The Saturday Night Ghost Club Review

Disclosure: The Saturday Night Ghost Club was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often, a book comes along that sticks with the reader.  You blow through the book because it's so good, racing to the conclusion.  You flip that last page and turn to the back cover, finished with the book.  But that book isn't quite finished with you.  You think about how the book made you feel, you think about the characters, you yearn for more.  I'm so excited to sit here and tell you that "The Saturday Night Ghost Club" by Craig Davidson is one such book.

The story primarily follows young Jake Baker, his uncle Calvin, and his two friends Billy and Dove Yellowbird.  It's a coming of age story set in the 80's, following the main characters as they spend their summer investigating local ghosts and legends.  My main exposure to Craig Davidson has actually been through his Nick Cutter horror novels, and so I was completely taken aback by this book.  This is a book that wastes no words. What Davidson does within these pages is pure magic.  He makes you remember what it was like to be this young.  To be out with your friends without a care in the world, risking harm to yourself without even realizing it because you're 12, and what could possibly go wrong when you have your whole life in front of you.  You see Jake get picked on, fall for his first crush, have dangerous encounters.  It all hits close to home, because Davidson has the skill to make you remember when YOU were Jake, and that's why this book works,  It's perfect.  This book isn't all happy magic though.  Davidson, having grown up a fan of horror, and written three terrifying novels himself under a different name, uses his literary skill and those influences to not only make this a magical, heartfelt novel of nostalgia, but to also fill it with touching moments, heartache, and pain to make this novel as real as it gets.

When I put the book down, I wasn't able to immediately write this review.  I needed to sit and think about what I had just read.  I've seen it said that this may the book that breaks Davidson into the big time, and after reading it, I wholeheartedly agree.  This book is a perfect ride back to your childhood.  From the setting, to the characters and the story, everything just works.  We're almost halfway through the year and I believe I've just read my favorite book of 2019. Pick this book up and I think you'll feel the same way.

5/5 for "The Saturday Night Ghost Club" By Craig Davidson

I've also attached an Interview With Craig Davidson provided to my by Penguin Click here for that