Steel Ghosts

by Michael Paine

Tom Kruvener has returned to his Pennsylvania home town to revitalize a long-abandoned steel mill--but only the living have abandoned the mill, and Tom is about to unleash the forces that still burn inside.

Genres: Horror, Ghosts

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Pseudonym for John Michael Curlovich

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Zombieslayer⚡Alienhunter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zombieslayer/Alienhunter's 31 Days of Hallo-reads #3

An executive for Overbrook Films has made the decision to return to his home town, Steadbridge, Pennsylvania, for hence to shoot a d-horror movie. Yes, D.

Said executive, Tom Kru-ialreadyforgotit, runs into his old flame Ruth and his old friend, Bill.
Ruth's son Alex sees the ghosts that walk in Steadbridge... Walking in fire.

The movie production gets worse and worse, and the bodies are piling up.

The spirits in Steadbridge are waking up, and they want Overbook out.

What the frak even was this?! Oh, and the question mark plus exclamation point thing was actually used in the book.
Three times.

This book went from being a story about remembering a misspent youth and being haunted by ghosts of your past, to being a story about a mentally ill, alcoholic, coke-snorting bisexual priest who escapes from police custody after trying to murder his friend's son, whom, I think, he presumed to be possessed by the devil.



Convoluted I can deal with.
Idiotic I can not.

What the hell do I even say about this book?
... I guess I can praise Michael Paine for the LGBT representation? There was one bisexual character who (prior to snorting said coke) was perfectly likeable, and four gay characters (three lesbians and a gay man) who, though two of their attitudes were snotty because they were supposed to be actors, were fine. No jabbing, no insulting humor. And everyone in the small town wasn't portrayed as being some fantastic asshole of a bigot.
So, yeah. I guess props for that.

The lead was a pompous ass who was 'beautiful' and got laid a lot in high school, then, surprise-surprise, he grew up 'beautiful' and got laid a lot in adulthood.
I remember nothing about anybody else.

There were some gorey, molten-steel related deaths, but my GOD they were few and far between, and all the crap in between then was LESS than worth my time.

I had a one-star with Hallo-reads last year, too. It was a shocker too, because it was Rosemary's Baby, but I would rate this lower than I rated that if I could.



I get migraines too easily for this bullshit.

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dunno...didnt like it much! Maybe its only me. The horror was there, yeah, but still, I felt something of greatness lacking.

[Bobby Stringini · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one. The book has major issues, but it is also really easy to get sucked into. The plot is a mess, loaded with a gigantic cast that the author barely keeps track of. There are subplots and random deaths all through out this book that have no great effect on anything. The book, to be blunt, is a mess. I should have really not liked it, but... I actually had a lot of fun reading it. Some of the characters are pretty fun, and there is enough bitchy humor to keep the tone lighter.The ending, though, is a let down, and felt super rushed.

I can't give it more than a 3, because it really isn't good, but damn if it isn't fun. Kind of had the same experience with the same author's book The Night School.

[Cassandra Glissadevil · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8 stars

[Isidore · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, really. The novel starts out well, with an interesting protagonist and a promising setting––a dying town in the Rust Belt, its steel mill haunted by those mutilated and killed in its machinery. About halfway through, the tone shifts, and we find ourselves reading a breezy and amusing account of the making of an extremely cheap horror film. The supernatural element persists and there is a predictably apocalyptic climax, but it seems perfunctory, and the author makes only a half-hearted effort at developing the themes and moods from the first part of the book. At its worst it is never less than entertaining, and I admire Paine's gift for snappy dialogue, but the end result is neither fish nor fowl.

[Martha Mcfarland · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked. The plot was barely developed. Too many stupid things happened. I kept reading (for some strange reason) hoping the ending would bring things all together. It was the worst ending to a book I think I have ever read.

Sorry Michael Paine, but this book is a mess. My recommendation? Don't bother wasting your time.

I'm getting rid of a bunch of books, giving them away to the Salvation Army but this book I'm just going to throw in the trash. Ugh.

[Anupama P · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like the book at all....I would say that the starting of the book was well written.....I liked it....but after that I just felt it was a little boring......it was at some point interesting but then it started to be a little dragging....and I felt the writer could have finished the book within less than 300 pages .....instead of reaching 312....otherwise the book was OK.....

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the strongest point of this book is the character development. While it is not the best novel I have read, by a long shot, the characters were very three dimensional.