The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road

Gulf Coast Paranormal #1

by M.L. Bullock

On the Gulf Coast, Things Don’t Just Go Bump in the NightThey Terrorize You and Sometimes You Disappear!The paranormal investigators at Gulf Coast Paranormal thought they knew what they were doing. Midas, Sierra, Sara, Josh and Peter had over twenty combined years of experience investigating supernatural activity on the Gulf Coast. But when they meet Cassidy, a young artist with a strange gift, they realize there’s more to learn. And time is running out for Cassidy.

When Gulf Coast Paranormal begins investigating the ghosts of Kali Oka Road, they find an entity far scarier than a few ghosts. Add in the deserted Oak Grove Plantation, and you have a recipe for a night of terror.

Ready to go ghost hunting? You’ll enjoy this supernatural suspense novel, the first in the Gulf Coast Paranormal series.

GULF COAST PARANORMAL Season One (featuring Midas, Cassidy and Sierra)#1 The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road#2 The Ghosts of the Crescent Theater#3 A Haunting on Bloodgood Row#4 The Legend of the Ghost Queen#5 A Haunting at Dixie House#6 The Ghost Lights of Forrest Field#7 The Ghost of Gabrielle Bonet#8 The Ghost of Harrington Farm#9 The Creature on Crenshaw Road#10 A Ghostly Ride in Gulfport#11 The Maelstrom of the Leaf Academy#12 The Ghosts of Phoenix No 7#13 The Ghosts of Oakleigh House#14 The Spirits of Brady Hall#15 The Gray Lady of WilmerBonus The October People (A Gulf Coast Paranormal Extra)GULF COAST PARANORMAL TRILOGY#1 Ghosted#2 Haunted#3 Spooked#4 Dead#5 ParanormalGulf Coast Paranormal Season One Boxed SetGULF COAST PARANORMAL SEASON TWO (featuring Sierra and Joshua)#1 The Wayland Manor Haunting#2 The Beast of Limerick House#3 The Haunting at Goliath Cave#4 The Skeleton’s Key#5 Death Among the Roses#6 The Spiritus MirrorBonus Horror Ever After (A Gulf Coast Paranormal Extra)BY MONICA BULLOCKDelivered Me From Evil

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Ghosts, Mystery, Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2017

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paranormal

This is the story of a young woman trying to understand her younger sister's disappearance. She enlists the help of an investigative team to determine the meaning of the strange visions she's been having. This fell a little flat for me.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin]

DNF! Well, I’m starting Halloween month out great!!





Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Gulf Coast Paranormal Series. I received both the first and second books free in exchange for honest reviews. I’m committed to reading both books which is fine with me. This first novel was unremarkable and has a very modern aesthetic with the whole ghost hunter backdrop. Interesting story, although I’m not loving the technique of each chapter told in first person, by disparate characters. It really makes it difficult to get to know the characters with any degree of depth, making all the characters seem very “one note” (as you would find in a horror movie.) You would think that first-person storytelling would enhance an intimate connection between reader and writer, but sometimes it has the opposite effect (as it does here.) The main protagonist is an artist with the ability to channel visions and then paint what she sees on a canvas. Interesting, quick read, that never lags on exposition, but as a consequence sacrifices story for pace. I don’t know if that was wise. We shall see. This was more mystery than horror, but I didn't feel very much horror at all, and the mystery wasn't anywhere near enigmatic enough. This was a middle of the road 3 stars for me.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a perfect book, but man did I have fun reading it. The story opens with two high school kids parking on Kali Oka Road to make out. Instead, they end up having a fight. The girl jumps out of the car and the boy threatens to leave her. Then something terrible and seemingly supernatural happens and the girl’s wrist is suddenly dropped near her boyfriend followed quickly by her severed head. Panicking, as anyone would, the boy actually does the right thing—he races to the police with his story and ends up in psychiatric observation. No sign of the girl (or her severed body parts) are discovered and the young man spends the rest of his life under suspicion of having murdered her. But we know he didn’t—and he wants answers to what happened and the supernatural things he saw the night she died.

Enter Cassidy, a wealthy young woman who is haunted by the disappearance of her sister, and who is occasionally driven to paint her visions. This time when she paints a mansion in her dreams, she starts to experience what happened to a woman nearly two centuries ago. Her vision drives her to seek out a semi-professional group of ghost hunters calling themselves Gulf Coast Paranormal who are actually already looking into the mansion—which was on the road where the young girl was murdered in the first chapter.

Everyone in this story, the high school sweethearts, Cassidy and her ex-boyfriend, the two co-owners of Gulf Coast Paranormal, and most importantly, the ghosts on Kali Oka Road are having major relationship problems. I predicted this would be the key to solving the supernatural mystery but you’ll have to read the book to find out if I was right. What we definitely get is a supernatural problem that pulled me right in and kept me happy for every page of the novel. As I said in my opening statement, the story isn’t perfect. Everything isn’t tied together with a nice little bow and that means that I didn’t learn enough about a couple elements of the mystery, but I loved what M. L. Bullock gave me. The characters were fantastic and believable and the tensions their personalities generated really boosted the story. In addition, the supernatural elements really worked for me. And there are enough threads—plot lines not tied to the primary mystery—to have me eager to dive into the next novel.

This is going to be a great series.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[C. McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always skeptical about ghost stories, but this one pulled me in from the beginning and kept me reading. I couldn't help but be fearful for Cassidy, the artist who is drawn into the ghostly history by her paintings. I was relieved when Midas arrived and helped her with his ghost-hunting skills.

I was a bit let down by the ending, but I could overlook that because the author did wrap up the initial mystery of Ranger and Melissa and promised more tales with Cassidy and Midas at their center. One thing for sure is that I'd like to find out what happened to Cassidy's sister.

All in all, a good, quick, and entertaining read.

[Kay*FindMeInThePages* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short read that could/should be increased to flesh out the characters and abrupt ending. Could use an editor. That being said, I did enjoy the story and setting.

[Stormi (StormReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this was interesting I think it could have been so much better if it would have been longer as it just undone.

It starts out with a death of a young woman and how Ranger the guy she was with is accused of her murder though he swears it was something else that got her.

This is told in more than one POV and I am not really sure it’s a story that really needed that but there is Cassidy a young woman who has been haunted by her sister’s disappearance a long time ago. She also has visions of things when she sleeps and when she gets up she has to paint them or it pretty much drives her a bit crazy. She sees scenes from the past about Kali Oka Road and a plantation there and things that happened a long time ago. Soon it seems that she doesn’t even have to be sleeping to have these visions.

She learns about a Paranormal investigator group and decides to check out one of their meetings, but then leaves before she talks to them. Midas sees her leave and he is the other POV in the story. Midas is the cofounder of the group and gets Cassidy to talk to him and he is very intrigued with what she has to say because they are going to be investigating Kali Oka Road.

Midas is looking into Kali Oka Road because Ranger who is now dying of cancer wants to find out what really happened to his girlfriend before he dies.

So it’s a sort read and I really feel like if I say to much more I might spoil things in case you want to check it out for yourself.

This is really just a mediocre read and really felt like it could benefit from being about 50 to 75 pages longer as I was really unsatisfied with the ending. It seemed really rushed and instead of finding out what happened there years ago we are just simply told in the the wrap up of the story. I was expecting a scary kind of horror read and I didn’t get any of that so I was disappointed. I think this could have been a really cool read but just fell flat. I can’t even explain why without spoiling so, just take my word for it. I am sure there are better ghost stories out there.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this book because it is based on local lore and real places in my hometown. I grew up with all the urban legends associated with Kali Oka Road, some are covered here and some aren't, There are many so the author chose selectively which would be the basis of this tale. As a teenager I avoided Kali Oka Road (I still do) and fortunately I rarely had occasion to travel that part of town. This starts in 1983 with a scary event and goes to present day and a young woman's supernatural experience taking her back to another century in the past. She finds her way to a Gulf Coast Paranormal meeting seeking answers to what is happening. I enjoyed it but I didn't feel the ending was complete. It leaves us with some unanswered questions and seemed a little rushed in the wrapping up of the ghost story. Perhaps we will get more answers as this series goes along. I do think it has potential and I will read more because it is fun reading for me.

[Dorota Winch · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. From a ghost story, I expected it to be scary and eerie. It was none of this, and rather disappointing.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassidy's sister disappeared years ago and she wants her found and to get answers. She also has a bizarre experience - a compulsion to paint a scene from somewhere she has never been with a woman she doesn't know from the past, as well as a black owl that seems supernatural. Then her path crosses those of a man from a local paranormal society. She is soon caught up in an investigation of the place from her painting. Suspenseful and interesting. Really enjoyed

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining paranormal listening 🎧🤔🎉🎎🤗

This kindle e-book novel is free from Amazon book 1 of 15

Clara joins the Gulf Coast team in the search for the missing young girl. They do all the right things leading to closure leading to the truth.

I would recommend this series and author to readers of paranormal fantasy world 🌎 family and friends relationships novels. 2024

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

1. I'm not saying this book was poorly written; it actually wasn't bad. 2. I'm not saying that the storyline was poor either.--The problems, however, are so monumental that I can't justify giving it any higher than 2 stars (or, in my rating scale, a C-)

The story bounces between Midas and Cassidy, for the most part. There are other areas where the main person is someone else, but it's mostly those two. Cassidy is a painter who has strange dreams; once she has these very vivid dreams, she has to paint what she remembers, no matter how long it takes. She paints for so long that she is late for work and the book starts out with Cassidy getting fired. When the power goes out in her building, she is forced to go to the local laundromat to wash her clothes. While there, she sees a flyer for Gulf Coast Paranormal; they are a local group that runs a non-profit organization in order to help people who've experienced hauntings or anything like that. The worker at the laundromat points at that flyer and says that the group is "legit."

She ends up going to the meeting and the hunt begins. The painting that Cassidy had been painting the day she was fired happens to involve the next case of GCP and she's invited to see if she can identify anything that the others cannot.

Basically, I'll give you the story arc of this book...or novella. It was very short, so I find it hard calling it a book. Basically, you have all this rising action and intrigue happen and the falling action, which is supposed to be a steeper fall than the rising action, ends up being a straight fall off a cliff. What I'm trying to say is that it had way more story to tell, but the author decided to wrap it up nicely with a pretty bow... I was more like someone wrapped the present perfectly, hit it a few times with a hammer, and then presented the remnants to you. It was a horrendous ending and that's why I will not be continuing the series. All of the books are short and, by deduction, I can tell this may be a pattern with this particular author.

So, as said above, this book will be getting a C- from me and, honestly, I think I'm being generous with that grade.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A predictable, non-scary book. Abrupt ending with too many unanswered questions.

This very short, quick-read, ghost story is set in Alabama in three time periods—1983, 1858, and current year—and presents readers with four POVs and flashbacks.

The not-scary storyline, which features stereotypical ghost hunters, reads as though written for the YA market. The author emphasizes the teacher-protagonist’s age as twenty-four, but she seems to be much younger—as though not yet out of her teens.

The rushed ending is unsatisfying and incomplete, leaving many unanswered questions.

2.5 stars

[❀ Crystal ✿ - PEACE ☮ LOVE ♥ BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fast but well done audio read. Heroine Cassidy has been searching for her missing sister for years and has had no luck. Her hunt for answers leads her to a paranormal investigation group. Seems Cassidy has been receiving visions in her sleep and she interprets it all via art. Luckily the group of investigators are looking into some local folk lore that just so happens to match up to Cassidy's dreams. The book slowly introduces Cassidy to the group but also shows how invaluable she will be as part of the team. Her talents offer insight that no one else knows and surely helped solve the mystery of the ghosts of Kali Road. Super short and to the point but worked at delivering the start to a paranormal series!

[Barbara Langlois · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book is a rich history based haunting. I loved how she weaved the story to bring you into it. Very well written. A short but enticing respite from the real world. Spoiler don't start reading this til you can read it all the way through.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are quick and decent..

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't for me, I'm afraid. I enjoy a "touch" of the paranormal at times as I can believe in that but it heads off into fantasyland in this book, sadly. Got far too unbelievable for me at 39%. If I need to suspend belief I need to suspend reading !!
I didn't really understand why Ranger was so upset over Melissa still decades into his life when she'd behaved like the perfect little bitch the last night he saw her !! Then, that he'd only revisit the scene for the first time (which was 20 minutes' drive away) in 35 years !!! He also described a gown an apparition was wearing as antebellum-style......THAT thought was in no way ever going to pop into some redblooded teenage boy's vocabulary. I've known many in my time, trust me !!
There were no mistakes so it earned an extra star for that-always impressive-but it's too YA-styled and fantastical for me.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ✨

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supernatural

Supernatural occurrences. Cassidy joins the GCP to solve mysteries. Enjoyed the characters and the story. But did not see good closure at the end.

[Lily (Night Owl Book Cafe) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Night Owl Book Cafe

[Rachel Bullock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I waited until I had finished all eight (so far, there’s a 9th one coming out soon and who knows how many more after that) books in this series before writing this review. Instead of reviewing every one individually, I’m just going to review the entire series.

The reason I started this series is because I got the first book free from a Bookbub email. After I finished it, I’ll admit I was curious about what happened next. I went to Amazon and noticed I had a free month of Kindle Unlimited, so I got the next book. And then the next, and the next. I kept going until I found myself at the end of the series. I never found out much of anything.

There’s lots of problems with the series. The books are very short. Seriously fully 12-15% of each book is “sneak peeks” of other books the author has written. Not that short book are necessarily a problem, but in this case it’s partly because the author hasn’t taken the time to flesh out her characters. They’re very one dimensional and flat. Each book solves the actual “investigation” (mostly), but other questions are left unanswered and not mentioned ever again. Some things just aren’t believable and are too convenient. And I’m not talking the paranormal stuff! I’m talking characters are brought in to fill places on the team who just happen along and fit right in with no real backstory on where they came from. A few times ghosts resemble main characters so much that the other characters mistake them for each other. But why? We never find out. Several times things happen and they’re made to seem oh so important but really don’t impact the story at all and are dropped with no further discussion. For instance, in one book, a big deal is made because a main character keeps getting phone calls from their ex but he puts the phone on silent and blocks the number. We never find out what the ex wanted. That was a missed opportunity for drama and storyline! There’s several instances of this over the series.

The books are written in first person from different characters’ points of view, but I don’t see why. It doesn’t make them seem any more “real”. It doesn’t move the story along any better. It doesn’t help the reader (me, at least) feel closer to them. Also, not every character gets a turn. So we miss out on some points of view.

All of that said, I gave most of the books 3 stars because they’re not unenjoyable. Obviously others are reading them because the series doesn’t appear to have an ending in sight. I just think there could have been so much more to them!

Give the first book a chance. If you like the style keep going. Just keep in mind if you do decide to keep going, nothing is going to change. You won’t get any real answers, you’ll just keep getting cookie cutter stories (literally, each starts out with the history of the case they’re investigating) with predictable yet unsatisfying endings and lots of unanswered questions.

[Amy Ingraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Description: On the Gulf Coast, Things Don’t Just Go Bump in the Night They Terrorize You and Sometimes You Disappear!

The paranormal investigators at Gulf Coast Paranormal thought they knew what they were doing. Midas, Sierra, Sara, Josh, and Peter had over twenty combined years of experience investigating supernatural activity on the Gulf Coast. But when they meet Cassidy, a young artist with a strange gift, they realize there’s more to learn. And time is running out for Cassidy.

When Gulf Coast Paranormal begins investigating the ghosts of Kali Oka Road, they find an entity far scarier than a few ghosts. Add in the deserted Oak Grove Plantation, and you have a recipe for a night of terror.

Ready to go ghost hunting? You’ll enjoy this supernatural suspense novel, the first in the Gulf Coast Paranormal series.

This is Book One of the Gulf Coast Paranormal Series.

I have read M.L. Bullock before, but have not read this series.

I loved the setup done for the main characters of the book.

ML Bullock took the time to explain the current Paranormal team AND the background story for Cassidy.
When they meet and start to work together it makes sense.

I like this when reading, it also helps you connect to the characters in the story.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to complete this story. Cassidy's story is very sad. Her parents are dead. Her mother died after delivering her baby sister. Her father died later on and her sister disappeared as a teen. This is why Cassidy returned to Mobile, AL.

My sister and mother are no longer with me and I try very hard not to go down this road.

She enlists the help of the team to help her with her sister when she discovers her gift OR rather her "gift" grows more!

They discover they can use her!

She paints what comes into her head and the pictures are usually of what is happening in the story.

A little scary to me! Especially when she touches them and she is suddenly inside the story, living it!

I can't wait to see how she "grows" with this gift!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT

I can't even tell you how much I loved this book! I'm a true horror/suspense junkie and M.L. Bullock is right up there with the best of them! I hate giving spoilers, so I wont. But I can guarantee The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road will keep you up late turning pages like a madman (it did me). I loved the characters and felt a real connection with them. The storyline was exciting and unpredictable. I can't wait for the next Gulf Coast Paranormal Book.

[Erth · Rating 4 out of 5]

now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite a fun read... there's a little horror and a bit of ghostliness but it didn't feel too spooky - which is good for me, as I tend to have nightmares if I read anything very disturbing.
I will be looking out for more in this series to read when I'm ready for a little bit of scariness :).

[Dagmar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book i have read by M.L.Bullock. The characters are very realistic and the kind of paranormal ability that main character has, grabbed my attention from the beginning. Short but very smooth flow to the story. I enjoyed it very much.

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kali Oka Road and the old Oak Grove Plantation have long been rumored to be haunted. No one knows that better than Ranger Shaw. The story begins in the past, when a teenage Ranger takes his girlfriend, Melissa, to Kali Oka Road. They get into an argument, Melissa storms off, and Ranger never sees her again...at least, he never sees her in one piece again.

Now in present day, Cassidy awakens from an odd dream and feels compelled to paint what she saw. Her strange vision leads her to the GCP team, where they are about to embark on an investigation of Kali Oka Road, at the request of Ranger Shaw, who has terminal cancer. He wants to know what happened to Melissa before he dies. Armed with research, equipment, and Cassidy's visions, the team begins to unravel the mystery of Kali Oka Road.

This was creepy and fast paced and fun. I was reluctant to put it aside, although I managed it. The story did switch povs, from Ranger's third-person pov to first-person pov from either Cassidy or Midas' perspective. As a result, I got a good feel for Cassidy and Midas, more so than the rest of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but...

Spoilers!
- The ending was quite anticlimactic. I was gearing up for a frightening finish, but it just sort of ended.
- There were so many things left unanswered! What really happened to Melissa? We know she died, but why was her body never found? Why wasn't her head? When the hell did Beau do what he did? What became of Aurelia and the baby? How about Hattie? Since Hattie should have died some time in the past, why was her avatar still terrorizing people in the present? Why did it choose to pick on Melissa and Ranger?
- I'm going on record as saying I don't like having two characters with such similar names: Sara and Sierra. It was a tad confusing.

I really did love this story, in spite of the things I found vexing. I have several more of these books on my Kindle, and I'm looking forward to reading them. I would have given this five stars, but the aggravations knock one off the score.

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only purchased this book as there was a special deal on the second one in the series so thought I would be as well reading this one first. This is the beauty of e-book reading you can try new authors without a massive outlay as, lets face it, feeding a reading habit is NOT cheap.

Told from the perspective of several different people each one is given their own chapter. The real problem starts with the voice of each character, they all read more or less the same so I had to check a couple of times to make sure who was narrating the section. This is less of a problem than you would first think as much of the book is dialogue driven and the pace is so fast you are at the end before you really know it. This is helped by it being such a short read, more of a longform novella than a novel in it's own right which does make me wary of paying for further episodes in the series.

The tale of a haunting at the plantation house and it's surrounding lanes and woods is a good one and the denouement was actually really satisfying and not the way I thought the book was going (which is always a plus). The characters of Midas and Cassidy are well drawn and sympathetic but others, such as Sara are a little too stereotypical for my preference. Josh, Sierra and Pete and almost wraiths themselves but maybe they will come more to the fore in later endeavours.

Good tale, told adequately and a quick read that is not as easy to put down as I would have assumed. A good solid 3.5 Stars really, but I round down!

[Courtney Pyrchalla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassidy is a young 24-year-old woman who has survived through her mother dying and her sister disappearing for four years. Cassidy also has a peculiar gift. Spirits try to communicate with her, through visions of sort and she is able to portray what she sees through her paintings. Recently a horrible situation at the Kali Oka Road plantation has been plaguing her. Images a black owl, a tall dark man and a pure white, ghostly woman have been surfacing. While these images are invading her personal life, she runs into Josh at a laundromat. Josh is part of a group the Gulf Coast Paranormal Investigators. This group of people help others decipher and figure out their paranormal experiences. After attending a meeting, Cassidy runs into Midas, the handsome leader of the pack. Convincing her to help them out with the same case she has been having images of, they are able to figure out exactly what has been haunting Kali Oka Road.

This book was quite the little treat. I found it on Scribd while I was looking for some Halloween-esque books to listen to. It is short, only four hours or so, but it does not waste any time. Cassidy is plagued by these visions and it is very interesting. Midas has his own problems as well, especially dealing with his ex who is still in the investigation team. My only complaint is that I was not quite sure what happened with the owl, and that Cassidy seems somewhat whiny. Other than that I am excited to listen to the next book and see what happens!

[Sunshine✰✰✰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a bit cheesier that I was expecting, but besides that, I felt it could of been a lot better had it been longer and more fleshed out.

Cassidy has dreams/visions and then feels a strong urge to paint them. She finds a flyer for the Gulf Coast Paranormal and decides to check them out. Turns out they are starting an investigation into a haunting which is the same one that she just painted. Kali Oka Road is haunted by 2 ghosts and a creature. The story starts with a girl being killed by the creature. Years later a man still isn't over the death of his girlfriend and hires GCP to find out what really happened and bring him closure.

The ending was too neat. The ghost is totally satisfied with hearing a recording and goes away? What about the other ghost and the creature? They were the "bad guys" and I highly doubt they would just.. leave. Then there was the old man who goes to the property and is murdered. It's wrapped up as a jealous spouse. That had nothing to do with the haunting and didn't add anything to the story. We never find out what Cassidy's ex wanted. Maybe that story line will continue into the next book.

I think I will try book 2 and see if it picks up, but I have read better Paranormal Investigation books.