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Ghost Town
Brilliant but burned out CIA operative Richard Hart has a midlife crisis. He wants out of the intelligence game for good. But he can’t resist his last and only opportunity to meet the legendary V.M. Moodbain, a grand CIA Chessmaster, who will do anything to keep him engaged.
When Moodbain does not show up for their rendezvous at the appointed time, Hart realizes he has been set up as a pawn in a dangerous cat and mouse game. He finds himself trapped in a desert ghost town in a military experiment gone wrong, 100 years in the past. And there is no way out.
Hunted by ghost riders and desperadoes, Hart must quickly identify what is real, or he will be confined forever to a living nightmare with the spirits of the past.
When Moodbain does not show up for their rendezvous at the appointed time, Hart realizes he has been set up as a pawn in a dangerous cat and mouse game. He finds himself trapped in a desert ghost town in a military experiment gone wrong, 100 years in the past. And there is no way out.
Hunted by ghost riders and desperadoes, Hart must quickly identify what is real, or he will be confined forever to a living nightmare with the spirits of the past.
450 pages, ebook
First published June 13, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 10, 2020
... I am not sure what I just read, but it was not what I was expecting. It was far darker than I thought it would be, I did not like the sexual violence at all. I thought there would be more ghosts and not a random experiment. It was also confusing because it would jump around and I think there was a bit too much extraneous information. Parts of it were interesting, but on the whole this was not for me and I might not be the target audience.
April 12, 2021
Not enough action
The book promised a time travel adventure, but most of it's almost 450 pages are spent on reflection of the main character's life. This makes the story drag. Instead of a fast-paced adventure, the tale was painfully tedious.
The book promised a time travel adventure, but most of it's almost 450 pages are spent on reflection of the main character's life. This makes the story drag. Instead of a fast-paced adventure, the tale was painfully tedious.
September 27, 2021
Reviewed by Amy Lignor for Reader Views (09/2021)
Except for a movie made a decade ago, starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, I had never really read or understood what sci-fi/paranormal would have in common with the western genre. In the movie entitled “Cowboys & Aliens,” a spaceship arrived in Arizona in 1873, to take over the Earth. Landing in the Wild West, only a posse of cowboys and natives stand in the aliens’ way, intent on not allowing them to reach their goal. This book, however, is a whole different ballgame, people. And for what it’s worth, it was not only entertaining, but it also gave me a whole new feeling about just how the paranormal can enhance and excite westerns… and the other way around.
Here, readers are introduced to an uber-intelligent CIA operative by the name of Richard Hart. Even though the man’s brain is top notch, he is basically burned out from the job and finds himself locked in a mid-life crisis. There’s nothing more he wants than to get out of it all and leave the CIA far behind him. However, his desire to meet and go up against a true legend is something he simply can’t stop.
V.M. Moodbain is a CIA Chess Master, to say the least. His ego is large and he will do absolutely everything to find and then keep the once ace CIA agent, Richard Hart, in his little game so that he can defeat him.
But when the legend is a no-show at an appointed rendezvous spot, at an appointed time, Richard suddenly knows that he has been set up in a cat-and-mouse game that Moodbain has to be behind. What’s amazing is that Richard is soon trapped in a desert ghost town, 100 years in the past, where a military experiment went wrong. With no escape, Richard must call upon that stellar brain of his in order to survive. While being the prey of ghost riders and desperadoes, he has little time to identify what is part of his true reality and what is nothing more than some nightmare. This mind-bender, to say the least, offers Richard a hideous fate: If he does not figure all this out soon, he will be left to live with the ghosts and darkness of the past, never to be seen again.
Speculative fiction is the term best used here, and a term that all readers should keep in mind when ‘cracking open the cover’ of this one. A solid mystery, the author makes sure that the reader is not privileged enough to receive all parts of the storyline clearly. You will learn, right along with Richard Hart, what is actually going on. What you believe is a delusion or an illusion can instantly turn into real life in this book…and the other way around. Both the present and the past transform throughout the pages, and the characters ‘float’ in and out at a moment’s notice.
In the end, this labyrinth is for those who wish to find their way through a spectacular maze, and I am definitely one of those. 5 Stars!
Except for a movie made a decade ago, starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, I had never really read or understood what sci-fi/paranormal would have in common with the western genre. In the movie entitled “Cowboys & Aliens,” a spaceship arrived in Arizona in 1873, to take over the Earth. Landing in the Wild West, only a posse of cowboys and natives stand in the aliens’ way, intent on not allowing them to reach their goal. This book, however, is a whole different ballgame, people. And for what it’s worth, it was not only entertaining, but it also gave me a whole new feeling about just how the paranormal can enhance and excite westerns… and the other way around.
Here, readers are introduced to an uber-intelligent CIA operative by the name of Richard Hart. Even though the man’s brain is top notch, he is basically burned out from the job and finds himself locked in a mid-life crisis. There’s nothing more he wants than to get out of it all and leave the CIA far behind him. However, his desire to meet and go up against a true legend is something he simply can’t stop.
V.M. Moodbain is a CIA Chess Master, to say the least. His ego is large and he will do absolutely everything to find and then keep the once ace CIA agent, Richard Hart, in his little game so that he can defeat him.
But when the legend is a no-show at an appointed rendezvous spot, at an appointed time, Richard suddenly knows that he has been set up in a cat-and-mouse game that Moodbain has to be behind. What’s amazing is that Richard is soon trapped in a desert ghost town, 100 years in the past, where a military experiment went wrong. With no escape, Richard must call upon that stellar brain of his in order to survive. While being the prey of ghost riders and desperadoes, he has little time to identify what is part of his true reality and what is nothing more than some nightmare. This mind-bender, to say the least, offers Richard a hideous fate: If he does not figure all this out soon, he will be left to live with the ghosts and darkness of the past, never to be seen again.
Speculative fiction is the term best used here, and a term that all readers should keep in mind when ‘cracking open the cover’ of this one. A solid mystery, the author makes sure that the reader is not privileged enough to receive all parts of the storyline clearly. You will learn, right along with Richard Hart, what is actually going on. What you believe is a delusion or an illusion can instantly turn into real life in this book…and the other way around. Both the present and the past transform throughout the pages, and the characters ‘float’ in and out at a moment’s notice.
In the end, this labyrinth is for those who wish to find their way through a spectacular maze, and I am definitely one of those. 5 Stars!
November 1, 2021
Ghost Town A Western Paranormal Dud
The author of this book has received a number of awards, as has this book. In this reader’s opinion, the book should’ve never been written.
The plot was nonexistent; it was, by definition, fantasy. The characters were developed to varying degrees, but none of them capture the reader as sympathetic. Quite honestly, I want my time back. I see neither plot nor characters memorable.
There was a baseball comment that’s apt here: this is an attempt at a spectacular catch of a routine pop-up.
The author of this book has received a number of awards, as has this book. In this reader’s opinion, the book should’ve never been written.
The plot was nonexistent; it was, by definition, fantasy. The characters were developed to varying degrees, but none of them capture the reader as sympathetic. Quite honestly, I want my time back. I see neither plot nor characters memorable.
There was a baseball comment that’s apt here: this is an attempt at a spectacular catch of a routine pop-up.
August 23, 2020
I never finished this book. I found it confusing since the behavior of the characters kept changing. The woman appeared to be rational at first but later she became more and more delusional. The man at first also appeared rational but in short order he too became delusional. Though it was never mentioned I wondered if they where both tripping on LSD.
May 6, 2022
Western - well most of it takes place west of the Rocky Mountains, so yeah, that's western.
Paranormal - not by definition
Sci-Fi - seems that some nuclear disaster happened in the 1980s
Story - main character reliving his life from early childhood, in New York, to current
Worth Reading - don't bother
Paranormal - not by definition
Sci-Fi - seems that some nuclear disaster happened in the 1980s
Story - main character reliving his life from early childhood, in New York, to current
Worth Reading - don't bother
July 21, 2026
A. J. Thibault’s Ghost Town is a speculative thriller that combines time travel, espionage, paranormal horror, and the harsh mythology of the American West. The novel follows Richard Hart, a former intelligence operative and RAND analyst whose search for direction leads him into a covert military experiment near the abandoned town of Ehrenberg, Arizona. Transported from 1989 to 1891 alongside pilot Honey Burns and drifter Boon, Hart must navigate a community governed by appetite, suspicion, and violence. The book’s shifting chronology and alternating character histories gradually connect Hart’s private crisis to Moodbain, a legendary agent overseeing a technology capable of altering perception, matter, and time.
Hart gives the novel its emotional and intellectual center. His formidable analytical abilities are balanced by anger, loneliness, and a lingering fear that his achievements have amounted to little. Thibault’s extensive account of Hart’s impoverished Brooklyn childhood clarifies why he values intelligence so fiercely and why humiliation can provoke him into violence. His father’s lesson that “a real man has more than his brain and his fists. He has a heart” becomes a quiet standard against which Hart’s later decisions can be measured. Honey and Boon receive similarly revealing histories, allowing the novel to treat its three stranded travelers as psychologically burdened people rather than pieces in a time-travel puzzle.
The 1891 sections provide the book’s strongest atmosphere. Ehrenberg is crowded with saloons, card games, public punishments, sexual coercion, religious fervor, and eruptions of collective cruelty. As the experiment weakens the characters’ judgment and resistance, ordinary events acquire the instability of a nightmare. Thibault frequently moves between bleak comedy, grotesque spectacle, and genuine menace, creating a town that feels both historically tangible and mentally distorted. The novel’s breadth gives it considerable imaginative energy, though its many flashbacks, tonal shifts, and extended confrontations sometimes slow the central ordeal and require close attention from the reader.
The final explanation reframes the ghost town as both an experimental weapon and a moral test. Hart survives because he can think beyond the apparent limits of his situation, but his more consequential act comes later, when he destroys the information needed to reproduce the technology. That choice answers the question underlying his journey: whether intelligence serves power or conscience. “Time was the most valuable thing he had left,” the narrator observes, and the line captures the novel’s concern with mortality, agency, and responsibility. Ghost Town is an ambitious, densely plotted novel whose most memorable achievement is its fusion of a violent Western setting with a Cold War meditation on the dangers of controlling human perception and history.
Hart gives the novel its emotional and intellectual center. His formidable analytical abilities are balanced by anger, loneliness, and a lingering fear that his achievements have amounted to little. Thibault’s extensive account of Hart’s impoverished Brooklyn childhood clarifies why he values intelligence so fiercely and why humiliation can provoke him into violence. His father’s lesson that “a real man has more than his brain and his fists. He has a heart” becomes a quiet standard against which Hart’s later decisions can be measured. Honey and Boon receive similarly revealing histories, allowing the novel to treat its three stranded travelers as psychologically burdened people rather than pieces in a time-travel puzzle.
The 1891 sections provide the book’s strongest atmosphere. Ehrenberg is crowded with saloons, card games, public punishments, sexual coercion, religious fervor, and eruptions of collective cruelty. As the experiment weakens the characters’ judgment and resistance, ordinary events acquire the instability of a nightmare. Thibault frequently moves between bleak comedy, grotesque spectacle, and genuine menace, creating a town that feels both historically tangible and mentally distorted. The novel’s breadth gives it considerable imaginative energy, though its many flashbacks, tonal shifts, and extended confrontations sometimes slow the central ordeal and require close attention from the reader.
The final explanation reframes the ghost town as both an experimental weapon and a moral test. Hart survives because he can think beyond the apparent limits of his situation, but his more consequential act comes later, when he destroys the information needed to reproduce the technology. That choice answers the question underlying his journey: whether intelligence serves power or conscience. “Time was the most valuable thing he had left,” the narrator observes, and the line captures the novel’s concern with mortality, agency, and responsibility. Ghost Town is an ambitious, densely plotted novel whose most memorable achievement is its fusion of a violent Western setting with a Cold War meditation on the dangers of controlling human perception and history.
November 12, 2020
If you read all the reviews, you will see that this is a confusing book. I suspect I will have to read it a second time to get even half of what is going on. The book is so confusing that you are likely to feel as if you are in a government experiment yourself. This is enhanced by the alternate past the author uses for the setting of his book. And I'm not referring to the wild west past in the book but the turn of the century past (now) in the book.
Having said this, I just might read it again, and I never read books twice. I also suspect that at some point in the future, this will become a cult classic. I would not be surprised if a teacher made it a reading assignment because there is a great deal to discuss.
To be fair, the author does warn us it is a "paranormal" story so maybe we get what we deserve when we open this book. It is BIZARRE.
Having said this, I just might read it again, and I never read books twice. I also suspect that at some point in the future, this will become a cult classic. I would not be surprised if a teacher made it a reading assignment because there is a great deal to discuss.
To be fair, the author does warn us it is a "paranormal" story so maybe we get what we deserve when we open this book. It is BIZARRE.
November 1, 2020
Intriguing
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a Western Paranormal Thriller, and having read it I’m honestly still not quite sure what to make of it. There’s a lot going on in this book. If being confused for a large portion of the book bothers you, this probably isn’t a book for you.
Having said that, there was a lot to like here. The confusion is shared by the characters, and as such is part of the experience. And the puzzle of figuring out what was going on was intriguing and kept me guessing. As a commentary on human behaviour and political satire it also worked well.
Overall an ambitious book, that was well executed. I’d be interested in reading more from this author.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a Western Paranormal Thriller, and having read it I’m honestly still not quite sure what to make of it. There’s a lot going on in this book. If being confused for a large portion of the book bothers you, this probably isn’t a book for you.
Having said that, there was a lot to like here. The confusion is shared by the characters, and as such is part of the experience. And the puzzle of figuring out what was going on was intriguing and kept me guessing. As a commentary on human behaviour and political satire it also worked well.
Overall an ambitious book, that was well executed. I’d be interested in reading more from this author.
January 21, 2022
Unique Plot and Storyline
I gave this review an extra star for the unique plot and storyline. The characters and scene settings were just okay. I liked the way the author told the story; bouncing back and forth in the hero’s life. There were flaws in the logic of being able to use found gasoline for a helicopter. I liked the way the author tried to bring closure to the different characters; as the book was brought to a close.
I gave this review an extra star for the unique plot and storyline. The characters and scene settings were just okay. I liked the way the author told the story; bouncing back and forth in the hero’s life. There were flaws in the logic of being able to use found gasoline for a helicopter. I liked the way the author tried to bring closure to the different characters; as the book was brought to a close.
December 13, 2022
I would classify this book as SciFi with strong espionage tones. It is not paranormal, as I understand the word. This book was extremely confusing. It finally started making sense later on, and quickly derailed once again. This book may appeal to abstract thinkers, more than to someone wanting to read a smoother novel.
June 21, 2023
I so wanted to be enthralled with this book. I found parts very interesting but then the story seemed to abandon me a bit. The odd ending was tied up nicely, so it wasn’t a complete waste of reading time. I must say the premise was intriguing.
I would still recommend the book if you were into time travel.
I would still recommend the book if you were into time travel.
March 26, 2022
I received an ARC free from BookSirens and this is my voluntary honest review.
A unique western paranormal mystery.
Dark! Engrossing! Action packed.
Contained a few unnessary cuss words. Distracting.
Suspenseful! Thrilling! Fresh and captivating!
Read! Enjoy!
A unique western paranormal mystery.
Dark! Engrossing! Action packed.
Contained a few unnessary cuss words. Distracting.
Suspenseful! Thrilling! Fresh and captivating!
Read! Enjoy!
July 12, 2022
We are proud to announce that GHOST TOWN by A.J. Thibault has been honored with the B.R.A.G.Medallion (Book Readers Appreciation Group). It now joins the very select award-winning, reader-recommended books at indieBRAG.
April 26, 2023
Quite possibly the worst book ever written!
The first words that come to mind to describe this book are absurd and disgusting. To top it off, it is very poorly written and confusing. I gave it one star because I can’t give it zero. This is a book to be avoided at all costs.
The first words that come to mind to describe this book are absurd and disgusting. To top it off, it is very poorly written and confusing. I gave it one star because I can’t give it zero. This is a book to be avoided at all costs.
July 14, 2021
Nice surprise
When I got this book, I thought it was just another ghost story. Boy, was I wrong. It was fresh, captivating, and with great character development.
When I got this book, I thought it was just another ghost story. Boy, was I wrong. It was fresh, captivating, and with great character development.
Read
August 23, 2021An interesting book. Certainly subject matter that is not ordinary. A lot of detail and perhaps more on the behind the scenes detail needed to make the story more fullsome.
September 10, 2021
Bizarre story. Took a minute to get into but ended up being pretty good
May 31, 2022
Very interesting book to read. I really enjoyed it and recommend for anyone looking for a suspenseful read.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 15, 2023
just could not get into this book. I kept reading thinking it would catch my interest, but sadly, it didnt so i quit reading.
June 7, 2026
1. I thought, "This is a weird book, even for a paranormal mystery."
2. It was more horror/paranormal.
3. I struggled to finish it. Just not a story for me.
2. It was more horror/paranormal.
3. I struggled to finish it. Just not a story for me.
June 8, 2026
Riveting!
You get into the past and wonder how you got there. The characters change before you know it. Only Hart is unbelievably open to the changes.
You get into the past and wonder how you got there. The characters change before you know it. Only Hart is unbelievably open to the changes.
May 11, 2026
Ghost this ghost town
Do you like random, graphic, unnecessary sex scenes? How about a nonsense plot with characters that have less dimension than the old Space Invaders game? What about an unreliable narrator that can’t keep track of what has happened? If these are up your alley then this book is for you! And by the way, the dog dies.
Do you like random, graphic, unnecessary sex scenes? How about a nonsense plot with characters that have less dimension than the old Space Invaders game? What about an unreliable narrator that can’t keep track of what has happened? If these are up your alley then this book is for you! And by the way, the dog dies.
Read
December 19, 2020So, I received a copy from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review. I found the idea of a paranormal Western thriller quite appealing. But then it actually had more military/special forces/time-space continuum theme.
This one just wasn't for me, but definitely give it a shot if government experiments with bending time sounds interesting to you
This one just wasn't for me, but definitely give it a shot if government experiments with bending time sounds interesting to you
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews