Review: The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

Title: The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Author: Craig Davidson

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery

Pages: 272 (Hardcover)

Publisher: Knopf Canada

Publication date: August 14th, 2018

Synopsis from The Saturday Night Ghost Club's Goodreads page

When neurosurgeon Jake Breaker operates, he knows he's handling more than a patient's delicate brain tissue--he's altering their seat of consciousness, their golden vault of memory. And memory, Jake knows well, can be a tricky thing.

When growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls, a.k.a. Cataract City--a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place--one of Jake's closest confidantes was his uncle Calvin, a sweet but eccentric misfit enamored of occult artefacts and outlandish conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turned twelve, Calvin invited him to join the "Saturday Night Ghost Club"--a seemingly light-hearted project to investigate some of Cataract City's more macabre urban myths. Over the course of that life-altering summer, Jake not only fell in love and began to imagine his future, he slowly, painfully came to realize that his uncle's preoccupation with chilling legends sprang from something buried so deep in his past that Calvin himself was unaware of it.

THOUGHTS

Thank you so much to the wonderful team at Penguin Random House for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review!

Getting into October and reading spooky Halloween reads is my cup of tea! I was especially looking forward to this one - it takes place in Niagara Falls Canada, which isn't TOO far from where I live, but it is a good distance. It's always super nice to be able to read a book that takes place somewhere where you've been to and absolutely loved.

With that being said - I really loved the setting of this book. Niagara Falls is an amazing place, and I love everything about it. The touristy parts and non touristy parts, and it was awesome to be able to see how it possibly looked in the past.

I also loved the spooky feel to this book - it is very much a fall, Halloween read. I really liked how the title is absolutely perfect for the book as well; very descriptive, and very accurate. I loved the ghost hunts, and the spookyness of the whole thing.

The characters were also interesting, but I found them to be just okay overall. I found that there was no true character development - they all just carried their flaws with them, and just grew up with them. I would have liked to have seen some more growth from all of them, and some more changes as they got older.

I also found that this book was much...sadder than I had anticipated. When I got to the end and read about Uncle Calvin's life and what he had gone through.....that was painful. It was so sad, and I personally felt that it wasn't sad in an enjoyable way, more of a sad as in a difficult to read, feeling so bad for the character and wanting to just give them a hug way.

However, I did find the ghost stories that Calvin came up with absolutely amazing. They were sad and creepy at the same time, and they were my favourite part of the book.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read, and I feel like it is a perfect time of the year to give it a go.

Overall - ★★★☆☆.5