Book Review

"If you ignore what I have to say, it really won't surprise me. I've come to find that most people ignore the dead."

Nice hook, huh? It's from a book entitled: The Worthy (A Ghost's Story), by Will Clarke.

Here's what the jacket says: ...The Worthy, a wickedly funny and frightening ghost story of unholy proportions about secret ties...thanks to a brutal hazing incident at Louisiana State University's Gamma Chi fraternity, Conrad is dead--a nineteen-year-old spirit suddenly without an earthly body.

Make no mistake, the newly deceased Conrad is one angry ghost, and the object of this wrath is chapter president Ryan Hutchins...

Out for revenge, Conrad possesses an unsuspecting pledge's body so he can finish what Ryan started, steering them toward a depraved confrontation with a surprising outcome that will leave readers gasping.

All right, I cut out a bit there. You'll have to find the book and read the book jacket yourself for a fuller synopsis. Better, read the book and enjoy the whole plot, complete with secondary characters, dialogue and a recipe for Translucent Lemon Pi. (as in 3.141592...)

One reason I really like this book--besides the fact that it's a page turner--is this notation in the acknowledgements section: I wrote The Worthy when I was twenty-six.* And on the very night that I typed the last period at the end of the final sentence**, I dreamed that Stephen King congratulated me for signing with Simon & Schuster, and then he gave me a ham sandwich.

Very cool. I'm now going to wait each night for Stephen King to visit my dreams, name my publisher, and bring me a sandwich. Hold the mayo, Steve...

Cyn

*Twenty-six! You lousy s.o.b., Will Clarke. I hate you.

**Hm. A linear writer. Interesting. I wonder if he's a pantser or a plotter?

For more information about Mr. Clarke and his other book, Lord Vishnu's Love Handles: A Spy Novel (Sort Of) --soon to be a movie--go here! http://www.booktourvirgin.blogs.com/ Make sure you scroll down the page to see a short video-interview with the man, himself; he's wearing a toga and a pink crown (but not, however, eating a ham sandwich). I like his pitch. He answers the question what's your book about, complete with hook. I could just picture him at a conference, crouched on a chair in front of a glaze-eyed editor, totally capturing his/her attention. (Even without the pink crown.) Nice job, Will!