptied of furniture, with a strange drawing on the doors to the balcony. And, on the balcony, she finds Scott’s mobile phone. As Kate tries to understand why Scott, despite being so keen on her, and on their moving in together, has seemingly done a runner, she relates the story of how they got to this point. Is it possible that Scott has been stringing her along since they met? Is he somehow watching her distress, taking pleasure in it? Despite swearing-off social media, and smartphones, following an incident some time ago, Kate decides to snoop on the contents of Scott’s phone, his messages, Facebook and Tinder accounts in an attempt to answer her questions.
The mystery of Scott’s absence, and Kate’s resourcefulness in investigating his ghosting of her, is so thoroughly absorbing that, by the time you realise that the hairs are standing up on the back of your neck, that things are getting really creepy, you are completely invested. And by the time things start to get really crazy there is no backing out, you go with it, you want to know where Kate, and Arnopp, are going…
I have read other genre-splicing novels which ultimately failed due the abrupt shift in tone. There is no flicking of a switch here, no ‘trick’ to the writing. Jason Arnopp creates realistic characters, not only in Kate but in the supporting cast - her incredible best friend, her unsettling new colleague - characters the reader cares about as they are gradually drawn into a plot that becomes increasingly stranger. I found the book entertaining and disturbing in equal measure. It deserves to be huge. Thanks to OrbitBooks and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to take part in the BlogTour. And now to Jack Sparks…
Follow the Blog Tour - @JasonArnopp @OrbitBooks @SpecHorizons @gambit589
