Kate Collins first sees Scott on Tinder, she super-likes him but gets no response. However, on a detox weekend, after the Great Rondolpho Trauma, she meets him again ( coincidence?)and a romance begins. Just after 4 weeks later, Scott asks her to move in with him….

So, Kate agrees to move her life from Leeds to Brighton, but then Scott stops responding to her texts…..has she been ghosted?

This is a read in one sitting novel that’s utterly gripping. Part thriller, part ghost story and a cautionary tale of the dangers of social media and addiction to the dopamine high of likes and ‘validation’. With touches of humour and some geeky movie references this is a fun, yet dark and twisty thriller. A perfect Halloween read.

Thank you to The publishers, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

This is a weird book and completely out of my comfort zone but I loved it.
It's a fascinating story that mixes genre, from thriller to fantasy to horror and I loved the style of writing, the well written cast of characters and the brilliantly crafted plot.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This story is about Kate. She is due to move in with her boyfriend of three months, Scott. Because he lives a distance from her house this involves her leaving her job as well as her flat. A few days before she is supposed to move she cannot get hold of Scott at all. She decides to go ahead and move anyway. When she gets there she finds the flat completely empty. The only thing that is left behind is Scott’s mobile phone. Kate investigates whether something has happened to Scott or if she has just been ghosted.

I really enjoyed the authors writing style. If I had gone into this book not expecting horror I think that I would have enjoyed it a lot better. I enjoyed how up to date this story was with the mobile phone and the apps. I thought this would make the story scarier. Although there were horror elements in this book, it just wasn’t scary enough for me. I was hoping for something that would keep me awake at night and unfortunately this wasn’t it.

This is Jason Arnopp's follow up to The Last Days Of Jack Sparks. It's another horror book that has social media element in it. It was a very fast paced read that I enjoyed a lot. I really like this social media aspect becaue it makes it so relatable to current day, although it makes you a bit nervous :)

I highly recommend these books.
Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Days of Jack Sparks was one of my top reads of 2017 and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Ghoster! From the blurb alone it was obvious this was going to be a spooky read – perfect for October and dark nights when all you have for company is a good book and your mobile phone for the constant scrolling/refreshing/rotating around the same four apps. Yes! My evenings really are THAT exciting…

Ghoster is a thoroughly modern horror story; a smartphone being the centre of the intrigue and chills. Our main protagonist Kate Collins is a paramedic from Leeds who has a serious addiction to her phone and social media. Did you know that you can actually become addicted to your phone!? Apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram use the very same brain circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine to keep us using their products as much as possible…every text, like, swipe or notification gives your brain a little buzz of dopamine. Scary huh! This addiction caused a serious accident in Kate’s past so she now carries the most basic of phones (also known as a dumb phone) to resist the pull of the buzz. She actually meets her soulmate Scott Palmer on a digital detox weekend, how sweet when the stars align eh? And surely it’s just a coincidence that this is the guy she swiped right on a few months ago? Oh and look at that he’s a vegetarian too. I am obviously a MASSIVE cynic (and thank God dating apps weren’t a thing in my youth) because Kate falls for Scott and they are soon a serious item with her agreeing to move from her home in Leeds to his gorgeous flat in Brighton. The day before the move though Scott stops all contact, no response to Kate’s texts which leaves her understandably confused. Her place is all packed up and ready to go with new tenants lined up, she has transferred her job to Brighton what can she do!? Is Scott injured, his phone dead/lost or has he seriously ghosted her (when a person cuts off all contact with their friends or the person they're dating, without warning or notice beforehand)?

Things get even more confusing when Kate arrives in Brighton, Scott’s flat is totally bare and a weird face has been drawn onto the patio glass. The only thing left behind is his smart phone, which appears to have been dropped in the middle of this moonlight flit. Do you think Kate can resist this glowing mine of information; if only she could access all his apps she might get an idea of what has happened but in fact all she ends up with is more questions, creepy phone calls and the feeling that she is being watched!

I absolutely loved this book, having read Jason’s previous books I knew exactly what I was getting myself into and enjoyed every creepy AF twist and reveal that he threw at me. Arnopp has cemented himself as one of my all time favourite authors and I look forward to whatever comes next. In summary (I know I’ve waffled on) if you’re looking for a thrilling, funny, head f**k of a book go buy Ghoster!!! Maybe avoid looking for it on your smartphone though…..

Kate Collins, an unlucky in love paramedic, decides to up sticks and relocate to move in with the new love of her life, Scott, a guy she came across on a dating app.

There is one problem though, when Kate arrives in Brighton, Scott isn’t there, everything is gone, all except for Scott’s mobile phone...

Kate decides to hack Scott’s phone leading to dire consequences...

I’m not completely sure how to describe this book, you definitely can’t pigeonhole it as a horror, or a thriller, it’s kind of a modern technological horror hybrid with some black humour, and plenty of creepy scares and spooks.

This is a book to disengage your brain before reading, or you will find yourself shouting at Kate’s naivety.

it's a deceptively quick read, it’s a fascinating take on today’s life, when phones aren’t put down, dating apps are the standard tool to meet people now and the use of  social media, but it also delves into one persons desperation not to be alone.

Massively quirky, it’s a well crafted, entertaining and very different take on modern life.

I would recommend this to any reader who likes to a bit of a fright, and anyone one who likes to swipe right ....

4

Jason Arnopp's follow up to The Last Days Of Jack Sparks is another social media infused horror novel, MR James with an iPhone. It's another fast paced and entertaining read, but your appreciation will depend a lot on how you view the decision the main character takes which kick starts the plot. I never quite bought it, which overshadowed the rest of the book for me. Still a fun diversion, with some solid character work, if not quite at the level of the previous book.

It's an often heard complaint that literature hasn't been able to engage with modern communications technology, and that even when a book is set in the present day, you often might as well be from the 1980s, as far as email, mobile phones and social media are concerned.

That may be a little overstated - I think that after, perhaps, a slow start, these things now appear fairly regularly - but authors still seem to struggle with what they mean, how they affect lives. In Ghoster, Arnopp has tackled that head on. Not only do we see text conversations between Kate and best friend Izzy (and that friendship between the two women is at the centre of this book), but the plot hangs on the dangerously addictive potential of such tech and its effect on lives.

We learn at the start that Kate is undergoing a digital detox, that she's smashed her smartphone and walked away from her "socials". It's a little while before we understand what led to this - but anyone with a heart would, I think, then shake their head at what happened. And then think, "There but for the grace of God..."

Kate is an absorbing, frustrating, sympathetic character, nothing unusual in her addiction to that next like, the buzz of the phone reporting a mention, to a swipe on a dating app. She's all of us really - but beyond that Arnopp has an eye for character and quickly brings alive Kate and her quest for confidence (and for a man). She suffers from a degree of awkwardness and is continually self-deprecating (there is some background with a mother who is distant) but seems, at last, to have connected with someone, Scott, who is right for her. There's also that friendship with Izzy, a job (paramedic) at which she excels so things are looking up.

And then it all goes wrong. Scott vanishes just as Kate takes that risky step and moves in with him. The only clue is his cracked phone, left in an empty flat. The phone is full of all those dopamine-squeezing apps that Kate has sworn off. She shouldn't touch, it shouldn't snoop. But this is different, isn't? She needs too get on that phone. Scott may be in trouble...

I loved the way that Arnopp makes smartphone culture central to this novel. It's not only a tool, a means to an end, it's the central fact of Kate's life, the only way she has of - potentially - connecting back with Scott. And it's the medium by which she learns all about him, how he isn't the man she thought. It's her salvation and her damnation. The story darts backwards and forwards, following the burgeoning relationship between the two, visiting earlier scenes recalled in the later, harder few days that Kate spends hunting Scott down. Those memories haunt Kate as her personal and professional lives balloon out of control with consequences for everyone around her. That, too, is well done: the compromises, the little excuses, the justification, one bad choice leading to another worse one, the swearing that she'll never do that thing again... and all accompanied by an internal chorus of horror and dread - as well as a compulsion to keep looking at that phone.

While there's a real sense of supernatural horror here - whispering voices on the phone, some frightening stuff in the dark - the underlying, creeping dread comes from other places: from hidden lives, obsessions, unearthed secrets, lies. And the whole thing plays out to a background of an unconcerned, hedonistic, partying Brighton, the contrast adding bite to the horror.

The only thing that undercut that sense was the delivery of information in several chunks towards the end of the book, which felt less effective than the slow teasing out in the earlier part. But it was still a book I binged, one I had to keep reading.

Flicking those pages.

Getting another little hit with each chapter end.

Ignoring the family and pets around me and being a little bit cross when I had to put it down and do something else.

Now, what does that remind me of...?

In his acknowledgements, Jason Arnopp declares Ghoster his “difficult second novel” following the sublime The Last Days of Jack Sparks. But there’s nothing difficult about Ghoster, it’s an absolute belter of a modern horror story that turns the blackest of mirrors on smart phones, dating apps and addiction.

Kate, our heroine, is me. No, seriously, it was uncanny. She is a sarcastic, prickly, difficult woman who doesn’t want to be those things but, well, there she is just trying to get on with things in a batshit world. Then, as many of us have done during times of strife, she turns to Tinder just to make things even worse, and - in a roundabout way that becomes clear as the novel progresses - meets the guy who will ruin her life. It was all going great between her and Scott, so great they were on the cusp of moving in together but then he ghosts her. Literally. It is then that things get very, very weird. Which is all the better for us.

Arnopp has this incredible writing style - half reportage half witty, staccato sentences that pack a punch. Dude knows how to suck you in to a story that’s for sure. Ghoster is a different beast from Jack Sparks though. While in Jack Sparks the horror begins almost from the outset and punctuates the story pretty consistently, Ghoster is more of a slow burn. The story goes from quirky love story, to “bit strange”, to unsettling to, in the final fifth, absolute insanity. It’s a wild one and it’s impossible to put down.

For me, the best part of the book is how absolutely on the button Arnopp is about pretty much everything. The book is as much a social commentary into the pitfalls of social media - its ubiquitousness, its intrusion into real life, the attention seeking that it’s almost impossible to avoid indulging in and how easy it is to find out just about anything about everyone - than it is a horror story. Or maybe it’s just another brand of horror - real life horror as opposed to the ghosts and demons type.

Either way the two elements marry together perfectly. This is the kind of horror story with substance behind it. I’ve mentioned (read: banged on about) in the past how much I like my horror to have some sort of cerebral element rather than just blood and gore and goo - Ghoster has both but more of the former, and a healthy dose of black humour, which makes it a win in my book.

Ghoster is the kind of novel you’ll enjoy if you like your ghosts in the real world instead of a country mansion or if you’re sick of technology and need some snark about it. It’s also ideal if you fancy a break from your phone because god knows I don’t want to go anywhere near mine for awhile after reading this.

I have to admit this book ended up being very different to what I initially expected from the blurb. When I first found it on NetGalley I was imagining perhaps a psychological horror/thriller, with a creepy stalker protagonist à la Ira Levin’s Sliver. Well, that’s not how this one turned out.

Kate Collins is a paramedic and a recovering social media junkie who moves from Leeds to Brighton to start living with her possibly-too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, Scott. But when Scott stops returning her calls a day or two before she’s due to move in with him she starts to wonder if he’s changed his mind, and then when she gets to his flat to find it stripped bare of all his possessions other than a damaged smart phone she begins to convince herself this was his plan all along. Then she hacks his phone, and unlocks a door in to Scott’s disturbingly creepy past.

To say this book goes through a fair number of twists and turns is a bit of an understatement. As already mentioned, it initially does seem to be heading down a fairly typical psycho-thriller path but then about a third of the way through suddenly shifts gear, dropping some massive hints that maybe there’s a more supernatural hand in Scott’s mysterious disappearance. Add in a suggestion of an evil twin plotline, a very rough outline of something vaguely Lovecraftian and a smattering of additional disappearances to worry about and it’s fair to say this book will have you guessing right up until the last few chapters.

I think part of what makes this work so well is the absolute lack of reliability Kate has a narrator. Her social media addiction quickly becomes a problem, and her fixation on the idea that Scott has somehow been playing her throughout their burgeoning relationship puts a massive question mark over everything she does or says throughout the narrative. And yet despite her flaws, despite her obvious inability to take responsibility for herself, she still somehow comes across as a sympathetic character, someone you still want to root for regardless.

Overall this was a surprisingly fun book to read, and it’s definitely whet my appetite for more of Arnopp’s work. The twists and turns of the narrative actually made it more interesting than if it had ended up being another oh-so-predictable psycho-thriller stalker story. If you like weird and wonderful urban horror then you could do worse than grab yourself a copy of this book.

Kate is a paramedic and is about to move in with boyfriend Scott only he hasn’t replied to any messages for 24 hours. She first saw him on Tinder and sent him a “super-like” to which he didn’t respond then either. She then bumped into him at a yoga retreat and things took off from there. Alternate chapters take us from now (moving in) to when she first met him. When Kate arrives at Scotts flat having travelled from Leeds to Brighton (and her things are arriving right behind her) she not only finds Scott not there but the flat empty. Is Kate being ghosted? What on earth is going on and what are the spooky lights she keeps seeing? I quickly took to Kate and her predicament (albeit slightly naive) and had to smile at the situation she found herself in, being in an empty flat. I found this an intriguing read. A mature woman and a strange situation she finds herself in. I wasn;t expecting that! three quarters of the way through I found myself thinking this is a horror story . Talk about cross genre! I am still thinking about the ending several hours later and quite what to think of this book. It threw me off kilter several times , I suppose in a good way, I think? Wow. Certainly very different from anything I have ever read before. Think women’s fiction that goes to supernatural, then to horror and stir it all up. One to remember.

For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
or follow me on Twitter@nickisbookblog
Rest of llinks as part of blog tour

If you've read Jason's previous book The Last Days of Jack Sparks (my review is here), then you will kind of know what to expect when you start Ghoster, but if you haven't read it then prepare to have your mind blown and your sanity questioned.

Ghoster starts off like an normal thriller/mystery with a brilliant protagonist Kate Collins.  A paramedic who has met the love of her life, unfortunately he lives in Brighton and she lives in Leeds so after a whirlwind romance she up sticks, leaves her friends, flat and job of 15 years and moves down to start a new life with Scott.  However, Scott hasn't been replying to her texts, emails, phone calls, WhatsApps for the past 18 hours and she's getting a little bit nervous (understandably!).

Bravely (or stupidly) Kate decides to make the move anyway despite complete "radio silence" and arrives at Scott's flat to find a) it's been completely cleared out b) only his mobile phone is left in the flat.

I'm not going to give anything else away here except you need to expect the unexpected and enjoy the ride, because Jason Arnopp has created one of the funniest and entertaining female characters in Kate Collins.  Ghoster is a cross-genre, completely nuts, weird as hell, funny as f*ck story about social media and how much we rely on our phones and the downsides of addiction, but for me personally I absolutely adored Kate with her hilarious observations, her brilliant put down lines, her snarky and sarcastic approach to life.

I have absolutely NO doubt that this book will divide readers but who wants to please everyone?  It's funny, original, thought-provoking, nuts, weird and totally entertaining.

Ghoster by Jason Arnopp

Kate Collins has left her life behind in Leeds to start afresh in Brighton. She is moving in with her new boyfriend, Scott, who lives in a beautiful flat with a balcony overlooking the sea. Kate couldn’t be more excited, or in love. But everything crashes around her when she arrives at the flat with all of her possessions only to find it empty. The furniture is gone and so, too, is Scott. Kate has been ghosted – Scott has left her with no word or any communication at all. All that’s left of him is his damaged smartphone, which she finds on the balcony. When Kate manages to access the phone, it’s then that she realises that she didn’t know Scott at all and the more she discovers, the more she has to know, whatever the cost.

I am a huge fan of The Last Days of Jack Sparks and so I couldn’t read Ghoster soon enough or fast enough. Again, it has the most fantastic premise and is an original and witty take on the spooky concept of ghosts. While the flat is creepy enough, the focus this time is on social media and smartphones. Kate is an addict. She knows that. And social media here is shown at its very worst and most terrifying.

How well do we know people when all we do learn is from the tweets, posts and images that they put online? This is a fascinating theme and Jason Arnopp explores it thoroughly. But this is also a horror novel, a ghost story, and that means we can expect chills. The flat, so beautiful in the daytime, becomes menacing and very scary at night with all of the power disconnected. And that’s not all there is to fear. It is nerve wracking at times.

I especially loved the first half of the novel as we get to know Kate and learn the risks she’s taken to make this new phase of her life work. She’s a paramedic. There’s something heroic about her even though she is distinctly flawed.

Events become a little too unbelievable for me during the second half and, as a result, it wasn’t as scary as I wished. Also, there’s something truly unpleasant about some of these characters. Scott is not somebody I could ever like and I struggled at times with Kate. Nevertheless, Ghoster is an exciting and fast read, full of humour as well as those genuinely spooky moments. And it is packed with fascinating and deadly ideas about how lives are lived these days mostly on the phone. Perhaps it’s time to turn it off.

Other review
The Last Days of Jack Sparks

Jason’s last novel, The Last Days of Jack Sparks was a best-seller here in the UK. I liked it a lot – as a fictional story of demonic possession it was admirably creepy yet disarmingly natural, until a very weird ending that wouldn’t have been out of place in Black Mirror. (Which may be appropriate, as one of Jason’s other jobs has been to write a book about the television series.)

His new book is very much of this time, socially relevant and in the end definitely creepy.

His lead character, from whose perspective this tale is told, couldn’t be more different than Jack, the rock-star-like celebrity of The Last Days of Jack Sparks. In contrast, Kate Collins is a young woman in her thirties who sees herself as nothing special. She has one friend, Izzy Clarke, who she works with as a paramedic in Leeds. Like most of her age and background she is addicted to using her phone and social media. Facebook, WhatsApp, putting up pictures of cats, food, memes – she’s done it all.

Still single and in a bit of a rut, Kate turns to Tinder to try and meet someone. She discovers a young man named Scott Palmer who she gets on well with, but he lives in Brighton, hundreds of miles away. Nevertheless, they meet at a digital detox retreat and build up a relationship, usually on shared weekends. When Scott asks her to move into his nice flat in Brighton, Kate doesn’t hesitate. She arranges to transfer her job and packs up all her belongings to move to Brighton.

Except that when she gets there, the flat is empty of furniture, and also missing Scott. Phone messages and texts to him go unanswered. Frantically worried that something has happened to him, Kate begins a frantic search. She finds that Scott may not have been the person she thought he was and moreover appears to have ‘ghosted’ her. Staying in the flat, trying to come to terms with what has happened, its then that things get really weird for Kate. She finds Scott’s phone at the flat and then starts to receive strange messages…

Now you could argue that as an old white man in his mid-fifties, I may not be able to relate to this story. I must admit that I wasn’t sure whether it would work for me. But Jason managed to attract my attention and drag me in.

Unlike Jack Sparks, Kate is a personable young woman without pretentions or attitude. She tells her story with humour and with appreciable matter-of-fact-ness. Her voice is what I would expect someone of her age to speak like. She’s funny and judgemental but lacks self-confidence and clearly aware of today’s culture, Kardashians and all. She clearly cares about her work but isn’t afraid to mention issues, often with that gallows humour that you need to cope when working in such professions. There are a number of weird but funny stories about being a paramedic, some of which Jason in his Afterword says are true.

What is new to me is that we also get a glimpse into the post-millennial social world of texting, sexting and social hook-ups, mixed with enough contemporary cultural references (the inevitable Kardachians, Marie Kondo, Ariana Grande, Beyonce) to make her world seem real.

But, of course, what this is really doing is setting the scene for weird stuff. Amongst all the romance, comedy and sex, we discover that there’s more to the characters than we realised at first. We discover the reason for Kate’s bff Izzy being hospitalised whilst at work, which Kate blames herself for, and the fact that she has obsessive tendencies, not only with her phone but possibly also with her relationships, all of which begin to cast doubt on her narrative.

When strange things start to happen in the Brighton flat, the reader is not sure whether they are actually real, hallucinations or the result of an overactive imagination, caused by stress. Jason manages to keep the reader guessing: is Kate going mad? Or is it something else? This is a book that plays with your perceptions, that gets you to think one way and then goes another.

Readers will either love or hate the ending. The ending works better for me than Jack Spark did.  I thought it was good, although there’s still a lot unexplained. On finishing I was immediately hit with the thought wondering who was going to clean up this mess– I expect that in a Horror story, to an extent. However, it is one that makes you think about the bigger picture…

There’s the odd plot point that doesn’t bear dwelling on (would anyone really move such a distance knowing so little about their partner? And where are the neighbours, for example), but I was contented with the point that people are strange and such things are not totally unknown. Some of Kate’s actions are questionable but understandable, especially when things fall apart later in the book.

The book scores a lot of hit points by making perceptive comments on the modern dating lifestyle and social media. It’s not all positive…

So: to sum up, then, Ghoster is a fast-paced book for our modern times that is as good as Jack Sparks, if not better. It shines a salutary light on modern relationships and raises concerns over our dependency on social media and mobile technology, as well as giving the odd chill along the way.

It should be another huge success.

This book sounded amazing. It sounded right up my street and the perfect modern day thriller

However, it really disappoints me to say that I didn’t enjoy this book

Throughout the kindle version of the book. The word “ghoster” kept appearing in random parts. This spoilt the book overall for me

I found myself slightly bored. I didn’t find it intriguing and the sort of book that made me want to read on

I found myself skim reading the main part of the book

I have seen so many good reviews online for this on Instagram so I think it could be the fact that I wasn’t in the mood for this book

Please accept my apologies

The latest chilling page-turner by Jason Arnopp will put you off social media for a long time to come. A fast-paced read with an unexpected twist.

Full review will be posted during the blog tour on https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com

I was really excited for this one but it wasn't quite what it said it would be. The synopsis is slightly misleading as I was expecting a bit more mystery/Thriller and was faced with slightly more supernatural vibe which isn't my usual genre. So keep this in mind if you gravitate towards this book. Having said all of that, I did fly through it in just a few days as I was intrigued to find out exactly what was going on.

The characters were great and the plot was well thought out. I think it could have been slightly shorter, but can understand why the author took time to build the atmosphere.

I will say that this book does have a deeper message which really resonated with me.

A cautionary tale about the dangers of smartphone addiction and how much they take from our daily lives, Ghoster crosses genre boundaries as it transitions from a relationship drama to a murder mystery thriller before settling on horror. The bulk of the novel focuses on Kate Collins’ journey to discover why her boyfriend has disappeared days before they were scheduled to move into his Brighton apartment together, uncovering the truth behind his secret life stored on his smartphone.

Writer Jason Arnopp creates a rich and compelling mystery at the heart of his novel, which genuinely had me guessing right up until the end. Drip-feeding clues at a measured pace, Arnopp has the reader feeling as obsessed as Kate in getting to the end of the story and makes her smartphone addiction all the more relatable. The novel feels very timely, rife with modern pop-culture references (some of which may date the novel quicker than others) and taps into a very real problem of smartphone addiction and the disparity between reality and social media personas.

For all her flaws as a character, Kate is extremely relatable to readers. During her journey to discover the motivations behind her boyfriend’s behaviour, we are given access to all of her inner-most thoughts – often shown in italics – which makes her all the more three-dimensional and real. In fact, it is as we discover more about Scott from the contents of his smartphone, he becomes less of a perfect boyfriend and more of a developed and complicated human being. Once Kate accesses his diary application, she finds out the insecurities and doubts that bubbled underneath his seemingly confident and calm persona.

Without wanting to spoil too much about this novel, as it is something that deserves to be experienced without preconceptions, there are plenty of twists and turns as Arnopp takes the story in surprising directions. The story feels reminiscent of an episode of Tales of the Unexpected or perhaps more appropriately, an episode of Black Mirror. The ending is a magnificent tour de force and will leave readers stunned, as the jigsaw pieces of the mystery come together to create a terrifying picture. While the slow-burn opening helps build the tension for the final act pay-off, the novel does feel slightly too long and could have been trimmed down by fifty pages or so in the middle without sacrificing any of the impact.

Looking at the book as a whole, it feels like three different stories blended together to make one unique novel. The initial act is a relatively straight-laced drama about a woman discovering that her “perfect boyfriend” is anything but perfect, then the second act focuses on a woman using her boyfriend’s smartphone to find out whether he is a murderer or a not, and then the final act goes “full-horror” with some bat-shit crazy stuff happening. It is this eclectic mix of genres that makes Ghoster stand out from the pack and linger in the reader’s memory. It reminds me somewhat of From Dusk to Dawn and how it transitions from a typical heist movie into a vampire horror within the blink of an eye.

Ghoster is one of those books that is difficult to review without completely deconstructing the ending and revealing the inner workings of the book. The central premise is extremely engaging on its own, but the sudden gear changes to different genres keeps the novel compelling and impossible to put down. Arnopp is an exceptionally clever writer, gleefully misdirecting both the reader and his protagonist with diary entry titles, and swerving between mundane and supernatural explanations for his various mysteries. The final act, which ties all of the clues together, is very satisfying for any armchair detectives out there and definitely earns the coveted title of “mind-fuck”.

Doing for mobile phones what Christine did for cars, Ghoster is a haunting novel in every sense of the word and will keep you gripped until that shocking final chapter. Fans of Black Mirror will enjoy the heck out of this one!

Well, this was a little different! But having already read and enjoyed The Last Days of Jack Sparks I pretty much knew what I was letting myself in for when I started this book.
Kate Collins is about to move in with her boyfriend Scott. She has quite her job and secured a similar one and is all packed and ready to go. Trouble is, she can't get hold of Scott. He has literally disappeared. She manages to ahem gain access to the flat they were supposed to be sharing, only to find it completely empty. I say completely, there's a picture on the window and his mobile phone. There are reasons for Kate being wary of investigating his phone as she has had a bad experience with social media in her past. But where is Scott? Why hasn't he contacted her is there was a problem? Has she been ghosted? But, and it'd be a pretty short, boring story if she didn't, reluctantly she takes the plunge. But very soon she starts to realise that maybe she shouldn't have taken that path...
What starts off quite normally with boy meets girl, start relationship, plan to move in, slowly degenerates into something rather more weird. The timeline flits back and forward, illustrating Kate's uncertain present with snippets from her past, from when she first spies Scott on Tinder. Then when they meet, by chance ?!, they hit it off so well having several key things in common. So much so that their relationship soon whirlwinds. It's not until towards the end that certain things are revealed that put the beginning of the book into context. But, before we get to that point, the book sways off into, what I like to call the bonkers realm. And I do love me a bit of bonkers! We have intrigue and terror and, literally, things that go bump in the night as Kate tries to work out what the heck is happening to her, and indeed what has happened to Scott.
This book is not without its humorous interludes. Some of the parts with Kate and best friend Izzy are really rather funny! Some of the horror parts too, but I guess that's more down to me rather than the author! Maybe!? We also have Kate's new partner at work who, let's just say is a little iffy.
Peppered throughout the book are messages about the perils and pitfalls of social media. Yes, this book is a little OTT with what happens but there could be a lesson or two to be learned from some of what happens along the way. Food for thought at the very least. Not enough for me to ditch my own smartphone but then again, I'm not a slave to it...yet?!
All in all, a solid, if a little crazy, read that kept my attention nicely and all came together well at the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

An entertaining if slightly bonkers read from Jason Arnopp with its focus on social media, dating apps, and the phone addictions so prevalent in our contemporary society. Kate Collins is a paramedic in Leeds, a woman with a phone addiction that has led to her getting rid of her smart phone in favour of a call and text only model. We learn later the specifics and exact circumstances that led to her disposing of her phone, and its not pretty, with her worryingly concerning behaviour and actions. She comes across a picture of 37 year old Scott Palmer on a dating app, and whilst knowing he is out of her league handsome, she tags him as super hot, an action that alerts him to her interest in him. Kate is not really surprised that she does not hear from him. However, she ends up meeting Scott, an IT guy, and the two of them appear to click, with much in common, including the two of them being vegetarians, and before long the two are sexting each other.

Kate visits Scott in Brighton, finding herself impressed with his swanky flat with its fabulous views and balcony. Although the two of them barely know each other, Scott asks Kate to move in with him. Perhaps blinded by lust, Kate jumps at the proposition, something she is going to regret later. She packs up her life in Leeds, resigning from her job, and getting a paramedic position in Brighton instead. However, in the immediate period before the moving vans shift her stuff, she is unable to get in touch with Scott. From niggling worries at this, this blows up to a full scale panic as she seeks reassurance from her good friend, Izzy. Terrified she is being ghosted, she decides to go down to Brighton ahead of the moving vans. When she gets there, Scott is not answering her insistent doorbell rings, but an angry Kate is not going to give up. Upon gaining entry into the flat, she is shocked to find the flat is empty and cleared of Scott's belongings, but for his phone. A persistent Kate is determined to break into his phone and locate the guy. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, events move in decidedly strange pathways.

Arnopp writes a novel which will be an eye opener for many readers, and that includes me, in its portrayal of the nature of dating in today's world. This is not a world I am that familiar with, having no experience of dating apps, or how social media can fuel the oddest of behaviour, such as stalking. For needy, insecure and obsessive characters like Kate, it can prove to be an absolute minefield. Phone addiction is more clearly observable, given just how widespread and prolific it is across society, particularly among the young. For these reasons, I would recommend reading this novel. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.