The Ghost Box
Reagan Moon — paranormal reporter, terminal underachiever, and staunch cynic of the human race. The only ghosts he really believes in are the ones in his own head.
But his world is about to get an upgrade.
When Moon is hired by a reclusive tycoon to investigate the events surrounding his girlfriend’s tragic death, he learns of an impending apocalypse about to flatten Los Angeles. Seems that the Summu Nura, ancient gods from a parallel dimension, are looking for a new stomping ground. And Hollyweird is ground zero. What’s worse, Reagan Moon is the only one who can stop them.
With the help of an occult archivist and a carefree guardian angel, Moon is forced to confront an invisible world of toxic parasites and dimensional outriders. But no amount of magic can save him from monster that awaits … inside him.
Mike’s book is pretty good. It’s fast-paced urban fantasy, with a good dose of Christianity. It is a mainstream book though, so this isn’t the type of “explain-away” Christian paranormal that makes any vampires into biblical-friendly interpretations. I liked Reagan as a character too.
Only issue I had is that it was so fast-paced that it didn’t take advantage of its decent world. It’s a world where magic exists, but feels on the outskirts. Like you’d go to a medium in the same way people would go to psychics now-a disreputable action that most people think is a con. There was a lot of information and worldbuilding that went by too fast, and I think a slower-paced book would be a richer one.
Still, a good book to read.
I started reading this, and to be honest, i don’t think i’m gonna be able to finish it. The plot is underwhelming, the bizarre mix of reality and fantasy is off-putting, and the prose is unimpressive.
I started to lose interest when the main character is shook up by the psychic. First of all, the scene was devoid of any suspense; at least for me. Secondly, any experienced paranormal reporter worth his salt would know about cold and hot readings; if his nickname had been completely unrelated to his real name, i might’ve understood his shock, but when your name is Reagan and your nickname is Ray … really, dude? You can’t imagine how he would have figured that out?
When we got to the ex-priest with the two mysterious women (who felt pretty cliche to me) and he unveiled a piece of the Tower of Babel, i jumped ahead to the end to see if it got any better. (spoiler warning) I’m not sure how shapeshifters and astral vampires fit into it, but after everything else that had already been thrown in and not really explained, i wasn’t interested in finding out.
So, yeah. Not a fan.