People are dying to get in. The ghosts will kill to get out.Be first in line for the most haunted theme park in the park in the world – GHOSTLAND! Discover and explore hundreds of haunted buildings and cursed objects! Witness spectral beings of all kinds with our patented Augmented Reality glasses! Experience all the terror and thrills the afterlife has to offer, safely protected by our … has to offer, safely protected by our Recurrence Field technology! Visit Ghostland today – it’s the hauntedest place on earth!
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After a near-death experience caused by the park’s star haunted attraction, Ben has come to Ghostland seeking to reconnect with his former best friend Lilian, whose post-traumatic stress won’t let her live life to the fullest. She’s come at the insistence of her therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler, who tags along out of professional curiosity, eager to study the new tech’s psychological effect on the user.
But when a computer virus sets the ghosts free and the park goes into lockdown, the trio find themselves trapped in an endless nightmare.
With time running short and the dead quickly outnumbering the living, the survivors must tap into their knowledge of horror and video games to escape… or become Ghostland’s newest exhibits.
Featuring an interactive “Know Your Ghosts” guide and much more, Ghostland is over 400 pages of thrills and terror!
Praise for Ghostland:
“Well done to Duncan Ralston for making every horror hound’s childhood dream a reality!” – Tony Jones, Ink Heist
“I think this will be one that many people will be talking about for years to come.” – Steve Stred (author of Ritual), Kendall Reviews
★★★★★ “GHOSTLAND is over-the-top extreme horror (Don’t say I never warned you) but it is also wonderful.” – Mallory Haws, The Haunted Reading Room
★★★★★ “This book is a gripping page turner that will surely be a crowd pleaser, and, in my opinion, deserves to be a major mainstream success for Ralston.” – Adam Light, author of Panacea
★★★★★ “This is absolutely the best thing he’s written.” – Justin M Woodward, author of Rotten Little Thingsmore
I grabbed my gore suite for the second time around on this book as I knew I was going to be needing it and the second time around I enjoyed it even more!
A little backstory for you:
Two friends Ben and Lillian along with Lillian’s therapist Dr. Wexler decide to check out the new theme park, Ghostland. The theme park has all different kinds of exhibits that include ghosts which are trapped within those exhibits. The park comes with a map of where everything is located and the place is huge. Also Ben, Lillian, and Dr. Wexler are handed special glasses to see the ghosts as without them they will see nothing.
Ben is excited most of all as Ghostland is centered around horror author, Rex Garrote, who had died in an unique way and who had also lived in one of the most haunted houses in America. So Ben is really psyched to be able to explore the theme park and he just wants to delve deep into all the exhibits.
Everything seems to be going along smooth as silk until on the tram ride through the park an unexpected event happens when the computer system to the park fails and the trapped ghosts that are exhibits become “un-trapped”!
The ghosts are free and when that happens all hell breaks loose in the park as the ghosts go on a rampage destroying anything that gets in their way!
What happens to Ben, Lillian, and Dr. Wexler? Do they make it through the theme park unscathed? What causes the computer system to fail? What happens when the ghosts escape? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the book!
Thoughts:
This book was an extensive research project for the author, Duncan Ralston and you can tell how much time went into this book. Very detailed descriptions of all the exhibits throughout the park along with quite a bit of technology research as well.
I became attached to the characters and when the crap hits the fan in the story with the ghosts becoming free this story goes into ghosts overdrive as the action ratchets up in the book! On this second time around, I was on the edge of my seat as when the action starts happening I was glued to my kindle as there is nothing more cool than reading about ghosts that are ticked off and causing havoc as they go on a ghosts attack!
There are some very extreme “walk on the wild side” sections of the book which might make you cringe and cover your eyes!
The action was so intense in the story that it was like sitting in a movie theatre with booming surround sound as when you read about the screams in the park, you are going to be hearing it and when the gore starts flying you will be feeling it splatter in your face! Giving this book five “creative ghostly” stars!
Another fantastic read from Duncan Ralston! And one of his most imaginative yet. I mean, come on–you couldn’t find a better concept, Jurassic Park but with ghosts. Freaking genius. This concept gave the author the freedom to give us readers the best kind of paranormal wet dream. Groove on haunted asylums filled with a bunch of lobotomized patients oversaw by a literal Dr. Death? Done. What about creepy as prisons? Check. Fan of Vincent Price tropes? Got you covered. And that’s not even mentioning the crème de la crème of ghost story locations, the proverbial haunted house with GARROTE HOUSE. This alone should be enough, but Ralston packs in an easy to follow tech-babble, video game and horror movie references, and a pseudo-history specifically created for Ghostland.
I have to say, it was refreshing to read a story with adult themes but set inside the mind of younger adults. But Ralston didn’t pull any punches. While seemingly young adult centric, there is gore a plenty. Seems only fitting for the guy who wrote Woom.
I’m very curious to see how the sequel plays out with this approaching “war” against the living and the dead. Yet, i cannot help but feel the dread of returning to the park and what it will do to my heart.
Must read!
This book is a Masterpiece. It’s like 13 ghost only more graphic.
Ghostland, the first novel in the Ghostland Trilogy, is a creepy, bloody, graphic, extreme horror novel. Four years earlier, the people of Duck Falls saw the first of the Ghostland exhibits roll through their town. As the Garrote House passed by on Main Street, Lil was sure she saw something in the house and had her best friend Ben curious enough to put his game aside to look through binoculars at the house. On that day, not only did Ben see Rex Garrote staring at him from his home, but he also suffered a major heart attack and died. Luckily, his mother was able to revive him. Jump four years later, and Ghostland is open for business. Ben and Lil, along with her therapist Dr. Allison Wexler, visit the theme park. Things starts to go awry rather quickly as the ghosts are taking over. Ben and Lilian will have to navigate through the park along with friends they make along the way, to get to the Garrote House, the centerpiece of the park, to get away from the murderous hoard of ghosts. Great characters and an even greater descriptions bring to life this horrific story. Ralston has given us a fascinating universe in Ghostland. However, like Jurassic Park, can you really contain what wants to escape? A very good read.
WOW! What a great introduction to Duncan Ralston! The premise is great. The action is great. The gore is great. My only hiccup is I never truly connected with a character, but there was plenty to stay interested. I already picked up the prequel to Ghostland and a few others to add to my 2021 reading.
Ghostland
By Duncan Ralston
5 out of 5 stars
The story Ghostland by Duncan Ralston is a book that had me reading far into the night in order to finish. It pulled me in from the beginning and I found myself not able to put it down. It is a horror story that has the characters in a haunted theme park. I loved reading about the characters of Ben and Lilian. They were both best friends until Ben had a near-death experience. Now, with Lilian’s therapist Dr. Allison Wexler tagging along, they are going to a park where technology meets ghosts. It is a park that is state of the art and is made for scaring those who dare enter. A computer virus has the park in lockdown. Who will survive Ghostland? Read this book to find out. I loved the horror references and how Ben and Lilian, being horror fans, know a lot of information that helps them along the way. The other characters that are introduced sometime help Ben and Lilian and others mean them harm. The book has an atmosphere that is suspenseful and thrilling. It had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. If you love horror and ghost stories this is a book for you. The characters that are trapped in Ghostland have danger all around them and there are descriptions of the crimes that some committed. This is not a book for the squeamish. It will have you looking over your shoulder while reading.
As advertised, this novel is a theme park, but with very little queuing for rides i.e. down time.
After the prologue introduces our horror loving besties Lillian and Ben to a friendship altering tragedy, the story jumps ahead to their teenage years, and we quickly understand just how much the aforementioned tragic event has decimated their close bond. The story quickly sets about aligning Lil and Ben with their soon-to-be fateful day at Ghostland. The pair of them are carrying a lot of emotional and psychological damage, and I thought Ralston did a really good job of crafting their fractured dynamic early on, along with their inevitable reconciliation under crisis.
And yes, there is a LOT of action. Once the ghosts make things go sideways…well, they don’t stop going sideways until the very end. I like a lot of action so long as it doesn’t interfere with character development and story, and I think in this instance it works, because it’s a simple premise: survival horror, much like the games Lil and Ben used to love playing. With that in mind, you can’t be too grumpy if you’re expecting some deep, atmospheric dread. As stated, this is a theme park, so go in expecting rollercoasters, action, buckets of gore and some pretty cool ghosts.
3.5. I went into this book with eyes wide open! Now this is a place I would visit! The idea here was fantastic! Ghosts in a theme park, on exhibit, brought visible by a technology that zeros in on the energy that’s left behind when a person dies! What an idea!
I liked the character of Ben and his friendship with Lilian! And one other character who made a brief appearance was Stan Beadle, retired detective who shows up on opening day! The technology behind the theme park was interesting but I felt it wasn’t explained enough. As the events progressed I felt like I wanted to just hurry up and get through the book! In other words, I lost interest! At the end I couldn’t understand why the author seemed to jump from where the kids were to Lilian in college! I like Ben and feel the author should have given the readers more of an ending for him! I feel this was sad as I think the premise of this held so much promise!
Great job Duncan Ralston!! This was a super fun read. I loved the interactive footnotes. They added an extra layer of fun to this story. The story itself is very good. A couple of kids get stuck in a haunted theme park that goes wrong. This sounds like a park i’d go to multiple times. There’s haunted buildings, cars, objects and more. What’s not to love? Near the middle, when the kids are in the asylum, this story really made me think. There’s ghost hunts/tours that take place in really, really awful places and involve really messed up people and we (the public) go to them for fun and entertainment? It’s kinda messed up isn’t it? I’m guilty too, I’ve done ghost tours in several cities. I don’t know if Duncan was trying to get point across or if it was just me. But either way, I had a great time at Ghostland and look forward to see what happens next.
4.5 Stars.
GHOSTLAND, by Duncan Ralston, is a novel that felt like it covered epic proportions with the scope of its idea. In this world of technological advances, it seems that most anything is possible.
The latest? GHOSTLAND–a theme park that utilizes special eyewear to allow visitors to view the various “attractions” showcasing the last moments of actual ghosts.
“People are dying to get in. The exhibits will kill to get out . . . the most haunted theme park in the world–GHOSTLAND! . . . ”
We meet our main characters years before the official opening when one of the “star attractions” is being moved to its new location.
Ben and his friend Lilian are involved in a computer game (each in their respective homes) when Ben has an experience that will change the course of both of their lives. Years later, they reunite–along with a therapist–to attend the grand opening of GHOSTLAND.
“. . . Ghosts are real . . .”
Ralston makes this concept as believable as it can possibly be by adding in protesters arguing against the “exploitation of ghosts”, and mentioning the “science” behind the discovery. In a world where ghosts are “proven” to be real, you can imagine the mental fallout on the human population.
The scenes at the theme park were further added to by an “index” where the readers can look up all the grisly details of each ghost on display. Of course, the vast majority of these specters were the worst villains and murderers mankind had to offer.
A spectacular selling point.
“. . . the writer had given new meaning to “profoundly disturbed” by burning himself alive . . . ”
At its core, the mystery of how this place came to be, and the reason for relocating these spirits to be put on display, are the concepts our teenaged main characters must come to terms with.
“Remind me not to die here . . . ”
Overall, I loved the idea presented here, the dynamics between Ben and Lilian, and the execution of the novel. I did utilize the “ghost index” while reading, and felt that learning about these individual horrors as we come across them added another layer of enjoyment to the reading experience. This was an incredibly unique approach, and made for a story I’m still thinking about over a week later. I’ve enjoyed books by this writer in the past, and will continue to look forward to all of his future releases.
Highly recommended.
“The world doesn’t belong to us anymore. It’s theirs now. A world full of ghosts.”
Four years ago friends Ben and Lilian saw a house being hauled down the street in their small hometown of Duck Falls, Maryland. Both were deeply affected by the sight of this sinister house.
Now four years later that house is the centerpiece of the haunted theme park Ghostland. And on opening day, even with misgivings, they are on their way in to see and experience the park. But they get much more than expected out of the experience.
Ghostland is set up with haunted buildings, haunted objects, and Virtual Reality glasses (but is it really VR)?
I liked both Ben and Lilian’s stories and their characters.
While this book is nowhere near as disturbing and vomitous as WOOM by the same author, it is not for the faint of heart. It is gruesome, gory, and ghostly (or is that ghastly?).
Recommended for lovers of bloody horror.
Duncan Ralston decided to go big with his latest release, ‘Ghostland.’ Following a promotional campaign that may be the best single campaign for a book launch I’ve ever seen – indie and traditional, I can resoundingly say that ‘Ghostland’ absolutely delivers.
The build-up for this book was palpable. Starting with some blog posts about an author who Ralston remembered reading when he was younger, who nobody else appeared to know. Then a Wikipedia page was found – Rex Garrote, this seemingly lost to history author had resurfaced.
All of this leads into the final details of Rex’s life being discovered. After self-immolation, his final wishes were for the world’s largest park dedicated too and featuring ghost’s to be created in his name.
The book opens up introducing us to teen friends Ben and Lilian. They love to online game together and as they are playing, Lilian notices a strange occurrence outside her window. Ralston gives us an emotional opening that really helped me connect to these two characters.
We then get a short jump ahead in time, some details get filled in, but everything leads down one path – opening day at ‘Ghostland.’ Ben and Lilian, now not the best of friends they used to be, meet up, with Lilian’s therapist, Allison in tow.
From here, Ralston really delivers the core concept of Jurassic Park but with Ghosts.
We get the details of the science behind how the park works and operates as well as a few new characters get added into the mix. At one point, I even found myself equating certain characters with specific Jurassic Park characters in the hopes that I’d get a sneak peek at how things might play out.
I think two things with this story really make it stand above a lot of the other ghostly tales that get put out.
The first is clear immediately – on the Kindle version of this, Duncan has made an interactive Ghostland experience. Whenever the characters arrived at a new attraction or specific feature, the book would have an underlined number. By pressing on the number the history/back story of that particular thing would pop up. I’d then read it and close it and continue on my way. Not completely sure how this will work with the physical stuff, but the digital version – this was fantastic.
The second is the level of attachment Ralston created to his characters. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Lilian or Ben and even grew to want to protect Allison.
When the ending rolls around and Ralston brings it all together, I was so impressed. Just a stunning work of art.
The entire package along, from early promo to the book to the interactive feature – staggering. Ralston really went above and beyond with this release and I think this will be one that many people will be talking about for years to come.
Ghosts are real! It’s been scientifically proven. And now a company has brought all of America’s most famous haunting spirits together into one amusement park—a park in which all of the protections against the spirits are about to come crashing down.
While this sounds like a great setting for a horror movie, it’s really not. It’s the setting of an action-adventure movie along the lines of Jurassic Park but with less eerie tension. Basically this about our intrepid heroes running around killing the ghosts while they slowly discover why everything is happening. That solution was fun. The book in general is fun. But it’s not the horror novel that the title and blurb suggest and that left me feeling a bit disappointed and impatient as I worked my way to the end.
Amusement Park Imbroglio! Spectre Savant Unleashes Ghostly Mayhem! “Well, it was wall to wall gore in there. Nearly everyone got slaughtered. I tried to get a refund for my day pass, but no dope. I was gonna be stuck for eternity as an ectoplasmic exhibit.” – The Duck Falls Blatherer.
There’s much to like in this book, especially the world building. The Ghostland amusement park is genius as far as I’m concerned. Mr. Ralston pulls that off perfectly.
However, I found the ending an odd mixture of a deus ex machina (which I hate) and courageous sacrifice which I admire, but on balance I’m satisfied. The DeM overlooked this time in favour of a character’s clear sighted resolve and courage.
However, after all is said and done, I’m pinging a star for the uneven sense of engagement delivered with the main characters of Ben and Lillian. Especially around the middle of the book during the ‘Asylum,’ scenes, I was in danger of losing all interest in their fates rather than being engaged and seriously considered DNF’ing.
And yet, at the end the story comes on strong, and I want the final surviving characters to survive. A conundrum then … an uneven telling of the story.
Another aspect I found disconcerting was again an unevenness, this in terms of visual experience. If gore was involved, the picture always resolved into crystal clarity. There was never an ambiguity of scene, setting, or action as gore unfolded in red letters upon the page. But when the blood-soaked trappings of horror were absent, I was often left with a vague sense of ‘what the hell am I witnessing here,’ which is an immersion show stopper.
That said, I’m still going with …
Recommended, 4 ‘Ghosts and Gory Mayhem,’ Stars.
It is just a so-so book…. Good enough that you will keep reading it slowly but not great enough to read it quickly