the ghost book review

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The ghost by robert harris [a review].

The ghost – the narrator/writer – is reluctant, admitting he knows nothing about politics despite living in a London suffering repeated terrorist attacks. Yet his agent does just enough to spark his interest and ambition and, when he shines at the interview, he lands the job. He barely has time to absorb his situation as he is whisked off to Martha’s Vineyard in the US, a former playground for the rich and powerful like the Kennedys, where he is to complete the work in relative quiet with Lang, Lang’s wife and their entourage. He soon appreciates the massive task in front of him. The work by the previous writer is awful; dry, plodding, matter-of-fact with no personality or humanity. With very little time, the ghost is going to have to start over.

This is just the beginning of his troubles. Lang is thrown back into the news with a controversy over the rendition of British citizens from Pakistan to the US where they would face torture and imprisonment without trial in Guantanamo. That it now appears to have been done with Lang’s knowledge and approval has made him the subject of war crime accusations.

The controversy is a new low for Lang whose public life has suffered a steep downfall. Youngish, handsome and brilliant on the stump; Lang was elected on a massive wave of popular support. Support which quickly deserted him as the methods of the war on terror became known and his supporters felt betrayed by a man they accuse of acting more in America’s interests than Britain’s. The ghost’s girlfriend, who was once a strong supporter of the party, leaves him once he takes the job of writing Lang’s memoirs.

The new controversy makes the ghost wonder what he has gotten himself into. Especially as the security around the memoirs seems extreme, aspects of Lang’s early life do not add up and the death of Lang’s aide looks increasingly suspicious. Somewhat naively and with little care for self-preservation, the ghost cannot help himself from following the clues left by his predecessor.

If Adam Lang sounds like a thinly disguised Tony Blair, it is not a coincidence. Harris, a former political journalist, knew Blair personally and was an early supporter and donor who fell out with him over the Iraq war. Harris is said to have dropped his other work to write The Ghost once Blair resigned in 2007.

Having done a lot of heavy reading lately – history, science, philosophy, literature – I have been increasingly desperate for some light relief from entertaining pop fiction. Harris is someone I have made a target of because of the enduring praise for his debut novel Fatherland , the coinciding of my interest in classical historical fiction with his recently completed trilogy on Cicero and the intrigue I have felt for The Ghost ever since seeing the film trailer and hearing the story of its inspiration.

The Ghost is the first Harris novel I have read and I am a little underwhelmed. I feel it lacks depth and feels rushed at times. Harris is a quick writer, publishing a new novel every couple of years or so, and I wonder if these deficiencies are a symptom of that. It has even made me question whether I would want to embark on his Cicero trilogy. If these are issues that persist in his writing it would make the Cicero trilogy especially disappointing given the complexity of the subject. The Ghost is a somewhat entertaining, somewhat engrossing, read. In the end, given the high standard of some recent thrillers, it just wasn’t a clever enough story to leave me impressed. If it were not for the roman à clef aspect, I would say it does not do enough as a novel in itself.

I had a few other minor criticisms as I read but they become problematic to discuss because, by the end, they have a role to play in the plot and would be spoilers to share. Suffice to say, there is a fair bit of cliché in this novel; something good novelists are loathe to be accused of. Since it turned out that the clichés were there to serve the plot, it could be said that the ending was the result of the sum of the clichés.

Probably the biggest fault the novel has is that it has not aged well. It is very much a product of its time – 2007-08. When the dissatisfaction over the war in Iraq and the war on terror in general was at its height. When we still had internet cafes because Wi-Fi and smartphones were not yet ubiquitous. When the legality and morality of rendition, torture and imprisonment without trial were hotly debated before being tacitly accepted, ignored and forgotten. But also before the GFC, Edward Snowden, ISIS and other events that have taken over discourse. This is probably the inevitable result of its opportunistic inspiration and speedy course to publication; that it captures a small moment in history but not much else to make it feel enduringly relevant. It is interesting and a little troubling that a novel set in 2007-08 already feels irrelevant, despite its confronting and still unresolved issues, because we’ve moved on so quickly.

The 2010 film, like the novel, is good but not great. It is well cast with Ewen McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams and Kim Cattrall; and well directed by Roman Polanski. It follows the plot of the novel fairly closely and suffers the same problem of being not quite clever or complex enough to be truly impressive. The film too has not aged well. You almost laugh at the credulity of Ewen McGregor, who plays the main character, when he suggests what he has discovered is believable because “it is on the internet”!

To be fair, some of my critique is easier said in hindsight. At the time, you are too busy reading on; to discover the mystery, to see how things end. Harris does well enough to keep you intrigued and turning pages and should be given credit for that. It is just a question of whether, at the end, you are satisfied with what he has built you up for.

Reference: For the relationship between Harris, Blair and the novel; refer to the Wikipedia page .

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I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Robert Harris so far – the Cicero trilogy and An Officer and a Spy – but I haven’t read this one yet, and I have to admit, it doesn’t sound very appealing to me. I’m sorry to hear it was disappointing!

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The Ghost by Robert Harris

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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B : light, quick thriller -- some fun ideas, but ultimately too simplistic

See our review for fuller assessment.

   Review Consensus :   Not quite a consensus, but most think it successful -- and some like it a lot    From the Reviews : "Harris once again delivers fine popular fiction in a satisfyingly slim volume that packs a wallop with its dead-on ending. The Ghost has every bit of spirit a reader could want." - Erik Spanberg, Christian Science Monitor " The Ghost ist denn auch genauso als Polemik gegen Blairs "servile" Einstellung zu George W. Bush zu verstehen wie der wütende kleine Band mit dem Titel Yo, Blair , in dem Harris' Freund, der Journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft, behauptet, Britannien habe in dem unheilvollen Blair-Jahrzehnt aufgehört, eine unabhängige Nation zu sein." - Gina Thomas, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Cynical, illuminating, both hard-boiled and passionately sensitive, The Ghost is a political thriller, not a satire, nor a veiled attack. (�) While the novel owes its existence, its composition in, apparently, five white-hot months, to Harris's anger at Blair and his administration, the fierce heart of the plot -- the great revelation, and the crucial twist in the tail of it -- are an imaginative impertinence, an accusation no one could make or take literally. The Ghost is, finally, not about Blair; though it remains an indictment of everything he did and stood for. It's also, and most vitally, intelligent, perceptive and enormous fun." - Colin Greenland, The Guardian "As one would expect from Robert Harris, the book is a masterpiece of observation, interpretation and analysis, all nicely paced. (�) True or not, one can see why a reader might perceive that the author had Blair in mind when writing it. The ambience is right, the dialogue fits, the main characters tally, the spinning is familiar and the cynicism is normal. But I'm happy to enjoy the book as a parody of Blair and his retinue, and of the publishing world from which Mr Harris derives his income and his satisfactions." - Cal McCrystal, Independent on Sunday " The Ghost is, then, a fine, rueful tale of how "I" becomes Lang's "accomplice". The moral is familiar and none the worse for that: they build you a pedestal and then pull you off it. (�) Harris hankers after those vast oubliettes of what we cannot bring ourselves to discard but have contrived to shelve." - Eric Griffiths, New Statesman "Anyone vaguely literate will foresee the moves of Mr. Harris� pawns long before they have been shoved about the board of his plot. Given that they�re merely pawns, by the way, I�m not sure it was wise of Mr. Harris to allow his narrator to say that his "fundamental problem with our former prime minister" is that he�s "not a psychologically credible character." Nor are matters improved by the novel�s air of mocking self-consciousness." - Christopher Bray, The New York Observer "So far, so good. Then along come the stock characters, like Lang�s strangely embittered wife and his slinky personal assistant (�..) It�s a pity that The Ghost can�t continue in this entertaining vein. But the price of Mr. Harris�s marketing wisdom is a trumped-up plot with a timely emphasis on terrorism. (�) The Ghost never recovers its dry restraint. It degenerates into a commonplace mystery, a book that its protagonist might have held in contempt when his safety and detachment were still intact. It also insists on the kind of political timeliness that is more apt to become dated than Mr. Harris�s observations about debased popular culture." - Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Thus the book�s first, mischievous pleasure lies in its insider-ish insights into the Blair court (�..) Harris gets all this off his chest without smothering his storytelling. Even when he attacks extraordinary rendition and state-indulged torture, he maintains a taut, clear narrative line. The plot is unfussy and perhaps too linear for those thriller readers fond of pyrotechnics, but it unfolds with clarity and panache -- and with a classy twist on the very last page. Unusually for the genre, the novel is also nicely lubricated with humor." - Jonathan Freedland, The New York Times Book Review "Harris comes up with a plausible explanation for this; and it enables him, as an experienced political reporter, to describe routine behind-the-scenes chicanery with an accuracy as clinical as it is cynical. Yet it also leads him into some occasionally sloppy plotting in a book evidently written in white heat" - Anthony Holden, The Observer "Robert Harris has not written a political parable and he rams home no political message. His caricatures are an unusual form of ornament decorating an elegant and highly readable thriller. Blair deserves to have a really bitter novel written against him, but this is not it. There is more wit here than in some of Harris� previous novels. (�) But alongside the thriller Robert Harris is fascinated by the psychological background to ghost-writing." - Douglas Hurd, The Spectator "The real Ghost, then, is Robert Harris. And what a jubilantly spiteful ghost he has proved to be. Blair is skewered, with magnificent rudeness, on page after page. (�) Harris handles it all with some elan and subtlety, if you�re a fan of the genre. The bleak, damp, winter woods of Massachusetts are beautifully evoked; this is, in more ways than one, a cold book, but none the worse for that." - Rod Liddle, The Sunday Times "Robert Harris's latest thriller is more than a fun read: it is a super-duper, double fun bag-sized read thanks to his masterful plotting. No, not the story of a ghostwriter caught within the machinations of politician-spies, although Harris handles the espionage element very well. It is the other story that will make the reader bounce with pleasure: how a supremely well-connected novelist decided to cause trouble for our ex-prime minister by fictionalising the things that he knows, the things that he suspects and, most deliciously, the things that he knows are untrue yet apt to be believed." - Nicholas Blincoe, The Telegraph "He has written a thriller that has more than a taut plot, though that is one of its enjoyments. It is a commentary on the Blair era, for which Harris has invented central characters -- a recently retired prime minister and his wife -- whose close resemblance to people we know means they spring with a familiar wave from the pages wearing smiles that don't have to be imagined. Although they do outrageous things that are only for the pages of fiction and have no basis in fact, Harris is pushing restlessly, even bitterly, at the line that separates the two. He does so with all the energy of a New Labour supporter for whom it has all gone sour. (�) The bitterness is unmistakable, and Harris is only just able to save himself from self-immolation in a parody of the apocalyptic thriller." - James Naughtie, The Telegraph " The Ghost is a satire, thriller and piece of political vengeance neatly rolled into one. And you can bet that it will remain a far better read than either of the turgid, sanitised, overpriced tomes that our former leader and his missus will turn out. (�) The Ghost is Harris back on sparkling form, bringing the politics of today alive with a lot more mischief, venom and magic than he applied to those of 2,000 years ago. As he insists, The Ghost is fiction, but it is fiction that feels like fact. And that�s what puts the thrill into "thriller"." - Peter Millar, The Times "(T)his libel-proof hatchet job on Tony Blair (�..) This is trial by thriller. Knowing the fate of Adam Lang, I confess it left me a little uneasy." - Michael White, Times Literary Supplement " The Ghost is a stellar novel on many levels. Harris cleverly alerts us that things aren't what they seem through subtle clues and well-timed revelations. Add the specter of the war in Iraq and its toll on the political climate in the USA and Great Britain, and it's obvious Harris has written one of the most politically informed novels of the year." - Carol Memmott, USA Today "For all its fun, The Ghost is finally about Guantanamo, rendition, waterboarding, official lies, a Halliburton-like conglomerate called Hallington and a CIA that's not always as inept as we think. Harris is asking at least three serious questions. (�) Harris has managed to write a superior entertainment that is also an angry portrait of today's political reality. If you don't like the current war or the people who dreamed it up, you'll find nourishment in The Ghost ." - Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

The complete review 's Review :

     "Come on," he said. "It's not a trick question. Just name me one thing he did that Washington wouldn't have approved of.      [...]      " I have friends in Washington who just can't believe the way that Lang ran British foreign policy. I mean, they were embarrassed by how much support he gave and how little he got in return.

About the Author :

       British author Robert Harris, born in 1957, achieved international success with his first novel, Fatherland . He has been a correspondent for the BBC, and a columnist for the Sunday Times .

© 2007-2016 the complete review Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links

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The Ghost, By Robert Harris

A former pm uncannily similar to tony blair is investigated by his own ghostwriter, article bookmarked.

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The subject – I cannot say hero – of Mr Harris's book is a recent British prime minister whose wife has "thin black eyebrows" and a temper that can flash-fry meat. He has a theatrical bent, having acted impressively in his university drama group, and a talent for conversing with ordinary folk in their own accents. His genius is to "refresh and elevate the clichés of politics by the sheer force of his performance".

In Downing Street he had slavishly aligned his country with the United States in its "war on terror", going so far as to authorise a secret British contribution to America's "extraordinary rendition" and torture of suspects. He radiates piety and self-regard in equal measure, presenting himself as a stalwart Christian. He humbles himself before the captains of industry, not least by staying in their holiday homes, and enhances himself by wearing orange make-up.

He was prime minister when terrorists struck London's transport, killing many innocent people. Some citizens contend that his "torturings and bombing and lying" make him a war criminal. In this man, usually so cockily muscular, the strain of war has produced a natural exhaustion, yet his efforts, out of office, to make loads of dosh by lecturing in the US and producing his memoirs, are unabated. The memoirs include chapters whose titles signal what he sees as his triumphs: "Changing the Party", "Northern Ireland", "The Special Relationship", "The Challenge of Terror".

This is a novel about someone called Adam (two syllables) Lang (one syllable) who in a great many ways resembles Tony (two syllables) Blair (one syllable), in mannerisms, stagecraft, outlook. But Blair went to Oxford, whereas Lang went to Cambridge. Alastair Campbell is nowhere to be found as Lang seeks a ghostwriter for the memoirs. Instead, the fictive ex-prime minister chooses a loyal staffer, Michael McAra, as his ghost.

As one would expect from Robert Harris, the book is a masterpiece of observation, interpretation and analysis, all nicely paced. Most of the action takes place in the United States, where ex-prime minister Lang has borrowed his publisher's house on Martha's Vineyard to think through his autobiography. His reflections are punctuated by the tantrums of his wife, Ruth, the ministrations of his personal aide, Amelia, the public disclosure by his former foreign secretary, Rycart, of Lang's part in "extraordinary rendition" and McAra's fate.

McAra, an unstylish writer, has carried out his researches only too well, finding out precisely why his boss is so tied to Washington's skirts. He is murdered – by US government agents – for his pains, but leaves enigmatic clues to the crime among the turgid chapters he has completed. These are read by the chap appointed by the frantic publisher as replacement ghost. The latter is the unnamed narrator of Mr Harris's story.

Our second ghost is also thorough, though more cautious than his predecessor. Without wishing to give too much away, one may say that as the tale ends he, too, fears retribution for the sinister matters he has unearthed, even though he prudently and promptly reburies them.

The setting up of the first New Labour leader for a war crimes trial ("aided, abetted and facilitated" torture) is a singular plot, even faintly believable. It has been reported that Mr Harris chose the story because he was upset by Tony Blair's participation in the war in Iraq and/or by the dismissal of Peter Mandelson (Mr Harris's friend) from the Blair Cabinet.

True or not, one can see why a reader might perceive that the author had Blair in mind when writing it. The ambience is right, the dialogue fits, the main characters tally, the spinning is familiar and the cynicism is normal. But I'm happy to enjoy the book as a parody of Blair and his retinue, and of the publishing world from which Mr Harris derives his income and his satisfactions.

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BookBrowse Reviews The Ghost by Robert Harris

Summary  |  Excerpt  |  Reviews  |  Beyond the book  |  Read-Alikes  |  Genres & Themes  |  Author Bio

by Robert Harris

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A dark, tortured man with haunting secrets in his past – secrets with the power to alter world politics. Secrets with the power to kill

The reader is drawn in from the very first sentence: "The moment I heard how McAra died, I should have walked away." It's a good predictor of the rest of the book, which is to say that it's entertaining and well written. Yet for a much-hyped thriller, some of the thrill is missing. The story, set in the modern age of terrorism, is slow-paced, yet learning along with the narrator piques our interest, and Harris's simple yet engaging prose marked with occasional wry humor keeps things moving along. Still, it's not until the final third of the book that the pace really picks up. There are only a couple of major plot twists, and they're almost predictable for those of us who are paying close attention. We join the narrator – the ghostwriter of Adam Lang's memoirs – as he attempts to unravel several mysteries surrounding Lang. Why is his past so murky? Did he really order the torture of four Pakistani men, resulting in a prosecution for war crimes? Why did McAra die, and what's so important about his version of Lang's memoirs? The ghostwriter soon finds himself embroiled in this political intrigue – just as new to him as it is for us. Set mostly in Martha's Vineyard, with the occasional London and New York scenes, Harris' descriptions lend a realistic feel to the book. To wit: "The primary colors of the port were gray and white – gray sea, white sky, gray shingle roofs, white clapboard walls, bare white flagpoles, jetties weathered blue-gray and green-gray, on which perched matching gray-and-white gulls. It was as if Martha Stewart had color coordinated the whole place, Man and Nature. Even the sun, now hovering discreetly over Chappaquiddick, had the good taste to shine pale white." Ironically, the ghostwriter is anonymous; his name is never revealed. Nor is much disclosed about Lang's term as Prime Minister; it's only the repercussions of his actions that seem to matter. Interestingly, in his prior life before becoming a bestselling novelist, Harris was a political commentator with close associations to the Labour Party and Tony Blair. Harris fell out with Blair over the dismissal of one of Blair's right hand men and the invasion of Iraq. Thus, the real mystery emerges: Who is the Ghost in the title? Adam, the ghostwriter, or perhaps the author himself?

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The Ghost: A Novel Hardcover – October 23, 2007

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 352 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Simon & Schuster
• Publication date October 23, 2007
• Dimensions 6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
• ISBN-10 1416551816
• ISBN-13 978-1416551812
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (October 23, 2007)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416551816
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416551812
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
• #347 in Ghost Thrillers
• #2,689 in Political Thrillers (Books)
• #15,816 in Suspense Thrillers

About the author

Robert harris.

Robert Harris is the author of Pompeii, Enigma, and Fatherland. He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His novels have sold more than ten million copies and been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and four children.

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THE GHOST MAP

The story of london’s most terrifying epidemic--and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world.

by Steven Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 2006

Lively and educative.

An intrepid doctor and an enlightened minister pursue a cholera outbreak to its lair in 1850s London.

It’s in the water, not the air. This was the discovery that young Dr. John Snow presented to skeptical public-health officials, who were committed to the prevailing, centuries-old theory that foul odors carry disease. As Johnson ( Everything Bad Is Good for You, 2005, etc.) ably shows, London in 1854 was indeed a stinky city containing much fecal matter from people and animals, as well as waste from manufacturers. It was the waste from a single infected infant, however, that got into the water supply near the popular Broad Street pump in Soho and empowered Vibrio cholerae to kill hundreds. Johnson recounts how Dr. Snow and “affable clergyman” Henry Whitehead walked the streets, first independently and then in concert, to determine who was dying, who was surviving—and where. Snow’s map charting the dimensions of the outbreak, avers Johnson, did not have an immediate effect (other than convincing officials to remove the pump handle, a decision that saved hundreds, maybe thousands), but it has had an enduring one. Science, not superstition, battled a disease, and in the ensuing years, public officials took steps to prevent another outbreak by building the vast sewer system that continues to function in London. In addition to telling the story of the outbreak, Johnson offers mini-lessons on related topics: how cholera kills, how Victorian London dealt with its messes, how and why people cling to false theories. He devotes the final 70 pages to a paean to cities and an assessment of the principal threats to their continuation. He notes that metropolises in developing countries face enormous public-health problems, and he worries about terrorists armed with weaponized viruses and/or nuclear weapons.

Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2006

ISBN: 1-59448-925-4

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Riverhead

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006

HISTORY | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | WORLD

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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Book Review – The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

Do you like Oscar Wilde? How about a good ghost story? If you answered to both questions, then you'll love the Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. It's not a scary ghost story, it's actually quite funny. And a delightful tale.

Below, you'll find my thoughts on The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde.

All the images in this post are clickable! 

Initial Thoughts on The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde is a short story . Like many works of literature, the story first appeared in a magazine, The Court and Society Review in February 1887. The Canterville Ghost is a story of contrast – American vs. British Society.

When the story starts, the American minister, Mr Hiram B. Otis has purchased Canterville Chase, an English country house. Otis is warned by Lord Canterville that the house is haunted, but he doesn’t believe in ghosts.

This is not a typical ghost story. I found it quite funny, laughing a lot while reading the book.

Have you read?

Oscar Wilde Personal Library – The Shaping of a Mind The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – Book Review

What is The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde About?

The Otis family consists of husband and wife, their eldest son, Washington, daughter Virginia and twin sons. Shortly after the Otis family arrives at their new country estate, they notice a spot on the floor in the library. Their housekeeper informs them that Lady Eleanore de Canterville was murdered at that exact spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, who survived her by nine years. His body was never discovered, however, his spirit haunts the place.

Washington applies some strong stain remover – Pinkerton’s Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent – to the blood stain, which disappears temporarily and reappears the next day. As soon as they remove the stain it reappears the following day – bright red, dull red, purple and even bright emerald green.

After the blood stain reappears the first time, the Otis family concludes that there must be a ghost. Mrs Otis is a modern day woman and declares that she is going to join the Psychical Society. Washington decides to write to Messrs Myers and Podmore,

“on the subject of the Permanence of Sanguineous Stains when connected with crime.”

To get the most from this SummaReview of The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, after you have read it, answer the following questions:

• Is this a book I’d like to read for myself? Why? Why not?
• What has made an impression on me in this reading?
• Were there any kernels of wisdom in this reading?
• Is there a framework that you can use in your life and work?
• What are five takeaways from the SummaReview ?

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde is told through the eyes of the very theatrical ghost, Sir Simon, who appears in many different costumes and personas – Red Reuben, Strangled Babe, Dumb Daniel, Suicide’s Skeleton, Martin the Maniac, Masked Mystery, Reckless Rupert, Headless Earl and so on. The first night, Sir Simon decides to haunt the Americans, Mr Otis greets him with a container of Rising Sun Lubricator for him to oil his manacled chains so he doesn’t make so much noise and disturb the family’s sleep. The twin boys also throw a pillow at him.

The ghost quickly retreats to his hiding place and is feeling quite insulted. Never in his three hundred years of haunting people at Canterville Chase has he ever received that kind of reception. The tables have been turned on the ghost, and instead of terrifying the residents, they instead “terrify” him. The twins use their pea shooters and discharge pellets at Sir Simon. One night after he attempts to frighten the family with one of his terrible laughs, Mrs. Otis lets him know that he sounds quite terrible and offers him a bottle of Doctor Dobell’s tincture.

Sir Simon suffers great indignities at the hand of the American family, who are not afraid of him. He enters the twins’ room to scare them and a large jug of water falls on him, which just about does him in. He has a grand plot to exact revenge against Washington whom he bears a special grudge for removing the blood stain with Pinkerton’s Paragon Detergent. But once again, the joke is on Sir Simon, when he encounters, what he perceives as another.

The ghost has never seen another ghost and is quite terrified , and flees to his room. When he regains his composure and courage, Sir Simon seeks out the ghost to form some sort of alliance. He discovers to his chagrin, that the ghost wasn’t a real ghost. In another instance, Washington and the twins force him into the great iron oven, which luckily wasn’t lit at the time, forcing Sir Simon to escape through chimneys

Sir Simon’s nerves begin to unravel because nothing is working and he is becoming quite weak. He even decides not to bother with replacing the stain on the floor in the library. He doesn’t think very highly of the Otis family

“They were evidently people on a low, material plane of existence, and quite incapable of appreciating the symbolic value of sensuous phenomena. The question of phantasmic apparitions, and the development of astral bodies, was of course quite a different matter, and not really under his control…”

Based on my analytics, readers seem to like stories written by Oscar Wilde. I came across the article, On Art and Prison: The 5 Best Books on Oscar Wilde .

Two of the books mentioned in the article that I found intriguing are The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde by Neil McKenna, and The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde by Merlin Holland.

The ghost resigns to the fact that he will not be able to frighten the “rude” American family. The twins lay in wait for Sir Simon on several occasions laying traps for him but he never appears. The family concludes that the ghost has left Canterville Chase. All during this time, Virginia was the only one in the family that did not play a trick on, or even approach the ghost. Why?

One day while out riding, Virginia tears her riding habit quite badly and decides to enter Canterville Chase through a back door. She is surprised to discover the Canterville Ghost sitting by a window. His disposition is that of someone suffering from depression and she feels sorry for him.

An interesting dialogue takes place between them and during that time, he admits that he killed his wife and why, and virginia tells him that it is wrong to kill. she is also upset because he stole her paint to replace the blood stain and hence the mystery of the different colours of “blood” is solved..

Virginia tries to convince Sir Simon to go to America because they would appreciate a ghost there, but he doesn’t want to go to America. Sir Simon is weary because he hasn’t slept in over three hundred years. He wants to rest , but is terrified of the Garden of Death. Through Virginia, he believes that he will receive forgiveness and allowed to rest. He believes that through the purity of a child, Hell cannot prevail.

She takes him through the portal, and doesn’t tell her parents, so when they cannot find her they panic. But no one even thinks about Sir Simon, because they believed he had left. Virginia appears the next day after her family had searched for her everywhere and couldn’t find her. She relates what happens and shows them the gift of jewels she received from Sir Simon. Mr Otis tries to return the jewels to Lord Canterville, who refuses them and is convinced that should he take them, Sir Simon would return.

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde ends when Virginia is married a few years later, and you get the sense that something profound took place with her encounter with Sir Simon that she has never revealed.

I found this story quite funny and I laughed a lot. But when you stop to think, this is a story of contrasts. Think about it, an American family emigrates to England and buys a very English country home. Though they are warned that the house is haunted, they initially do not believe.

However, when they realize that the house is indeed haunted, they do not respond in a “British” way by being scared, they turn things around on the ghost baffling him. You see the ghost going through a range of emotions until he is a broken man. It’s a story of role reversals, instead of the ghost terrorizing the residents of Canterville Chase, they terrorize him instead.

Should I Buy The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde?

How Avil Can Help You!

I invite you to  Join the Performance Accelerator Plan  that walks you through the process and more. You’ll be reading books to build skills and develop intercultural awareness.   Get more reading and learning tips here .  And I also invite you to join  Read a Book, Solve a Problem Facebook Group . I’m building a tribe of people who want to use the knowledge gained from books to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems.

In December 2020, I published two books on Amazon. I would greatly appreciate your support if you bought my two short e-books   Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon  and  Performance Accelerator Plan: Guide to Learning and Mastering Key Skills for the Future .

Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon is not about speed reading. It’s about approaching every book differently and reading only the sections that align with your purpose.

The Performance Accelerator Plan book is a stripped-down version of the paid reading challenge of the same name. Obviously,  you won’t get all the resources that come with the program that I sell on my website . But if you are a self-directed learner, it will help you tremendously.

Note: There are several Amazon affiliate links on this page. That means if you click on Amazon and buy something the organization will pay me a small commission.

Oscar Wilde Book List

Further Reading/Viewing

Oscar Wilde: A Controversial Writer Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost

Cannot view video? Click here . Uploaded by  SpidersHouseAudio  on May 26, 2009

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde

For those who want a print book to read:  The Canterville Ghost: By Oscar Wilde

Canterville Ghost

You can also view the film here .

About the Author  Avil Beckford

Hello there! I am Avil Beckford, the founder of The Invisible Mentor. I am also a published author, writer, expert interviewer host of The One Problem Podcast and MoreReads Success Blueprint, a movement to help participants learn in-demand skills for future jobs. Sign-up for MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World today! In the meantime, Please support me by buying my e-books Visit My Shop , and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn , Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest !

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The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Book Summary

Our iceberg is melting by john p. kotter and holger rathgeber, summary, the three questions by leo tolstoy – retold by jon j muth.

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The Ghost Factory by Jenny McCartney review – gripping Troubles debut

L ast week’s shooting of the journalist Lyra McKee once again exposed the fragility of peace in Northern Ireland, already a dark leitmotif of the Brexit debates. The violence that has always co-existed with that peace is the theme for Jenny McCartney’s gripping debut novel. The killings may have declined since the Good Friday Agreement, but the various “punishments” meted out by paramilitary vigilantes have never really stopped. Indeed, they reached a particular spike around the ceasefires in the mid-90s – the period in which the novel is mainly set. According to modest estimates, 220 received a beating in 1995, 326 were maimed in 1996. It is hard to know if last year’s modest figure of 87 should be seen as good news.

The reasons for the punishments vary – joy-riding, drug-dealing, sexual offences, antisocial behaviour – but they can also have the most innocuous causes. In McCartney’s novel, the theft of some Jaffa Cakes triggers disastrous results. “How smashable we all are.” McCartney captures the brutality of “punishment” and its gruesome effects. We encounter the deep loneliness of victimhood and the peculiar shame: “One of violence’s slyest tricks is to make you feel dirty for having being on the wrong end of it.”

For all its dark materials, the writing is funny and the similes fall like a whip (“She was like a sofa that too many people had sat on”; “I would try to exude a mild, friendly laddishness, the way a cuttlefish squirts out ink to blind its adversaries”). The narrator, Jacky, can sometimes overexplain, but he is also a finely perceptive moralist. He inevitably turns his satirical eye on the theatre of peace: solemn talk on the radio about the “two traditions”, with Loyalist hard men “using too-complicated words in slightly the wrong places” and a much slicker operator from Sinn Féin sounding like “a thoughtful social worker issuing case reports”.

McCartney has a troubled fondness for her native city – its dark hills and sodden beauty (“Nowhere does drizzle like Belfast”); its affection for “glittering wrecks” such as George Best and Alex Higgins, figures who mirror the city’s mix of sentimentality and explosiveness. But it is also a ghost factory, consuming life in the pursuit of ghosts: old wrongs and phantasmal futures, where all the political kitsch surrounding Irishness or Britishness will finally seem real.

Several recent novels have taken the Troubles as their theme – Anna Burns’s Milkman , Michael Hughes’s Country , David Keenan’s For the Good Times . Whether this is because the conflict can now be judged to be over or because that confidence is in question is difficult to decide, but The Ghost Factory ranks among the best of these fictions. It is a wonderfully large-souled book, even if its efforts to accommodate victims from both sides of the divide can feel a tad contrived. The plot creaks in the search for redemption, but there is a nobility in this too. As Jacky declares: “You have to get your own back just by living.” Not everyone can be saved; yet McCartney works hard to let her characters live.

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June 15, 2023 Arts + Scene » Book Review

The Ghost Forest's Haunting Histories 

The Ghost Forest

Likely to become a classic, Greg King's first solo book The Ghost Forest is aptly titled — a must-read that deftly chronicles how 96 percent of California's old growth redwood forests fell to the saw.

The award-winning journalist begins his complex, multi-generational narrative with his own entry into environmental activism. In 1986, while researching logging for The Paper in his hometown of Guerneville, King visits Humboldt County, meets forest defender Darryl Cherney, and sees clear-cuts first-hand. The year before, Charles Hurwitz, the new owner of Pacific Lumber, had completed a hostile takeover of the company, tripling the liquidation of its old growth. Appalled, King joins Earth First! and becomes a forest defender, participating in protests, tree sits and a failed attempt to hang a banner from the Golden Gate Bridge. That story ends bittersweetly: Ultimately the state and federal governments buy and protect Headwaters Forest, but fellow activist Judi Bari and Cherney fall victim to a car bombing and then, in a bizarre twist, are framed by the Oakland Police and the FBI for supposedly transporting the very bomb meant to kill them. Bari and Cherney successfully sue both entities, but no one is ever caught and charged for the crime, and Bari dies of breast cancer before the case is resolved.

King mirrors that narrative with the history of how wealthy financiers fraudulently obtained vast tracts of old growth redwood all over Northern California by abusing a federal homesteading law, allowing public lands to flow into private hands at minimal cost. King then tells how government became a cheerleader for clear cutting, creating laws to limit destructive logging practices but then turning a blind eye to environmental devastation. The California Department of Forestry (CDF), established in 1973, would approve almost any Timber Harvest Plan (THP) regardless of how it violated the law; tasked with protecting the environment, CDF failed to do so until it was sued by the Environmental Protection and Information Center (EPIC). In a series of landmark judgments that blocking THPs, enough political pressure was finally exerted to force CDF to enforce the Endangered Species Act. Ultimately Hurwitz was prevented from legally logging in the Headwaters.

King parallels the modern-day history of the Timber Wars with the early-20th century history of how a handful of wealthy white industrialists responded to the threat of environmental activism. Gathering at the Bohemian Grove in 1917, they created one of the first greenwashing organizations, Save the Redwoods League, which for decades helped timber companies liquidate old growth forests, buy timberland at inflated prices, and consistently lobby against efforts to create large parks to protect old growth. Even then, the league would purchase only small acreages of redwoods — often second growth façades to shield motorists from clear cuts. As if the false public face of environmental defense wasn't bad enough, King also describes how the organization's "progressive" leadership was tainted by eugenicists who applauded the Nazi regime for the Holocaust. In fact, one of the League's ardent financial supporters, Charles M. Goethe, established the Eugenics Society of Northern California. Over a period of 40 years, this organization led to more than 20,000 people in California being forcefully sterilized, many unknowingly.

The book is not all tragedy, however. King tells how the Sierra Club successfully lobbied for the creation of Redwood National Park, overcoming the roadblocks that Save the Redwoods League put in its way. Decades later, this action was echoed in the creation of the Headwaters Reserve, when the state and federal governments purchased 7,472 acres to protect it for perpetuity. Still, King argues these victories were Pyrrhic: Much more old growth could have been saved in the Redwood Creek watershed when Redwood National Park was established, and when the Headwaters Reserve was purchased, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, influenced by Save the Redwoods, wound up a terrible negotiator. The state and federal governments ultimately paid Charles Hurwitz about 10 times what the forest was worth.

In considering how California's old growth redwood forests were liquidated due to greed, corruption, influence peddling, violence and lies, King doesn't shy away from the tragedy of the destruction. But wielding sharp prose, essential research skills and an unblinking eye for both the horror of clear-cutting and the indescribable beauty of what remains, he also presents us with numerous people who embody courage, wisdom and grace in fighting against such destructive and corrupting influences. And he stands among them. For anyone concerned with the environment and its defense, this book is an essential read.

David Holper (he/him) served as the first poet laureate for the city of Eureka and is faculty emeritus from College of the Redwoods.

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Tags: Book Review , The Ghost Forest , Greg King , Redwoods , Timber Wars , Eugenics , Save the Redwood League , Earth First

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‘spider-man: shadow of the green goblin’ #1 adds interesting new canon.

‘Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin’ #1 brings you back to the pre-Green Goblin era.

It’s safe to say Batman is to Joker as Spider-Man is to Green Goblin, or some might argue Goblins, plural. Enter a new miniseries, Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin , written by J. M. DeMatteis, that introduces a Proto-Goblin prior to Green Goblin showing up! Considering you have to break some eggs to make an omelet, of course there’d be some Goblins sprouting up prior to the “perfecting” of the serum by Norman Osborn.

For fans of a Spider-Man who has a strong inner monologue, you’ll love this issue. The internal malaise is strong with Peter, as we see in a succinct and well-told first page recapping his origin. This is a Spider-Man who is racked with guilt, a hard life, and a desire to save everyone. It’s incredibly clear DeMatteis has an impeccable handle on writing Spider-Man right down to the demons even he is dealing with.

One such demon is the fear of hurting people by accident. More specifically, punching robbers too hard, as we see in this issue. Spider-Man is still trying to get a handle on his powers. There are other demons at work in this issue, including Norman’s treatment of Harry and our new Proto-Goblin. There’s a strong sense of mental health issues and a lack of emotional maturity through all of the characters dealing with problems. Even Aunt May has a moment of anger. DeMatteis crafts a near-perfect first issue thanks to these genuine and tender moments.

By the end of the issue, one can see how this story fits within the canon, which is a nice bonus. Often, these stories set in the past are conveniently tucked into canon via memory loss or some side character that’s pointless to the bigger picture. Here, though, DeMatteis connects the Proto-Goblin to Norman in a believable way while delivering an emotional rollercoaster for Spider-Man to endure at this key moment in his history.

The purse snatcher is a classic for Spider-Man. Credit: Marvel

The captions can seem heavy-handed at times, taking up a lot of the panels, but it’s a style choice that works. You are right there with Peter every step of the way making the story feel more intimate.

The art is strong. Michael Sta. Maria’s pencils with colors by Chris Sotomayor are in a highly detailed style that is not unlike European comics. There’s good action here, from purse snatching scenes to Proto-Goblin vs. Spidey scenes, and even a fun sequence at a birthday party. Yes, Spider-Man takes a birthday party gig! The Spidey suit looks fantastic no matter the angle, and it gives a more realistic look to his body. That helps ground things. The only slight negative is the Proto-Goblin design, which isn’t the most inventive but simple enough to get the point across.

Fans of the classic Spider-Man era will adore Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #1 . This series will take you back to a key time in Spider-Man’s life as he grapples with bills, the drama between friends, and the looming menace of Goblins before they ever entered his life. DeMatteis hits all the right Spider-Man notes – selfless, brave, relatable – while adding intriguing new canon.

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‘Immortal Thor’ #9 sets up a compelling meta story

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Seeking a Moral at the End of the Tale

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By Michiko Kakutani

• Oct. 2, 2007

It’s been almost three decades since Philip Roth published “The Ghost Writer,” the first of his many novels chronicling the adventures of his best-known alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman. In that book Nathan was a starry-eyed young writer, eager to worship at the altar of high art and convinced that he had found a role model in the reclusive writer E. I. Lonoff, who led a quiet existence in the Berkshires, far from the distractions of the city and far from the literary hubbub.

“Purity. Serenity. Simplicity. Seclusion,” young Nathan thinks. “All one’s concentration and flamboyance and originality reserved for the grueling, exalted, transcendent calling. I looked around and I thought, This is how I will live.”

In subsequent Zuckerman novels we learned that Nathan went on to achieve a very un-Lonoff-like fame with a scandalous best seller (not unlike Mr. Roth’s own “Portnoy’s Complaint”) that cut him off from his family and his past, and forced him to grapple with the unreckoned consequences of his art. We also learned that after a series of tumultuous, passive-aggressive relationships with various women and an assortment of medical and psychological woes, Nathan had finally come to replicate Lonoff’s reclusive existence. For over a decade now, he has lived alone in a small house on a dirt road in the Berkshires, seeing few people and hearing little news. His days are spent turning sentences around; his nights are spent reading the great masterworks of literature he discovered as a student many decades ago.

“I don’t want a story any longer,” Nathan declared in Mr. Roth’s 1998 novel, “I Married a Communist.” “I’ve had my story.”

Now, in Mr. Roth’s elegiac new novel, “Exit Ghost” — a kind of valedictory bookend to “The Ghost Writer” — Nathan returns to New York to visit a doctor, and finds himself being tempted, against his better judgment, back into the maelstrom of life. He agrees to swap homes for a year with two young writers, Jamie and her husband, Billy, who live in a small Upper West Side apartment. And he finds himself suddenly smitten with Jamie and hoping, against all odds, that this vibrant, 30-year-old, happily married woman will leave her husband for him — a famously self-absorbed 71-year-old writer, who, after prostate surgery, is both impotent and incontinent.

He also re-encounters Amy Bellette, Lonoff’s former mistress, only to discover that the beautiful young woman he glimpsed in “The Ghost Writer” is now an invalid recovering from brain surgery.

From these bare bones of a plot, Mr. Roth has created a melancholy, if occasionally funny, meditation on aging, mortality, loneliness and the losses that come with the passage of time — very much the same themes he examined in his sketchy 2006 novel, “Everyman,” and his equally slight 2001 novel, “The Dying Animal.”

Compared with Mr. Roth’s big postwar trilogy (“American Pastoral,” “I Married a Communist” and “The Human Stain”), which unfolded into a bold chronicle of American innocence and disillusionment, this volume is definitely a modest undertaking, but it has a sense of heartfelt emotion lacking in “Everyman” and “Dying Animal,” and for fans of the Zuckerman books, it provides a poignant coda to Nathan’s story, putting a punctuation point to his journey from youthful idealism and passion through midlife confusion and angst toward elderly renunciation.

Although Nathan thinks he’s embraced the ascetic life — “by paring and paring and paring away,” he says, “I found in my solitude a species of freedom that was to my liking much of the time” — he’s been living in a monkish bubble that’s cut him off from ordinary human commerce and connection. He often goes days at a time without speaking to anyone, save his housekeeper or caretaker. He doesn’t watch movies or television, doesn’t own a cellphone, a VCR, a DVD player or a computer. He continues “to live in the Age of the Typewriter,” claiming he doesn’t know what the World Wide Web is, and no longer bothers to vote.

“I had banished my country,” he says, “been myself banished from erotic contact with women, and was lost through battle fatigue to the world of love.”

Attracted to Jamie and shocked at what has happened to Amy Bellette in the years since he last saw her, Nathan finds himself grappling with feelings he’d thought he’d stifled many years ago and experiencing “the bitter helplessness of a taunted old man dying to be whole again.” The two women’s stories converge in the person of Richard Kliman, Jamie’s former boyfriend, who now happens to be working on a biography of E. I. Lonoff that Amy wants to prevent.

Kliman is another one of those annoying and importunate characters — like Alvin Pepler in “Zuckerman Unbound” and Moishe Pipik in “Operation Shylock” — who pester Mr. Roth’s heroes, and Nathan regards him as everything he detests: an unworthy rival for Jamie’s affections and an ambitious literary parasite out to topple Lonoff from his pedestal (by revealing an incestuous affair this great writer purportedly had when he was young).

Kliman also represents youth to Nathan’s decrepitude: while Kliman is one of the “not-yets” with “no idea how quickly things turn out another way,” Nathan belongs to the group of “no-longers,” “losing faculties, losing control, shamefully dispossessed from themselves, marked by deprivation and experiencing the organic rebellion staged by the body against the elderly.”

It’s unclear just how much of Kliman’s agenda is imagined by Nathan, who after all once endowed Amy Bellette with the legendary biography of Anne Frank, and who’s begun turning all his conversations with Jamie into an imaginary dialogue between an imaginary “He” and “She” — a dialogue that “was an aid to nothing, alleviated nothing, achieved nothing” and yet “seemed terribly necessary to write.”

This, of course, is Nathan Zuckerman’s habit —continually to complicate his life on paper, while continually complaining about readers who would confuse fact and fiction, life and art.

As usual, Nathan, like his creator, anticipates the reader’s question: “But isn’t one’s pain quotient shocking enough without fictional amplification, without giving things an intensity that is ephemeral in life and sometimes even unseen?”

His answer: “Not for some. For some very, very few that amplification, evolving uncertainly out of nothing, constitutes their only assurance, and the unlived, the surmise, fully drawn in print on paper, is the life whose meaning comes to matter most.”

By Philip Roth

292 pages. Houghton Mifflin Company. $26.

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The Biggest New Comic Book Releases of April 2024

Deadpool, nightwing, ghost machine, tmnt #150 and more..

April is here, Spring has sprung and there are a lot of new comics worth checking out over the next several weeks. April is an especially big month for TMNT fans. Not only is the current TMNT volume reaching its conclusion in the epic issue #150 finale, but TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman is kicking off a new, semi-autobiographical series called Drawing Blood. Comic readers can also look forward to a new volume of Deadpool, a major Superman crossover called House of Brainiac and the debut of the first three monthly titles from Geoff Johns' Ghost Machine.

Read on to learn about these and the other big comics worth reading in April 2024, and be sure to let us know in the comments below what you'll be reading this month.

Deadpool #1

Deadpool (2024) #1 cover art gallery.

Creative Team: Cody Ziglar & Rogê Antônio

Publisher: Marvel

Release Date: April 3

Deadpool is finally blasting his way back to the big screen this summer, so it goes without saying that Marvel has a new Deadpool comic lined up to capitalize on the hype. This series should be an easy way to dive into the franchise. It introduces a new villain named Death Grip, one who seems absolutely determined to kill the unkillable Wade Wilson.

But easily the biggest selling point here is that the new Deadpool is written by Miles Morales: Spider-Man's Cody Ziglar. Ziglar has become an increasingly important voice at Marvel in recent years, and we have faith he can nail that trademark blend of hyper-violent action and self-aware humor that makes for a good Deadpool comic.

Ghost Machine's Geiger, Redcoat & Rook: Exodus

Ghost machine april 2024 launch titles.

Creative Team: Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Gary Frank & Bryan Hitch

Publisher: Image

Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch and Jason Fabok are some of the biggest names in the comic book industry. It's a big deal that all four have decided to leave DC behind and spearhead a new publishing company together. The result is Ghost Machine , a new publishing line that will comprise no fewer than four shared universes by the end of 2024.

Readers got a taste of what this new line has to offer in the recent Ghost Machine #1 one-shot. Now the creators are launching their first three monthly titles on the same day. Geiger is a known quantity, as it continues Johns and Frank's post-apocalyptic saga from the first volume. Redcoat introduces an immortal rogue who exists in that same universe, while Rook: Exodus is set in a brand-new world where masked wardens can control animals. All three books are looking stunning, and we can't wait to see these new storylines unfold.

Superman: House of Brainiac

Superman: house of brainiac cover art gallery.

Creative Team: Joshua Williamson & Rafa Sandoval

Publisher: DC

Release Date: April 9 & April 16

If you've been reading Joshua Williamson's Superman run (and you really should be), you'll want to make sure you also pick up Action Comics over the next few months. Williamson is pulling double duty as Action Comics undergoes its second evolution of 2024 in issue #1064. That issue kicks off a new crossover called House of Brainiac. As the Superman family clashes with Brainiac yet again, they'll find their enemy has an entire army of Czarnians at their beck and call. Good thing Lobo is ready to throw his lot in with the Man of Steel.

House of Brainiac is shaping up to be one of the most important DC storylines of 2024. It directly sets the stage for Mark Waid and Dan Mora's Absolute Power , introducing Brainiac's latest evolution as the Brainiac Queen.

Rat City #1

Spawn: rat city preview gallery.

Creative Team: Erica Schultz & Zé Carlos

Release Date: April 10

It may not actually have the word "Spawn" in the title, but Rat City is the latest important addition to the rapidly growing Spawn franchise . Fortunately, it also happens to be an accessible series that stands on its own from the rest of the line. It's essentially Spawn's answer to Batman Beyond or Spider-Man 2099. Rat City is set in the futuristic landscape of 2111, as a new Hellspawn takes up the mantle. But the twist this time is that Peter Cairn isn't undead, but a living soldier powered by nano technology.

For more on what to expect from the new series, check out our video interview with writer Erica Schultz:

Nightwing #300

Nightwing #300 cover art gallery.

Creative Team: Tom Taylor, Marv Wolfman, Michael Conrad & Various Artists

Release Date: April 16

Nightwing #113 also happens to be the 300th Nightwing comic, and you'd better believe that DC is celebrating that milestone. This oversized issue features a new story from the regular creative team of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo as well as bonus tales from New Teen Titans writer Marv Wolfman and others. Details are scant on this issue, but it looks to be delivering a major new wrinkle to the status quo, even as Taylor and Redondo gear up for the climax of their critically acclaimed run. Enjoy the ride, because it's only going to get more bumpy from here for Dick Grayson.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150

Teenage mutant ninja turtles #150 cover art gallery.

Creative Team: Sophie Campbell, Dan Duncan, Vincenzo Federici & Fero Peniche

Publisher: IDW

Release Date: April 17

2024 is a big one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book line. Not only did IDW recently kick off the long-awaited TMNT: The Last Ronin II , they're ending the current TMNT monthly series at the auspicious issue #150 mark. This issue serves as the capstone to writer Sophie Campbell's long run on the series. Donatello is literally racing against time as he tracks down his future self to learn how to defeat Armaggon. Expect an epic finale and a fitting conclusion to what has easily been one of the best incarnations of the TMNT franchise in any medium. New TMNT writer Jason Aaron will have some tall shoes to fill this summer.

Drawing Blood #1

Drawing blood #1 cover art gallery.

Creative Team: David Avallone, Kevin Eastman, Ben Bishop & Troy Little

Release Date: April 24

TMNT fans should be on the lookout for a very different type of comic the week after TMNT #150 hits shelves. With Drawing Blood, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman is drawing inspiration from his own life and career as he helps tell the story of a fictional creator trying to escape the shadow of his world-famous creation.

Shane Bookman and his brother Paul created the Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls as teenagers. But decades later, with fame and fortune having long since evaporated, Shane is struggling to build something new and escape the hired killers gunning for him. The series takes its cues from Eastman's own experiences and the many interesting stories he's encountered in his years in Hollywood, and the result promises to be a comic that's both larger-than-life and deeply personal.

In other comic book news, Marvel's X-Men '97 prequel has its own Sad Wolverine meme , and we've got an exclusive preview of this year's Stranger Things FCBD 2024 story .

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter .

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Screen Rant

Redcoat #1 reinvents american history with magic & comedy (review).

Ghost Machine gets things started with the debut of Redcoat #1, a hilarious story about an immortal reprobate clashing with America’s secret history.

• Get ready for a wild ride with Redcoat #1 - a hilarious blend of history, magic, and humor!
• Simon Pure's debut as Redcoat delivers on comedy and mischief in a world where history meets fantasy.
• Ghost Machine's newest series kicks off strong, setting up a fun and exciting universe with more surprises to come.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Redcoat #1! Fans of wildly alternative history and comedy are in for a serious treat with Image Comics and Ghost Machine's new series, Redcoat . Simon Pure is the newest character in the Unnamed Universe to get a series and his debut does not disappoint.

Ghost Machine has brought together some of the biggest names in the comic book industry and the imprint is hitting the ground running with its first wave of comics. Redcoat might be the new kid on the block, but this new comic's creative team has put together a title that has the potential to become a real fan-favorite.

Redcoat and His Role in the Unnamed Universe

Ghost Machine is nothing but ambitious and has been building up a universe since before the imprint was even announced. The Unnamed Universe is an interconnected world that began with Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Geiger , the series about a radioactive hero who fights his way through a nuclear wasteland. The universe was later expanded with Junkyard Joe , a series about a mysterious robot soldier who fought alongside the United States Army in the Vietnam War. Both series in the Unnamed Universe touched on war and the effects it has on soldiers.

The first volumes of Geiger and Junkyard Joe are available in collected editions from Image Comics!

After the imprint was officially announced, Ghost Machine and Image Comics gave fans a better look at what to expect from the new line of comics with Ghost Machine #1 . The sampler not only provided a refresher on series like Geiger, it provided a timeline of the grander Unnamed Universe, giving readers an idea of just how wide-ranging this universe was. Ghost Machine #1 also provided a look at Redcoat , aka Simon Pure, and how he fit into this wild new universe.

Redcoat is an immortal who once served as a soldier in the British army in the 1700s. However, at some point, Pure became an immortal and later a mercenary, leading him to live a life where he’d wind up meeting some of the most famous figures in history such as Benedict Arnold, Davy Crockett, Annie Oakley, and even Einstein. Redcoat’s powers don't mean he can't die , he just comes back to life after a short period. Redcoat also has a nasty habit of making enemies out of everyone he meets.

Redcoat #1 is an Excellent Blend of History, Magic, and Humor

Redcoat #1 by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh kicks off in 1775 as Paul Revere rides through the streets warning of the coming Redcoats. Unfortunately, his message comes too late as he’s attacked by a swath of British officers. But things quickly turn in Revere’s favor as the soldiers are attacked by magic fireflies summoned by John Hancock. Hancock reveals that thanks to the Founding Fathers’ magic powers, the tide of war will turn in the patriots' favor .

After Simon is killed in a bar fight, he wakes up while his coffin is being dug up by a young Albert Einstein.

A year later, British soldier Simon Pure runs for his life as he's hunted by Americans. He hides in a church, where he discovers a magic ritual is being performed on Benjamin Franklin. However, Pure accidentally botches the ritual and the power meant to be transferred to Franklin is given to Pure instead. The power is too much and causes a massive explosion in the church, which kills Simon. But sometime later, Pure wakes up, the first of many resurrections for the man who’d become known as Redcoat .

In the late 1800s, Simon is a deadbeat on the run from dozens of people who want him dead. However, a bright young German man spots Redcoat and starts to follow him. After Simon is killed in a bar fight, he wakes up while his coffin is being dug up by a young Albert Einstein. Einstein attempts to recruit Redcoat to stop a “great evil”, but before Simon can tell the young man ‘no’, the two are surrounded by the magic order Redcoat interrupted over a century ago .

Redcoat #1 is a Hilarious Journey Through Time

Ghost Machine released several other titles in its first big wave, and none of them are funnier than Redcoat . This series knows exactly what it is, a lighthearted story that’s out to make its audience laugh, which it does thanks to its central character. Redcoat is reminiscent of characters like John Constantine , a morally flexible jackass who can’t help but get himself into trouble thanks to his unique powers and way of living. Redcoat’s a fun character and he stands out compared to the more serious protagonists found in Geiger or Rook: Exodus .

The prospect of Redcoat making enemies or allies out of other famous people in future issues is an intriguing one.

It’s a bold choice to present the Founding Fathers as a magic and powerful cabal, but it makes for a hell of an opening chapter. From the get-go, fans know that this story is going to be something different. Geoff Johns gets a lot of mileage out of using real-world figures like Ben Franklin or Albert Einstein. The prospect of Redcoat making enemies or allies out of other famous people in future issues is an intriguing one (especially if they’re also given a sinister, magic makeover).

The issue’s inkers, Bryan Hitch and Andrew Currie do a fantastic job of illustrating this book. Simon is a wildly expressive individual, which makes the shenanigans he gets into even more entertaining. But the art is also extremely captivating during the issue’s many magic scenes, such as when Redcoat gains his immortality and the page displays Simon in a recursive pattern. Brad Anderson more than pulls his weight on colors and gives these scenes just the right touch of color to make Redcoat #1 feel like a magic experience .

Redcoat #1 Could Be Ghost Machine's Hidden Star

Ghost Machine is coming out the gate strong with multiple titles and more on the way. From the very first page, Redcoat #1 finds its voice with a unique blend of comedy, magic and historical mischief. While not as serious as some of the other titles, Redcoat #1 plays to its strengths and sets up a fun exciting world that’s undoubtedly got more surprises in the near future. Fans looking for something with action that’s downright fun need look no further than Image Comics and Ghost Machine’s Redcoat #1 .

Redcoat #1 is available now from Ghost Machine and Image Comics.