steady rhythm with the dark, melodic prose, and the scares just keep coming. You find yourself wondering if it’s the wind howling through the cold, foreboding landscape of gray-slate tombstones or whether it’s Howlin’ Wolf’s scratchy voice singing ‘Evil.’”
—Fred Wiehe, author of Strange Days
“Get ready to be totally hooked, because it’s all here: incredible atmosphere, characters you truly care about, and a level of pure suspense that gets higher with every page. Jonathan Maberry is writing as well as anyone in the business right now, and I’ll be counting the days until his next book.”
—Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award–winning author of A Stolen Season
“A remarkable first novel [that] delivers scare after scare, lulling readers into a sense of security before jolting them upright, squeezing them with the tenacity of a snake, and leaving them breathless and begging for more.”
—dreadcentral.com
“Maberry’s Ghost Road Blues leads with a hard left hook and never lets up, full of good, strong writing and complex characters who step right off the page and into readers’ heads. It’s a lyrical, frightening and often astonishing read. Although Pine Deep is not a place you’d like to call home, you’ll feel as if you’ve been there before. A wonderful novel from a fresh new voice in the genre.”
—Nate Kenyon, author of Bloodstone
“Maberry weaves words of mesmeric power. Gruesome, scary, and bloody good fun.”
—Simon Clark, author of Vampyrrhic
“A wild melange of soulful blues music and gut-wrenching horror! Through vivid characters and clever descriptions, Jonathan Maberry carefully crafts a very special town that any horror fan would love to live in—that is, until it starts to get ugly…really ugly. He brings terror to life in a uniquely contemporary way. I’ll be so excited to read the second book in his trilogy!”
—Brinke Stevens, horror actress and author
“Ghost Road Blues is epic horror that puts you in the mind of The Stand, It, Boys’ Life, and They Thirst, but beats its own scary path. Nicely tied to the blues and the dark magic of Halloween, it is the first of an impressive new trilogy by Jonathan Maberry, whose vivid prose hits the right rhythms and whose creeping horrors will feed your nightmares until the next installment—and maybe forever. High-octane storytelling meant for chilly, full-moon nights.”
—W. D. Gagliani, author of the Bram Stoker Award finalist Wolf’s Trap
“Prepare to be scared. Maberry frightens, amuses, and makes you think, often on the same page. The horror is pervasive, but so is a deeply entrenched sense of fun. Move over, Stephen King.”
—J.A. Konrath, author of Dirty Martini
“Jonathan Maberry writes with the assured hand of a veteran wordsmith. His voice is a confident one, his stories possessed of the kind of rhythmic, lyrical quality one might find in the work of Cady, Conrad, or even Faulkner. And yet such comparisons, though hard to avoid when sitting around Maberry’s campfire and hearing his voice, are not entirely fair, for there is a uniqueness here that is exciting to behold. Jonathan Maberry is reaping a crop all his own, and I, for one, eagerly await the fruit of future harvests.”
—Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Currency of Souls, The Turtle Boy, and Vessels
“Maberry writes a vivid, fast-paced prose, creating characters and events that are memorable and often frightening. If you like your fiction compelling and deliciously dark, this is an author you should get to know.”
—Bruce Boston, author of Flashing the Dark
“Ghost Road Blues begins with more horror than one can imagine, and ends savagely beautiful, intricately and deftly written. Don’t start this book unless you can finish it!”
—Jack Fisher, Flesh & Blood magazine; president, GSHW
“A grand work, really absorbing and highly recommended. Maberry uses the same sort of small-town storytelling as Stephen King. The action is exciting and fast paced. Maberry looks to be a strong force for future storytelling.”
—maximumhorrors.com
“Like Stephen King in Salem’s Lot, Jonathan Maberry creates a small town where the everyday, flesh-and-blood brutality of the citizens seems to call forth a deeper, more supernatural evil…. A cliffhanger ending will make you impatient for the next installment of this trilogy!”
—E. F. Watkins, author of Dance with the Dragon
“Terrifying. Maberry gets deep into the heads of his troubled characters—and ours. The small-town horror feels like it’s right next door.”
—Jim Fusilli, author of Hard, Hard City
“Ghost Road Blues is epic horror guaranteed to save Jonathan Maberry a seat among the great writers within the horror community.”
—Joe Kroeger,Horror World
“Stunning, powerful…a complex, heart-pounding read. It deserves the Stoker for Best First Novel.”
—Kim Paffenroth, author of Gospel of the Living Dead
“As a horror fan, I loved Ghost Road Blues with its great storytelling and memorable cast of characters. As a music fan, I loved Maberry’s references to classic blues and rock recordings. There may very well have been hellhounds on Robert Johnson’s trail.”
—Andrew Burns, deejay, and author of The Legends of Classic Rock
“Riveting, bristling with scares, rich with atmosphere…brings to mind early Stephen King. Highly recommended!”
—Jay Bonansinga, author of Shattered
“Without a doubt this prolific author is the next Stephen King. Maberry deserves more then a Bram Stoker Award for this; he deserves Bram Stoker to rise from his grave and shake his hand.”
—Chad Wendell,New World Reviews
“A must for anyone who enjoys a literary roller-coaster ride with a deliciously grotesque streak.”
—Litara Angeli,Dark Realms magazine
“This is a fat rich gorgeous tale that demands to be paid attention to. Maberry is not fooling around.”
—Cemetery Dance
ALSO BY JONATHAN MABERRY
Ghost Road Blues
Vampire Universe (with David F. Kramer)
Dead Man’s Song
Cryptopedia: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange & Downright Bizarre
Zombie CSU
BAD MOON RISING
JONATHAN MABERRY
KENSINGTON BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2008 Jonathan Maberry
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Lyrics from “Messed Up World” by Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater; used by permission of the artist.
Lyrics from “Weary When You Run” by Harry Manx; used by permission of the artist.
Lyrics