Ghosts of Glencoe

by Chuck Schwerin

Ghosts of Glencoe is a riveting multi-generational adventure of self-discovery. The novel spans a mere four months, set at a unique junior boarding school, and played out in the rugged Adirondack mountains of New York.



This is a hero’s journey for two flawed protagonists, one fifteen, the other sixty-three. Both struggle to be accountable to themselves and to those who love them, for their hubris, betrayals, for the shadows they created and still carry. In their tortuous path to absolution, both discover one is never too young to teach, nor too old to learn.



In the fall of 2002, dramatic events engulf three ninth graders (not the best of friends), their passionate Scottish headmaster, and an unlikely pair of escapees from a nearby prison. The inevitable collision of these forces demonstrates that age and experience have no monopoly on bravery or vulnerability. Only after superficial differences are peeled away can the teens summon the strength to find common ground to confront their frailties under the most trying conditions—lost in the snowy mountains with rescuers urgently trying to find them and the convicts desperately plotting to eliminate them.



A page-turning adventure set in wilderness that is as much a factor as the characters themselves, Ghosts of Glencoe entertains, educates, and illustrates how the mountaineering mantra—Fellowship of the Rope—embodies the imperative that if we don’t hang together, we will surely hang alone.

490 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[K. Jesel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man this was a long ride. 472 pages and I felt every one of them. The prologue starts it off with high intrigue, but it quickly falls off after that and doesn’t pick back up until almost 150 pages later. There’s SO much exposition with barely any interesting plot events in between. It felt like taking two steps forward, stopping for six hours, taking two more steps, stopping, and so on. I’ll give the author credit that he doesn’t do it all in one massive info-dump, but each chunk is still pretty sizable. By the time we get back to the plot, chances are you’ve forgotten what was happening and why that bit of backstory was relevant in the first place. Kills the pace. My other big complaint is a moral stance on how different characters are disciplined for different actions. Without going into spoilers, an absolute POS is barely slapped on the wrist for something inexcusable that they didn’t even fess up to, they had to be caught. But when another, genuinely good person makes a mistake (a big one, admittedly), fixes it best they can, and admits it, they get a severe punishment because “they can take it” whereas the other one couldn’t. It’s giving Brock Turner initially getting off on r@pe because “he had his whole life ahead of him.” My complaint isn’t that these events happen in the story, cuz bad things and complications are supposed to happen, that’s what makes a plot. My issue is that these decisions are framed as honorable, just. No one even challenges them. It really gave me the ick. Also quite a few editorial errors.
Otherwise, the setting Schwerin paints is stunning. The majesty of the Adirondacks was obviously a big inspiration for the story, and should be a big motivator for readers to pick up this book. Characters are complex and imperfect, and many of their arcs have touching, satisfying endings. High-tension, action-oriented scenes are written with surgical precision yet poetic prose.
This story has its strengths. It’s certainly worth a read if your preferences align. Mine just unfortunately didn’t.

[Annie Pisarello · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story in particularly enjoyable for locals in the Lake Placid, NY area, as it felt like the locations described were spot on. This is a tale of personal failure, and dealing with the consequences, for a student and the headmaster of the Glencoe School. It is a wilderness adventure with lost students and escaped convicts. All real risks of the North Country.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this. The number of climactic moments took away from the story a bit, and the dialogue was not great, but the story itself was intense and kept me turning the pages. Despite my criticisms I'd recommend it!

[Jocelen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this because of its setting - the Adirondacks. I am glad I read it, however, the character development felt cumbersome at times. I felt there was too much backstory detail and the plot didn’t move along quickly enough for me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this novel based on the school I went to as a student and taught at for my first two years out of college. I absolutely loved it. It had a dark underbelly that reminded me of Donna Tartt’s Secret History but mostly captured the light of a beautiful place on Earth, the Adirondack Mountains. This amazing school brought together a patchwork of people from all walks of life to learn, work, and play together. The different stories are woven together in an intricate plot that is a mystery, a love story, and an outdoor adventure meticulously told.