Ghost Realm

by Paul Finch

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Paul Finch is a former cop and journalist, now full-time writer. Having originally written for the television series THE BILL plus children's animation and DOCTOR WHO audio dramas, he went on to write horror, but is now best known for his crime / thriller fiction.

He won the British Fantasy Award twice and the International Horror Guild Award, but since then has written two parallel series of hard-hitting crime novels, the Heck and the Lucy Clayburn novels, of which three titles have become best-sellers.

Paul lives in Wigan, Lancashire, UK with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost 1 year after reading this book, I felt somewhat compelled to revisit the stories, and in the process refresh my review of the book. The gist of the feelings remain same: these stories try to associate certain locations with the ravages of violence & sadism in the past, so-much-so that at the slightest opportunity their long shadows (and on many occasions, the past perpetrators themselves) come back and affect the present. Some of them succeed to such an unnerving extent that you would be feeling rather extra-careful when you visit some of the locations (liberties have been taken, but that has made the 'spot-the-place' more attractive & dangerous) mentioned in the stories. Some of them feel contrived and simply created to give an idea somewhat bigger shape. But in all the stories, the researches have been Paul Finch's trademark, with the dull & routinely learned historical facts brought back to life with a vibrancy & violence that books (and even documentaries) would never be able to achieve.

The contents of this collection are:

(*) Introduction: A Welter of Lore: a snap-shot view of the history of Great Britain and the way the memories & legends of numerous people have got merged here.

1) The Killing Ground: A Story of the Midlands
2) The Gallows in My Garden: A Story of East Anglia
3) Be He Alive, Be He Dead: A Story of London
4) Tregeagle's Cove: A Story of Cornwall
5) The Crannog: A Story of Wales
6) This Place: A Story of the South Coast
7) Bloody Essex: A Story of the Home Counties
8) In the Black & Stinking Fume: A Story of Scotland
9) The Moon Rising Red: A Story of Northern England

(*) Story Notes

I encourage you to read this collection (it has gone out-of-print but used copies may be available from other retailers), and develop your own impressions. But if you have ever felt curious about the history of Great Britain, and about how deep the scars are that have been left in her fabric by the events of the past, then this is the book for you.

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never has a book been more screwed over by reviewers! Two out of the three reviews for this book on Amazon are astonishingly wrongheaded. For crying out loud, some big brain gave it one star because they haven’t had time to read it yet. Mm hmm….

Anyway, like all of Paul Finch’s ghost stories (or weird tales or horror fiction) these are well worth reading. Finch’s stories excel because he has an eye for detail, a precision with language, and a passion for the history of England. My favorite story is “Tregeagle’s Cove” but the rest are top tier, too, and I’ll be revisiting these stories, like all of Finch’s, for the rest of my life. While there are other writers carrying on the classic ghost story tradition these days, none of them are as prolific as Mr. Finch, and to my taste none have as high a hit ratio.

[Karen Koppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The historical legends that the stories were based on were interesting, but the stories themselves ended kind of weak. I'd like to read more about the legends themselves.