Just got done reading the new book by Brian Keene titled GHOUL and it is the single best reading experience I have had in the last 5 years. I didn’t read this book, I ingested it. I had heard the name Brian Keene bantered about for the last year or so but had never bothered to pick up any of his work, man am I kicking myself in the ass right now.

GHOUL reminds me of the early works of Stephen King. I got the same head rush reading GHOUL that I did the first time I read THE STAND or CUJO or SALEM’S LOT. Actually as far as content is concerned it is probably more along the lines of a IT or THE BODY.

Keene has a knack ( as does King) for getting in your head and bringing back all those childhood memories. Memories of endless summer days and friends that you would have forever.

It is against this summer break backdrop that Keene sets GHOUL. We meet the three boys that will quickly become our friends on the first day of summer break. Plans are set for long bike rides and spending time in their hidden fortress located underground in a deserted corner of the local graveyard that the kids kind of use as their private playground. One of the boys, Barry, his father is the caretaker of the graveyard and the boys hangout there a lot as they help Barry with his chores and stuff.

The main thrust of the story revolves around Timmy Graco. He has a great family and two best friends the fore mentioned Barry whose dad takes care of the graveyard and Doug, the heavyset kid that we all knew ( or were) back in our school days. Barry and Doug are good kids but they don’t share in the strong family life that Timmy enjoys. Barry’s dad is abusive and likes to beat on his wife and Doug, well his mom abuses him but in a more disturbing way. They have this cool hangout in the cemetery and they spend time sitting down there telling fart jokes and reading back issues of Hustler that they have stolen from their fathers.

They aren’t the only things hanging out in the graveyard though. There is a dark, horrible thing living beneath the surface, beneath the graves. It has been imprisoned for centuries but has recently been freed. It is dark, evil and hungry.

One by one towns folks turn up missing and the graves in the graveyard start sinking. Through and series of increasingly disturbing and horrific circumstance our three friends find themselves wrapped up in situation that seems beyond their ability to handle.

The parents don’t believe them (blaming the wild stories on the comics ) and they are forced to stare down the evil creature themselves.

Keene’s prose is both disturbing and beautiful. He describes the killings in blood curdling detail while still being able to lull back the fond memories of childhood that we all experienced. Keene is a writer for our generation. For those of us who came of age in the 80's, this is our Stephen King. King was the product of the sixties and classic horror. Keene is the product of glam rock and the slasher era. He speaks our language and recounts our childhood and teenage years.

I was mesmerized by his writing and find myself not being able to wait to run out and buy some of his past work. This guy is going to be HUGE. There is no doubt in my mind that I just experienced the future of horror literature and it’s name is Brian Keene.

GHOUL will be available February of 2007 and is a MUST READ for anyone with even a passing interest in horror literature.

Click here for an excerpt of the novel.