GHOST RECALL BY ALAN BAXTER [BOOK REVIEW]
30/11/2021
Ghost Recall by Alan Baxter Eli Carver returns to crack skulls, kick ass and lock horns with a formidable supernatural foe in book three of the killer ‘Manifest Recall’ series Publisher : Grey Matter Press (7 Dec. 2021) Language : English Paperback : 170 pages ISBN-10 : 195056908X ISBN-13 : 978-1950569083 A Book Review by Tony Jones Three hardmen meet in a bar for a drink (choose your three personal favourites), for the sake of argument mine are John Wick (of Keanu Reeves fame), Isaiah Coleridge (from the pen of Laird Barron) and Eli Carver, the star of Ghost Recall, the third book in the Eli Carver series. All three men are vicious (but generally likable and charismatic) killers who have come out of hitman retirement to add more notches to their already substantial body-count resume. As these guys operate on dangerously short fuses a disagree breaks out and the pub empties, who will be the last man standing? Mmmmmm, that is an impossible question to answer, but you can guarantee blood will flow. But what a mythical pound-for-punch matchup! If you like your fiction short and sweet, with the back-kick of a mule laced with razorblades, then perhaps it is time to jump into the slipstream of this awesome tough guy created by Alan Baxter. The series began back in 2018 with Manifest Recall and was followed in 2020 by Recall Night, both were great reads and you can read both of my Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews behind the links. https://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/book-review-manifest-recall-by-alan-baxter https://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/book-review-recall-night-by-alan-baxter Ghost Recall is a quality continuation of the series and although I would recommend you read the books in sequence, this third entry is a standalone story with various pointers to what went before without going into too much detail, so you could also potentially jump straight in here. All three are novella, or short novel length stories (170-pages this time out) and are guaranteed to be devoured very quickly. If anything, I wished they were longer, with more detail thrown into the mix, for example the main plot of Ghost Recall revolves around a supernatural cult and there was plenty of scope to develop this strange secret society in significantly more detail. Instead, Alan Baxter keeps things moving with a light and sketchy style which was perfect if you’re after an easy and fast paced reading experience, the literary equivalent of a quality popcorn and beer driven ninety-minute horror/thriller film. Eli Carver is a supreme main character, the frailties and emotional turmoil which surrounded his memory loss and personal tragedy in Manifest Recall are generally gone and book three finds him hooked up with one of the characters introduced in its predecessor Night Recall. Narrated in the first person, the uber-cool former hitman attracts trouble and is soon involved in another mystery which takes a dangerous supernatural turn when he acquires a ring (with an odd symbol) after his first fist fight in a while. Finding himself in Las Vegas, Eli has grown accustomed to a relatively quiet life, but problems soon arise as this guy simply cannot back away from a tussle, no matter how heavily the odds are stacked against him. The plot is top heavy with vicious action sequences, a substantial body count and Alan Baxter has a real knack of delivering unrelentingly brutal battles which would not be out of place in a Tarantino flick, or the Hong Kong Heroic Bloodshed films of the 1990s. He certainly dispatches his enemies with the same brutal efficiency Chow Fun Fat did in his Honk Kong action flick heyday! One of the major strengths of Ghost Recall is the clever development of one of the key story threads which connect the three books. Eli Carver sees five ghosts, all individuals he has previously killed over his long career as a hitman, none of which are particularly fond of him (with obvious reason!) and in this book the ghosts have a much more prominent role, rather than just lurking in the background. Their individual characters begin to develop, they both help and hinder Eli, and one could not really see any future instalments without them cursing and chundering in the background. This was a highly entertaining supernatural thriller which refuses to get too deep, the romantic interest could have been developed for example but is kept on the backburner, instead Baxter chooses to throw the kitchen sink at Carver who probably wishes he returned the dodgy ring but is just not that kind of guy. The climatic sequence was wildly over the top and was by far the most overtly supernatural part of the series thus far. Baxter obviously has a lot of fun writing this character and I would not be surprised if he bounced back for another adventure. If so, I would like to see him pushed through the emotional wringer (as in book one) as well as the physical, in order to see his character develop, as he wiped out the opposition without breaking too much sweat in this book. Recurring characters are great for long-term fans who enjoy episodic fiction and I love this type of writing where I can periodically reconnect with old favourites for a few hours. Personally, more often than not these come from detective fiction rather than horror so having a yearly catchup with Eli Carver is a very welcome distraction where I can easily tap into his world without too much thought. I’m sure new readers will find the series equally appealing and relish the opportunity of reading the three books on the bounce. By way of comparison, the absolute gold standard of supernatural thrillers is John Connolly’s simply breath-taking Charlie Parker series, now nineteen books old, now there’s a challenge for Alan Baxter to rise to. Tony Jones Ghost Recall: An Eli Carver Supernatural Thriller, Book 3 |
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