Ghoster by Jason Arnopp

The second novel by Jason Arnopp is out now on all formats

This novel is a sophomore effort following the 2016 release, The Last Days of Jack Sparks.

This story is about Kate Collins, a paramedic from Leeds, who believes she has found true love with Scott Palmer from Brighton, when they meet on a digital detox weekend in Wales.  Following a period of courting, the couple decide that Kate should move in with Scott in his swanky flat apartment near the city centre on the South Coast.

Kate has moved jobs, and moves all her stuff in a van. She arrives at the flat and finds it is completely empty, there are no furnishings and no sign of Scott.

Scott though has left his phone, and with that Kate decides to find out what is exactly going on, and with that the novel dives into a tale of addiction and social media.

Kate is a young, independent woman; one who is knowledgeable and steadfast, good at her job and yet one who does not refuse to put her phone down. The heartbreak of a relationship break-up leads her to stalk the ex online and this puts her colleague at work in jeopardy; Izzy her best friend suffered an injury at work while Kate was on her phone.

Throughout, we are made to witness these sorts of interactions by characters, those who are stubborn in living vicariously through online personas while the world flies by around them. We see them all the time in our own personal lives, those whose heads are down in the screen oblivious and ignorant to others. Those who cannot say thank you to someone serving you coffee and the reluctance to make eye contact.

In this 21st century, people are wary to make real connections with people without being honest and real. This is clearly on Arnopp's mind in the character of Scott, a young individual lacking in self-esteem and with an addiction of his own that finds him lacking in striking up meaningful relationships with women.

As Kate delves deeper and deeper into Scott's web of lies that brought her all the way to his doorstep in Brighton, we are sucked also into her world - the flipping back and forth of narratives, as we have the running parallels of her going from day to day with the realisation that all is not what it seems with their courtship. The twist then comes when we are made aware of Scott's addiction and we start reading his TrooSelf diary entries; these open up again all their encounters in hindsight from a different angle.

Reading like the long treatment of a nightmare episode of Black Mirror, the horror of the situation and the grip that it holds upon you is like a tightening of the chest or neck, as the circle of truth draws in upon Kate

Part urban horror, part ghost story, part social commentary and part critique on the pressure(s) facing the millennial generation, Ghoster is a unique reading experience and one that will stay with you long after you switch off the bedside lamp.

Ghoster is out now from Orbit Books.
My thanks to Compulsive Readers for the review opportunity.