“The Saturday Night Ghost Club”
Written by Craig Davidson
Review by Diana Iozzia
For a coming of age story meets 80s nostalgia, with
sprinkled in ghost stories and supernatural elements, this book just really did
nothing for me. I had high hopes for this, after recently falling in love with
many of Stephen King’s books about children, Stranger Things, and My
Best Friend’s Exorcism. In hopes that this book would be similar to those,
my expectation level was quite high. Sadly, I felt this book to be extremely
disappointing.
A true lack of plot and lack of interesting
characters completely ruined this book for me. The main character is Jake, who
hunts for ghosts with his wacky uncle Calvin, Calvin’s friend, Lex, and Jake’s
two friends, Dove and Billy. Jake speaks as an adolescent as he is in the Saturday
Night Ghost Club and then looks back on his childhood as an adult. I felt that
the older perspective added an element of wisdom that just was not necessary. This
book was very long in certain parts, but it wasn’t long enough to provide a
fleshed-out story. The characters were appealing enough, but I felt we didn’t get
to know them long enough to worry and wonder about them.
They go on a bunch of adventures, led by Uncle
Calvin, who starts to act more suspiciously throughout the story. However, this
isn’t exactly suspenseful. In the end, we are given an explanation for all of
the local legends and ghosts that the club investigates. I felt that if the
book was longer and provided more heart and detail, I would have felt more for
the characters and enjoyed the story more. The reveal is an interesting
surprise and was totally unexpected for this story, but I have heard too many
stories in the past 10 years that follow this type of plot twist.
An element that I did really enjoy was the brother
relationship between Jake’s father and Calvin. There’s so much kindness, love,
and support there. Also, Jake’s dad is just awesome at taking down bullies.
I recommend this book for those who are into these
types of stories. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.
I received a complimentary advanced reader’s edition
in exchanging for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Penguin Books.
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