Spirit, a novel by Graham Masterson, 2001. Review by Ed Wetterman

Spirit is a great ghost story with a surprising twist and a neat adventure that could easily be put into the gaming genre. If you like ghost stories, or are looking for a new way to present ghosts, this novel is for you!

I’ve read several Graham Masterson books the past year, and have reviewed one here previously. He is one of my favorite horror novelists and I find his work easy to read, with good plots and great characterizations. Here is the hype from the back cover:

Peggy Buchanon was such an adorable little girl, all blond curls and sweetness. Then came the tragic day when her family found Peggy floating in the icy water of their swimming pool, dead, her white dress billowing around her. Her sisters, Laura and Elizabeth, couldn’t imagine life without Peggy. They knew from that day forward their lives would be changed forever. But they couldn’t know the nightmare that waited for them.

Peggy may be dead—but she hasn’t left them. As the sister grow up, a string of inexplicable deaths threatens to shatter their lives. No matter how warm the weather, each corpse shows signs of severe frostbite…and each victim’s dying moments are tortured by a merciless little girl in a white dress, whose icy kiss is colder than death.

Writing: 4.5 Stars
Masterson is quickly becoming one of the horror masters, and I look forward to getting more of his books. His writing is tight and he uses just enough imagery to provoke a scene in your imagination, but doesn’t let his descriptions detract from the action which comes quickly. His characters are well-rounded and “real” and I always find at least one character within that I can relate to. In Spirit, this character was Elizabeth Buchanon, the heroine of the novel.

The only reason I don’t give this novel a 5 Star rating, is the sex. Again, I’m not a prude, but I really don’t need the detailed descriptions of the sexual situations. Unfortunately, I think that has become part of the formula to sell a horror novel today. There are two scenes that I found a bit too raunchy and thought it distracted from the story. So this is definitely an R rated novel.

Plot: 4 Stars
Masterson is great at plotting a novel, and each chapter flowed well into the next. The characters grow from young girls to adults and the ghost of their sister follows them and takes a very “protective” approach to her living sisters. He uses many tried and true “horror” elements throughout the novel, including spontaneous combustion, cold-spots (ghostly spirits), faerie lore, a preacher who is a sexual predator of children, and graphic descriptions of gory deaths. He developed a new twist on the idea of how spirits operate, and I thought it was very original. I’d say more, but that would definitely spoil the book for the reader. The story takes place beginning in the early 1940s and continues until the early 1950s. I really couldn’t understand why this story wasn’t placed in modern times, as I didn’t see any real reason of the “dating” of the plot, though I do like that period of history.

Gaming Uses: 5 Stars
Spirit is a great ghost story with many modern gaming applications. He develops the idea that a spirit may be caught in his/her own imagination at the time of death. This made for a very interesting final scene, and could make for a great adventure as well. This would make a great backstory for a modern character, and there are enough ghostly and original twists to make for a great series of modern “haunting” type adventures.

Final Score: 4.5
I really enjoy reading Masterson’s novels, and if you are looking for a great ghoststory, or for ideas for your home game, you could do much worse. I recommend this novel, and look forward to another one from him.

Ed Wetterman
12 to Midnight