BOOK REVIEW: GHOSTLAND BY DUNCAN RALSTON

There is a tendency in our popular culture to try and mask the redoing of something by putting it inside a shiny new box that ultimately ends up feeling mostly contrived and ineffective. Like, let’s do Blade Runner, except we’ll make it a western. But it will still be in the future. And there will be singing.
 
No thanks.
 
So whenever I hear of a concept where the thrust seems to be, “let’s take this previously successful idea and… But wait! Wait until you see this crazy twist on it.” I tend to be a bit skeptical.
 
Perhaps it’s because I happen to know how much disdain Duncan Ralston feels for Jurassic Park that I was willing to be more open minded with this one. It likely has much more to do with the fact that I know how good of an author he is and that he’s not the type to simply go for a cheap gimmick or trick in order to put a book together. Ghostland is a book that follows the same basic premise of Jurassic Park, an amusement park gone horribly and dangerously wrong. But unlike the towering dinosaurs of old, we are treated to a park overrun by the paranormal.

I had an opportunity to read this book in the earlier stages of its development, for the chance to provide some input and I have to say that even then, I found a lot of originality and a great spark of creativity behind the central drive of the plot.
 
One hinge in particular that I was taken with was the technicality of the writing. You don’t hear me talking about him as much but one of my favorite authors from high school and even college was Michael Crichton, again back to Jurassic Park. But for as successful as that was (and that was my introduction to him), for me my interests went well beyond that book. I loved and appreciated how he was able to incorporate scientific and intellectual details into a story without making it feel forced, while keeping the plot engaging and captivating.

And he could have been getting his details completely wrong. But the point is taking a subject matter that might be dry and making it enjoyable to read.
 
This brings us back to Ghostland. And as with Jurassic Park, we are dealing with science and technology that does not exist. Still, Ralston approaches it head on in such fashion that it’s impossible to not take it seriously. He lends it a legitimacy that makes you forget that such things cannot really happen.
 
They can’t, right?

---

And if excitement is what you seek, excitement you shall have. The story kicks off with a creepy opening and leads you into a first act that you know is going to end badly. And like so many other tales of scientific notions gone wrong, the only real question is when and how that disaster will take place. Before long, all the people in this story who see themselves as being in control will learn the laughable flimsiness of what we call “control.”
 
What I find improved in this final version is the focus of the narrative. Where many other characters originally competed for the spotlight and attention, Ralston has drawn together a tight story around these two main characters. The book feels more like their story and not just a chain of events. The emotional weight has lent the tale a lot of power.
 
Because what lies at the heart of this, under the cover of a really cool supernatural thriller is a story of friendship and how the bonds of that relationship can be strained to the breaking point. Ralston does a superb job establishing the tragedy of this fractured friendship by drawing compelling characters on both sides of the equation. It’s a human story told with largely inhuman characters.
 
What will the future bring for Duncan Ralston in the wake of the tragedy that took place in Duck Falls? Will we see a continuation of the narrative after what should be considered a solid foundation for this universe? Is it possible that a long-lost Rex Garrote novel will finally see the light of day?
 
I don’t have the answer to those questions but as a fan of this work, I am looking forward to finding out. This is one of those projects which you can easily detect the investment of the author so it will be fun to see what more Duncan Ralston might have in store for us.
​

---