Spooked

by Antony Johnston, Sophie Campbell

Emily Spook's reputation in the indy art scene is growing. Her paintings have a devoted following and the ranks of that group continue to swell more every day. Emily should be thrilled but instead she's terrified. You see, ever since she was a young girl, Emily has been somewhat of a hostel for ghosts. Visitors from the ether would drop in for a few days or a month or even years and from those specters Emily would draw inspiration. But lately the ghosts have disappeared, leaving Emily alone and unable to touch a canvas. When Simon's consciousness first shows up inside Emily's skull she's relieved, but before long she's fallen into the same web of mystics and murder that ended Simon's life. Can the unlikely pair discover the truth about Simon's gruesome death or will Emily join the spirits she's played host to all these years?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

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Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.

The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.

Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.

His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.

Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.

Reviews

[melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't really get into this. Gave it to mostly through Chapter 2 before giving up.

[Joci ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was nice and very interesting

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fucking YAAASSS! Wanted this for ages. Done before Wet Moon, this is Ross Campbell in art only, yet the story is robust and complements the artwork brilliantly. It speaks well to the match, that it reads seamlessly. Really enjoyable story about a goth artist in London who gets her head inhabited by the ghost of a magician (by night, accountant by day). There then follows a preternatural murder mystery hunt, queue eviscerations. The artwork's gorgeous, obviously, and I like that it works in the British setting too, not looking too American somehow. Because it's his older stuff it's more of the stuff I like, and I just wanted to pour over it. It's set up as the first volume of a series but was not continued, for reasons I can't find. Disappointing as it was promising but it might just have been too wee. It's certainly taken me this long to put my hands to a copy and I am a dedicated Campbell fan. Well worth reading though if you can put your mitts to it. But your not getting my copy, 'cause that's mine!

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting plot-line. Goth artist emily spook gets her inspiration from ghosts that inhabit her mind. Her lastest ghost visitor is a magician who was murdered and who leads her into an occult mystery. The ending was a little anti-climatic but the art was beautiful and the first part of the story was quite intriguing.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this some time ago, before I was on GoodReads.

This book is a story about a young goth woman who is connected to the spirit/ghost world. I liked the art a lot and the story was good too.

[Nura · Rating 3 out of 5]

ugh... hate the font type. and hate the ending, too. but i want to read the next volume if there is one.

[James Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story premise interesting though simple. Plot went where expected, ending was a bit of a letdown. Johnston's writing suits the atmospheric art, but on the whole not a book to read twice.