I have found a new author !
The writing style was quite original and had you hooked from the first page..
Karen meets Scott -the love of her life and after a whirlwind romance he invites her to live with him in his apartment overlooking the sea in Brighton -could life get any better!!
So ...she gives everything up ...arrives at the flat and Scott is nowhere to be seen
Karen eventually breaks into the flat only to find it empty of everything apart from Scott's mobile phone, This is her only way of contacting Scott so she hacks into the phone to try and find out what is going on !
The story then evolves into quite a dark tale of the supernatural .
A fabulous book - I have another Jason Arnopp waiting in the wings !

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review

A modern tale of the perils of smart phones and social media. Jason Arnopp cleverly mixes dark humour and a classic horror theme, posession, to great effect. Deserves a wider audience outside of horror fans as it is a belter of a book.

Kate Collins has been ghosted. Ready to start a new life with her supposed soulmate Scott, she finds herself suddenly adrift with only silence from Scott. Has he simply lost interest? Is it a joke? Or something more sinister?

I’ve enjoyed this little furrow into techno thrillers. They offer a new and different perspective on the mystery genre, with the added dimension of technology as an underlying threat. This is a really original concept, taking this rather current cultural phenomenon of ‘ghosting’ from dating apps, and using it to form the basis of a psychological thriller. The writing is good too, and reads easily.

I found Kate a naive and rather annoying main character. She easily falls for Scott, without really knowing much about him, but is willing to move her whole life for him. It seems a little unrealistic and far fetched. Couple this with her phone addiction (which elicited creepy vibes from myself rather than sympathy) and her obsessive tendencies, and I struggled to relate to her at all. I felt that the romantic elements of the story were overworked and didn’t flow well at all. The atmosphere and tension that is built around the missing person aspect of the novel were all undone when the writing moves onto described dating and various apps. It feels unnecessary, disjointed and I thought the novel could have benefitted from not having it as it did also alter the otherwise fast pace and increasingly scary and unnerving story.

This is an odd little story really, that starts as a mystery and diverges into something more akin to horror. A sharper edit with less dating talk, a stronger protagonist and more atmospheric tension would have elevated this higher in my opinion, but otherwise it was a decent read with a unique concept.

An absolutely Fantastic and really unique story. I was actually breathless reading parts of this. Amazing

I don’t know what the hell is going on with Ghoster but it went from being a strong thriller for 85% of the book to a weird horror / sci-fi mix up in the last 15%.
I’d rate the first section really highly but the ending was unexpected, strange and left me confused.
Kate is a strong character and I found myself relating to her which is always a plus!

I am really sorry this was not for me. I could not get into the story and subsequently had to DNF.

The main character grated on me and the story just felt disjointed with the change in timelines within the first 20%. I could not get any further to know if this changes throughout the story. I will not review this on Goodreads as i did not complete.

I cannot provide any further feedback as i could not get far enough through the story.

Kate is a paramedic with a serious phone addiction and spends way more time on her phone than is healthy. She superlikes a guy (Scott) on Tinder who doesn't even have the decency to like her back but eventually they do meet IRL and fall in love. They arrange for Kate to relocate her life to Brighton and move in with Scott after only a couple of months.

However, days before Kate is due to leave for Brighton, Scott falls off the radar. She can't get in touch with him but decides to go ahead with the move down south anyway. When she arrives at Scott's apartment, not only is he not there, but neither are any of his belongings or furniture. She does, however, find his mobile phone, seemingly forgotten and abandoned out on the balcony. She then ignores her self-imposed ban on smartphones and breaks into Scott's phone in an effort to get to the bottom of where he is and why he has done an apparent runner.

This is Jason Arnopp's second book, his first being The Last Days of Jack Sparks which I absolutely adored and found out about through the Rick O'Shea Book Club on FB, so I was thrilled to have been gifted an e-arc of Ghoster for review.

Ghoster starts out very much like a psychological thriller, in that Kate has been dumped with no notice and left high and dry with all of her belongings at a flat that may or may not have belonged to her beloved boyfriend, Scott. We are left wondering did Scott have an alternative lifestyle, was he a con man, what was his aim here?

About halfway through the book, it took a turn (as I rubbed my hands in glee) into the supernatural and it all got a bit crazy (in a really good way) from there! The characters of Kate and Scott are flawed and altogether human, surviving on a diet of social media, internet access, work, and debts. The writing is great and is so witty at times, I felt like Jason Arnopp's own personality was coming through the pages of the book, as to me it is written as someone would say it, ie. like physically telling you a great story. The twists and turns, imagery and lolz made the whole book great fun and I flew through it. It also gives pause for thought on how much time we actually spend on our phones, and the difference between our online presence versus our actual reality. This story will keep you guessing till the end - and believe me, you will NOT guess this ending! I am giving 4.5/5 to Ghoster (taking 1/2 point off purely for the reason that it took too long for supernatural element to start!), however, another brilliant story from Mr Arnopp. Bravo.

This unfortunately wasn't as good as I thought it would be, and was very slow to start. I did however enjoy the writing style of the book.

** spoiler alert ** Well,that was fun.
Fun but ridiculous.
I spent far too long obsessing about the battery life of a phone.
Not quite what I was expecting from the book,but as I said. Fun.

Ghoster, by Jason Arnopp, is a thriller set in present-day England. The main character, Kate Collins, is a paramedic who is preparing to move in with her partner, Scott, who she met through online dating. She is also dealing with a long-term phone addiction, triggered by an unfortunate accident whilst working with her colleague and best friend, Izzy.

However, her plans to move in with Scott do not go as intended. She arrives at her new home to find the place completely abandoned. There is no sign of Scott and she is unable to reach him. We follow Kate throughout the story as she begins to uncover his whereabouts and what may, or may not, have happened to him.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot takes some very interesting twists and turns and is very indicative of modern life and how technology has taken over people’s lives. In the world of online dating, it also highlights how people who are supposedly so confident and sure of themselves can in fact be the total opposite. Phone addiction is not the only issue the book deals with, and despite Kate and Scott being apart, their worlds collide in a way that she could never have expected. It begins with her discovering his smartphone and a number of hidden secrets that are locked inside. However, the web of lies that Scott has created turn out to uncover something darker and more sinister than Kate could have imagined.

The story also takes the reader back in time to when Kate and Scott begin dating. This builds up a good picture for the reader and adds to the intrigue and suspense as Scott’s true identity is revealed. We also find out a lot about Kate’s character and how she deals with not only her own addictions and insecurities, but those of other characters within the story, namely Scott and later in the book, those of her colleagues.

My only criticism of the book is the slightly supernatural elements that develop as the story progresses. For me, the story would have been just as effective without them. However, I really liked the Black Mirror style of storytelling that the book takes on and I was invested in the story all the way to the end.

From the very beginning of the story Kate seemed a pretty reckless character that I had little sympathy for. Experiencing what could best be described as a social media obsession, her reliance on her phone causes her to do something reckless at work which results in her best friend having an accident. As a result of her guilt she throws away her smartphone and heads off to a detox retreat.
When there she meets what she thinks is the perfect guy, Scott. An intense few weeks of the odd date and sex has her preparing to relocate from Leeds to Brighton. Aside from the fact that I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind doing this, we follow Kate to Brighton.
Upon her arrival, there’s an empty flat waiting for her and no sign of Scott. She doesn’t do what I imagine most would - hightail it home or admit the daftness in her new job and ask for help - instead she stays in an empty flat and goes ever so slightly crazy as she tries to work out what happened.
Before we know it we’ve moved from what seemed like a doomed relationship story into downright odd. Strange lights, mysterious calls on an abandoned phone, ghosts and gouge marks in a door. Kate gets increasingly odder in her behaviour, taking huge risks as she tries to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The story itself was preposterous if you’re a sceptical character. The motivation of the characters felt extreme, and the whole premise revealed at the end just made me feel like laughing. Perhaps in other circumstances this might have got a different response from me. As it was, I found myself reading it keen to work out what was happening, but feeling totally detached from the situation.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my thoughts. I have to say this just wasn’t for me.

This story keeps you guessing right to the end. An interesting tale, lots of happenings that can be explained away but is that really what’s happening here. Kate’s anguish is very real and flows through the heart of the story. An enjoyable read, quite startling in parts. The story flows well. Personally, I wanted a happy ending for Kate and Scott and they kind of got it but at what price? This book would make a great film.
ARC copy.

I loved the social media spent of this story and it was great to read about how social media fit into the story. I also enjoyed the mystery in the story and I kept reading to find it out. There are a few twists that I enjoyed. However I didn't like the character and her voice didn't work for me at all. I'm fact the main character made me want to stop reading in places. Overall it was an okay read.

Really enjoyed this novel. Kept me guessing throughout. Would have liked a little more development at the end, but overall a great read.

A very thought provoking read.
Very relevant to modern phone technology and how we use it.
Slow to start but once hooked I was not able to give up on the mystery of the 'ghost' boyfriend.
This book highlighted the precarious nature of the modern dating apps, and its pitfalls along with the supernaturals ability to adapt and thrive in modern times.

The book is incredibly well written and I would have given 5 stars but it took a strange turn half way through the story. I love thrillers and mysteries but I am not into ghosts and spirits.
I don't feel I can objectively judge this book because I was not expecting it to include ghosts and demons? The end was confusing and very unclear.
Maybe the author can let me know what happened?

I try not to be too negative about books as even if I don't like a book myself, I can usually see the potential for other readers to enjoy it. However I just thought this was awful. It seemed to be written at an around 8-year-old's reading level, with very short paragraphs and little intelligent language, but was also unnecessarily puerile. Not for me at all, but more importantly I can't imagine who I'd recommend this to.

I am afraid this is the first book in a long while that I was unable to finish.

I persevered until chapter 19, and although I can see that the author clearly has talent, his style and characterisations simply grated on me. The overly exaggerated aspects of the 'millennial' character and (in my opinion) unrealistic female protagonist simply got my heckles up. I found the main character naive and her internal arguments with her 'brain' felt unrealistic to me. Being from Brighton myself, I liked the original setting but felt like I was being walked through the streets rather than being given depth to the characters I was supposed to be invested in.

Writing a book is time-consuming and taxing and I can appreciate that the author clearly has skill, but unfortunately, this book simply wasn't for me.

I thought this was a very strange book, and I am sorry to say I didn't like it.I loved the sound of it, but I didn't like the main character and thought she rambled on I didn't find it very cohesive and I
found myself losing interest.Afraid it wasn't for me.Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC.