20th Century Ghosts, Volume 2

by Joe Hill, David LeDoux (Narrator)

John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected ...but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead...Meet John, and half a dozen more, in the second part of one of the most praised collections this century. 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS is irresistible, addictive fun, showcasing a dazzling new talent.
Stories: The Black Phone, In the Rundown, The Cape, Last Breath, Dead-Wood, The Widow's Breakfast, Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead, My Father's Mask, Voluntary Committal, Scheherezade's Typewriter

7 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Joe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.

He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.

He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.

Reviews

[Jerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story collections (horror specifically) are as essential to my existence as the air I breathe. I often find I have to read many stories to find a handful of truly good stories. When 20th Century Ghosts was published some ten years ago, I read it due to genre only. I remember enjoying many of the stories but nothing specific. I filed the collection away and carried on with my horror obsession. Over the years, I would suddenly think about a story that just wouldn't let me go, that of Button Boy. Although I often searched, I eventually faced the disappointing conclusion that I was never going to find this disturbing story again.

Fast forward to 2018... I have known for awhile now that Joe Hill is the son of my very favorite author, Stephen King. I have enjoyed many of his novels, especially NOS4A2 and came across 20th Century Ghosts once again. My 2018 obsession is proving to be reliving my favorite novels in audio book form. Naturally I had to give 20th Century Ghosts another shot. I have to say, I was beyond delighted when I started listening to the first story, Best New Horror. THERE was my elusive Button Boy, a story within a story! I had so much fun listening to this collection again, this time with the added knowledge of the link to King.

When I first read and reviewed 20th Century Ghosts, I gave it a 4 star. For two reasons, the audio version deserves 5 stars. One - there is an additional story in the acknowledgements! OK to be honest, I just went back to my physical copy and yes it was there. I don't tend to read acknowledgements except for a select few authors so I missed it the first time around. I will continue to claim it as reason because it was still new to me. Two - the narrator David Ledoux does an exceptional job. His characterizations were great and never left me wondering which character was speaking . (A problem I have with many narrators.) There were a couple of stories that didn't appeal to me but the narration made them enjoyable still. Ledoux does such a wonderful job that I will be seeking out more audio books narrated by him.