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Buffyverse Novels #24
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble
Something wicked has been preying on Sunnydale students -- and whatever it is, its methods are pretty gruesome. Buffy locates some human bones that have been picked clean, and knows that she's dealing with an unearthly evil. Some help from the Scooby Gang would be ideal, but they've run into trouble of their own. Oz and Xander are literally (perhaps unnaturally) mesmerized by a hottie new chick band headlining at the Bronze, and Willow has been captured by Sunnydale's latest resident carnivores. What they need is the Slayer. But in order to help her friends, Buffy must first dust a vampire -- one that has an urgent interest in Joyce Summers, the unique ability to resist sunlight, and an open invitation to the Summers' house...
239 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 15, 2002
10 people are currently reading
657 people want to read
About the author
John Passarella
37 books164 followersBram Stoker Award-Winning co-author of Wither (which has been moved to the J. G. Passarella profile. Also, I'm the author of Wither's Rain, Wither's Legacy, Kindred Spirit, Shimmer, Exit Strategy & Others (fiction collection), and the media tie-in novels: Supernatural: COLD FIRE (MAR 2016), Night Terror & Rite of Passage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble, Angel: Avatar & Monolith. Look for Grimm: The Chopping Block. My author website is Passarella.com
but I am also owner & web designer at AuthorPromo.com
but I am also owner & web designer at AuthorPromo.com
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 14, 2022
This is a good Buffy novel that's set with the cast and situations of the third season of the show. My expectations were a little low because the title is essentially a pun, usually not a good sign, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has two simultaneous storylines which are very deftly intertwined and keep the pace quick and upbeat. There's a new girl band at the Bronze that that seems to have some unnatural powers, particularly over the boys, while Buffy is meanwhile involved with opposing a new vampire with some extraordinary abilities. It's a quick, fun read.
July 9, 2019
Review to come.
November 7, 2011
While Ghoul Trouble is jam packed with plenty of Buffy-accurate fiends and festivities, I have one quite major problem with it: Faith. She is mentioned absolutely nowhere. Before the story even starts, there is a page that tells the reader that the novel ties in with season three of the television show. Season three is my absolute favourite season, so I know it pretty well. And judging by all of the events from the show that have been mentioned in the book to help the reader to establish the story's place in the Buffyverse, she should've definitely been there.
Read the rest of the review at my blog.
Read the rest of the review at my blog.
February 2, 2021
I liked this, I felt the characters were written fairly accurately to how they are in the show. There were two simultaneous storylines happening with two different villains, which never gets confusing at any point. If you like any of the Buffy novels, this is certainly one of the better one's I've read; just a fun, simple read.
December 31, 2017
Predictably good - felt like an episode (maybe even a two parter) - enjoyable for what it was.
July 14, 2016
Not the best but not the worst Buffy side novel! It definitely tried doing way to much for a side novel!
Longer review to come soon!
Longer review to come soon!
August 25, 2021
This was one of my favorites so far!
June 28, 2024
This particular Buffy novel was released in October of 2000, which if my memory is correct is the era in which I was still buying all the Buffy books (or, rather, having my parents buy me the books in exchange for a whole bunch of chores for weeks at a time), but I wasn't necessarily reading all of them when I got them. Because I think this is one I've had on my shelf since it came out in my 8th grade year, but this is my first time reading it.
If you note the publication date, then that probably raises some questions for you if you've read the book. Because the book came out in the early days of season 5, but based on the way the relationships are between the characters and the lack of any references to events in visual canon, one would assume the book was written before season 3 aired. References are made to the Xander/Cordelia breakup (which happened in 3x08 Lover's Walk and would have aired in November of 1998), but the *reasoning* behind that breakup is never mentioned and is actually heavily implied to have been a mutual thing caused by personality clashes between Xander and Cordelia. Giles' discomfiture with having Angel around due to Angelus having murdered Miss Calendar the semester before is not mentioned at all, and no mention is made of Faith who was a major player in season 3 by the time Lover's Walk occurs.
With all this is mind, I'm pretty sure this was a manuscript that was penned early in 1998 but got shelved for a couple of years before printing, and then they just didn't bother to rewrite any of it after the fact. This means it lies in the same space as a lot of early s03 tie-ins wherein the characters feel a bit OOC because they don't mesh emotionally with where their on-screen counterparts were at that section of the show. It's definitely not Passarella's fault and his work is by no means the only one to suffer from this trend, but any readers who like to parse where a tie-in story is supposed to fit into show canon should know that (event wise) it should be after Lover's Walk, but emotionally none of it fits.
As with the Christopher Golden novel Sins of the Father, this story is actually two smaller plots woven together that just happen to be occurring at the same time, but they never really overlap, and I feel that they were two separate ideas the author wrote together to make the story a decent length. On one hand, you have what appears to be a vampire named Solitaire who is a Daywalker. There is a good twist on this later on in the book, but it's one that doesn't feel quite as twisty as it should and wouldn't have even to people who read this back in 2000. In season 4 of the show, the gang is brought into the path of the Gem of Amarra, which allows a vampire to walk in daylight. While the issue with Solitaire isn't quite the same thing, viewers of the show would already have known that there are possible explanations to why Solitaire can do what he can do. I think this half of the story would have packed more a punch if it had actually come out during s3 and not after s4 had already given us a Daywalker story line.
The main story though (and the part where we get our title) is with a band called Vyxn, who I honestly kept picturing as The Hex Girls from Scooby Doo. And that part of the story was fun. I do think the Gang was being pretty slow about putting together the strangeness of boys' reaction to the band and the fact that ONLY boys went missing, but... I can't pretend that they weren't that slow in visual canon sometimes, too.
Can I just say that this strong point of this book was the horror writing itself. It was gory, it was disgusting, it was detailed. Perfect for getting visceral reactions out of me. I literally gagged at one description of what Willow was seeing and smelling when a ghoul was eating someone in front of her. Props to Passarella on his descriptive writing. THAT was definitely top-notch.
A fun little entry into the Buffy novel universe, even if it does have its flaws.
If you note the publication date, then that probably raises some questions for you if you've read the book. Because the book came out in the early days of season 5, but based on the way the relationships are between the characters and the lack of any references to events in visual canon, one would assume the book was written before season 3 aired. References are made to the Xander/Cordelia breakup (which happened in 3x08 Lover's Walk and would have aired in November of 1998), but the *reasoning* behind that breakup is never mentioned and is actually heavily implied to have been a mutual thing caused by personality clashes between Xander and Cordelia. Giles' discomfiture with having Angel around due to Angelus having murdered Miss Calendar the semester before is not mentioned at all, and no mention is made of Faith who was a major player in season 3 by the time Lover's Walk occurs.
With all this is mind, I'm pretty sure this was a manuscript that was penned early in 1998 but got shelved for a couple of years before printing, and then they just didn't bother to rewrite any of it after the fact. This means it lies in the same space as a lot of early s03 tie-ins wherein the characters feel a bit OOC because they don't mesh emotionally with where their on-screen counterparts were at that section of the show. It's definitely not Passarella's fault and his work is by no means the only one to suffer from this trend, but any readers who like to parse where a tie-in story is supposed to fit into show canon should know that (event wise) it should be after Lover's Walk, but emotionally none of it fits.
As with the Christopher Golden novel Sins of the Father, this story is actually two smaller plots woven together that just happen to be occurring at the same time, but they never really overlap, and I feel that they were two separate ideas the author wrote together to make the story a decent length. On one hand, you have what appears to be a vampire named Solitaire who is a Daywalker. There is a good twist on this later on in the book, but it's one that doesn't feel quite as twisty as it should and wouldn't have even to people who read this back in 2000. In season 4 of the show, the gang is brought into the path of the Gem of Amarra, which allows a vampire to walk in daylight. While the issue with Solitaire isn't quite the same thing, viewers of the show would already have known that there are possible explanations to why Solitaire can do what he can do. I think this half of the story would have packed more a punch if it had actually come out during s3 and not after s4 had already given us a Daywalker story line.
The main story though (and the part where we get our title) is with a band called Vyxn, who I honestly kept picturing as The Hex Girls from Scooby Doo. And that part of the story was fun. I do think the Gang was being pretty slow about putting together the strangeness of boys' reaction to the band and the fact that ONLY boys went missing, but... I can't pretend that they weren't that slow in visual canon sometimes, too.
Can I just say that this strong point of this book was the horror writing itself. It was gory, it was disgusting, it was detailed. Perfect for getting visceral reactions out of me. I literally gagged at one description of what Willow was seeing and smelling when a ghoul was eating someone in front of her. Props to Passarella on his descriptive writing. THAT was definitely top-notch.
A fun little entry into the Buffy novel universe, even if it does have its flaws.
November 14, 2022
This was a pretty fun Buffy adventure that for the most part felt like it could have been a missing adventure sometime in the history of the show. The characters felt right (except for a few Cordelia moments at the end that felt vapid even for her) and most of the events/consequences would have been the sorts that could have gone without being mentioned for the rest of the show except for one.
There's two separate demons giving Buffy trouble in this book. The first introduced is a daywalking vampire named Solitaire who is obsessed with doing combat with the greatest challengers he can find. He's a great idea for a bad guy and there's a twist involved at the end that I definitely saw coming a mile away that helps explain why he's a one note bad guy that would never be mentioned by the crew again. The title comes from a sexy girl band in town who are enrapturing all the boys of Sunnydale, Oz and Xander included. Their origin and abilities fit right in with this era of the show and I'm pretty surprised Buffy and Angel never opted for these classic monsters.
The one thing that happens in the book that would likely have caused repercussions in the show and been mentioned afterward was Willow getting abducted for a few days and her parents even calling the police. I think those sort of events would have resulted in some conflict with Willow continuing to be out at all hours of the night with Buffy for the rest of the season and changed her relationship with her parents accordingly.
This one was pretty close to a five star book except for that issue and it doesn't really add anything to the canon. My favorites of these books tend to add something to a character's history or develop a side character we saw in the show. Here we got some great action sequences and some Buffy school work drama but that's about it.
This one looks like it would fit in best in Season Three after Episode 10 but before episode 13. Oz and Willow are back together, Xander and Cordelia are not, there's no mention of Faith or Wesley and Angel is pretty well accepted with the group again.
There's two separate demons giving Buffy trouble in this book. The first introduced is a daywalking vampire named Solitaire who is obsessed with doing combat with the greatest challengers he can find. He's a great idea for a bad guy and there's a twist involved at the end that I definitely saw coming a mile away that helps explain why he's a one note bad guy that would never be mentioned by the crew again. The title comes from a sexy girl band in town who are enrapturing all the boys of Sunnydale, Oz and Xander included. Their origin and abilities fit right in with this era of the show and I'm pretty surprised Buffy and Angel never opted for these classic monsters.
The one thing that happens in the book that would likely have caused repercussions in the show and been mentioned afterward was Willow getting abducted for a few days and her parents even calling the police. I think those sort of events would have resulted in some conflict with Willow continuing to be out at all hours of the night with Buffy for the rest of the season and changed her relationship with her parents accordingly.
This one was pretty close to a five star book except for that issue and it doesn't really add anything to the canon. My favorites of these books tend to add something to a character's history or develop a side character we saw in the show. Here we got some great action sequences and some Buffy school work drama but that's about it.
This one looks like it would fit in best in Season Three after Episode 10 but before episode 13. Oz and Willow are back together, Xander and Cordelia are not, there's no mention of Faith or Wesley and Angel is pretty well accepted with the group again.
July 6, 2025
This one was a fun ride! It’s definitely got that “lost episode of Season 3” vibe, if you don’t think too hard about where it fits into the actual show timeline. The characters mostly feel like their TV selves (though Cordelia is written a little too one-note in parts), and the story is packed with creepy moments and solid monster-of-the-week action.
There are actually two main plots going on here: one involves a vampire named Solitaire who can walk in the daylight (which immediately raised Gem of Amarra flags for me), and the other is about a mysterious girl band called Vyxn who’s got all the guys in Sunnydale under their spell. Literally. Oz and Xander are completely out of it, and Willow ends up getting captured by some seriously gross ghouls. Like, gag-worthy gross. Props to the author for the horror descriptions; some scenes were genuinely disturbing in the best way.
I liked that the vibe stayed true to the show, even if it didn’t really feel like it had any major stakes (no pun intended). There’s some good action, some school-life drama, and plenty of supernatural weirdness. That said, nothing here really affects the larger Buffy universe, and there are a few moments (like Willow being missing for days) that would’ve had huge consequences on the show but are kind of brushed off here.
Still, it was entertaining. The twist with Solitaire was a little obvious, but it explained why he’s not some major Buffy villain. And the Vyxn storyline felt like it belonged in a Halloween episode (honestly, I kept picturing the Hex Girls from Scooby-Doo). I just wish the two plots connected a bit more instead of feeling like two separate novellas smashed together.
Bottom line: Not essential reading, but definitely worth checking out if you love the Buffy-verse and want more Scooby Gang adventures. Not quite a five-star hit, but a creepy, fast-paced read that delivers some good old-fashioned Hellmouth mayhem.
Would I recommend it?
Yep! For Buffy fans who don’t mind a few canon wobbles and want something spooky and fun.
There are actually two main plots going on here: one involves a vampire named Solitaire who can walk in the daylight (which immediately raised Gem of Amarra flags for me), and the other is about a mysterious girl band called Vyxn who’s got all the guys in Sunnydale under their spell. Literally. Oz and Xander are completely out of it, and Willow ends up getting captured by some seriously gross ghouls. Like, gag-worthy gross. Props to the author for the horror descriptions; some scenes were genuinely disturbing in the best way.
I liked that the vibe stayed true to the show, even if it didn’t really feel like it had any major stakes (no pun intended). There’s some good action, some school-life drama, and plenty of supernatural weirdness. That said, nothing here really affects the larger Buffy universe, and there are a few moments (like Willow being missing for days) that would’ve had huge consequences on the show but are kind of brushed off here.
Still, it was entertaining. The twist with Solitaire was a little obvious, but it explained why he’s not some major Buffy villain. And the Vyxn storyline felt like it belonged in a Halloween episode (honestly, I kept picturing the Hex Girls from Scooby-Doo). I just wish the two plots connected a bit more instead of feeling like two separate novellas smashed together.
Bottom line: Not essential reading, but definitely worth checking out if you love the Buffy-verse and want more Scooby Gang adventures. Not quite a five-star hit, but a creepy, fast-paced read that delivers some good old-fashioned Hellmouth mayhem.
Would I recommend it?
Yep! For Buffy fans who don’t mind a few canon wobbles and want something spooky and fun.
June 3, 2024
It wasn't necessarily bad, but nothing really jumped out as being particularly enjoyable. I feel like it should have been incredibly obvious to the Scooby Gang that the new flesh-eating monster was probably related to the new girl band everyone is obsessed with.
Also it felt like there maybe didn't need to be two different unconnected villains happening at once?
But at least it avoided most of the cringe worthy dialogue some of the Buffy novels are guilty of.
Also it felt like there maybe didn't need to be two different unconnected villains happening at once?
But at least it avoided most of the cringe worthy dialogue some of the Buffy novels are guilty of.
October 22, 2019
A new band,called Vyxn, is in town playing at The Bronze. It's an all girl band who have the boys mesmerized. They are actually ghouls who eat human flesh. Buffy is busy with a new vamp who calls himself Solitaire and can walk in the sunlight. Filled with action again; looking forward to having these Buffy books done but still have a whole shelf full!
May 9, 2017
Good book. It was like two Buffy episodes in one. Quick and easy read. Recommended to any Buffy fan. While Cordelia isn't a main character in this book, she steals every scene she is in. The author gets the character's witty dialogue perfect!
July 11, 2017
I love Buffy the vampire slayer the series so I thought I'd give the books a try, this book is very well written but didn't have the best story line apart from that I loved it and was a reasonably quick read
August 15, 2017
Buffy and the Scoobs fight ghouls and a vampire looking for a fight. Set during season 3, the author did a really good job capturing the characters
February 25, 2019
Standard Buffy novel fare
May 18, 2024
Really liked this. If Scooby Doo’s Hex Girls went bad!
November 11, 2024
Incredibly well written, it felt like I was watching the show.
August 6, 2013
Another enjoyable Buffy novel. This time with Ghouls and a vampire immune to sunlight who decides to take on the slayer. It was loads and fun and a good easy read. If you like the tv show you are bound to like the book.
The only thing I did notice that though this was set in mid season 3, after Willow/Xander got caught cheating on Oz/Cordelia respectively in Lover's Walk the author did not seem to remember this and made an obscure reference about Xander not thinking Willow was pretty because he never said it. This seemed a bit of a strange thing to say at this point though Xander broke up with Cordelia, Willow and Oz got back together and Willow for a while did not like talking with Xander about such things as she was back with Oz. Small niggle but sometimes enough to know that perhaps the author does not completely watch the show.
Other things held up though, like the reference to the Order of Taraka which was mid season 2 double bill (what's my line) and the references to having to revoke the invitation for Angel after he went evil at the end of Season 2 and also the awardkness between Buffy and the group and Angel since his return from hell in the season 2 finale.
The only thing I did notice that though this was set in mid season 3, after Willow/Xander got caught cheating on Oz/Cordelia respectively in Lover's Walk the author did not seem to remember this and made an obscure reference about Xander not thinking Willow was pretty because he never said it. This seemed a bit of a strange thing to say at this point though Xander broke up with Cordelia, Willow and Oz got back together and Willow for a while did not like talking with Xander about such things as she was back with Oz. Small niggle but sometimes enough to know that perhaps the author does not completely watch the show.
Other things held up though, like the reference to the Order of Taraka which was mid season 2 double bill (what's my line) and the references to having to revoke the invitation for Angel after he went evil at the end of Season 2 and also the awardkness between Buffy and the group and Angel since his return from hell in the season 2 finale.
January 19, 2011
Buffy The Vampire Slayer was so much better on the telly instead of the books. Yes, I know they say that the book is better than the movie or the telly show, but in this case; the Tvee show was way better. The book I recommend it to those who likes to collect -like me- and those who prefer a movie, well, you'll love the show.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
Read
March 14, 2012this book was very cool. i couldn't put it down.
December 23, 2011
It took me a little bit to get into the story, but overall it was a good book.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews