Ghostland: Ghost Hunter Edition

Ghostland #0.5-3

by Duncan Ralston

People are dying to get in... the ghosts will kill to get out.

Former best friends and gaming partners Ben Laramie and Lilian Roth reunite at Ghostland on opening day with ulterior motives. Lilian has come with her therapist as "exposure therapy," to face her fear of death dead on. Ben has come seeking revenge on his former idol, deceased horror author Rex Garrote, whose haunted house is the park's star attraction.

But when a computer virus sets the ghosts free and the park goes into lockdown, the trio find themselves trapped in an endless nightmare. Ben and Lilian must use their wits and rely on each other to survive.

What comes to be known as the "Ghostland Disaster" is just the beginning for Ben and Lilian. His spirit finally set free, Rex Garrote declares war against the living. He'll use the psychic trauma of the Ghostland mass murder to tear open a dimension between the mortal and ethereal worlds known as the Dark Rift, and unleash its legion of nightmare creatures upon anyone who refuses to kneel before him.

Ben and Lilian may have escaped Ghostland... but can they prevent the End of Everything?

For fans of old-school Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Black Mirror and Thirteen Ghosts. This Omnibus Edition contains the entire Ghostland Trilogy, including the "prequel," new chapters, an all-new "post-credits scene," bonus Ghost Hunter's Guide entries and interior artwork.

The complete box set of the Ghostland Trilogy contains the following books:
- The Moving House: A Prequel to Ghostland
- Ghostland
- Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0
- Ghostland: Infinite

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Fiction, Adult

1553 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 13, 2023

About the author

**CVLT: Lonely Motel Book 3 out now!!!**

**Sequel to the hit novel PUZZLE HOUSE coming Winter 2026**

Author of the cult smash-hit Woom and Ghostland and more than 15 other books that aren't the cult smash-hit Woom or Ghostland. His debut collection was blurbed positively by the legendary Jack Ketchum. His vampire novel, Pedo Island Bloodbath, was nominated for a 2024 Splatterpunk Award for Best Novel. His horror-thriller Ghostland will soon be a board game from Crystal Lake Publishing.

For 10 FREE dark fiction short stories/novellas including the prequel to GHOSTLAND, "The Moving House," signed copies of Woom, bookplates and merch, please visit www.duncanralston.com.

Photo © Josh Silver 2015

Reviews

[Duncan Ralston]

This Omnibus Edition contains the entire Ghostland Trilogy, including the "prequel," new chapters, an all-new "post-credits scene," bonus Ghost Hunter's Guide entries and interior artwork.

The complete box set of the Ghostland Trilogy contains the following books:
- "The Moving House: A Prequel to Ghostland"
- Ghostland
- Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0
- Ghostland: Infinite

[Casey S · Rating 5 out of 5]

GHOSTLAND: Omnibus review: ☆☆☆☆☆/5
Opening day at Ghostland (an amusement park for the Dead and the living that's filled with ghosts trapped in endless loops of death for onlookers to gauk at) delves into chaos when things don't go as planned. From ghost/etherals, death and the afterlife, budding friendships, haunted attractions, and complete and utter chaos up until the final conclusion of this mega beast of a book! There were sad moments, a ton of gross moments but overall extremely loveable characters who continued to push forward despite the overwhelming weight of their haunted reality.

You know this series is phenomenal when reading through 1500 pages of this thickkkk book, I fought to put it down. Sleepless nights, reading before work, on my lunch breaks... you name it!!

I highly recommend for anyone who loves CHUNKY books that read as if you're in a VR setting, fighting off scary shit! With your best friends by your side till the very end!! 🎮

The edition contains the entire Ghostland Trilogy, including the "prequel," new chapters, an all-new "post-credits scene," bonus Ghost Hunter's Guide entries and interior artwork and map of Ghostland + interactive book cover (QR code).

The complete box set of the Ghostland Trilogy contains the following books:
- The Moving House: A Prequel to Ghostland
- Ghostland
- Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0
- Ghostland: Infinite

If I could give Duncan Ralston a high five 👋 for writing this ghostly chaotic adventure, I would!!

[Clota · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fantastic trilogy! It's like 13 Ghosts (except so many more ghosts!) meets Jurassic Park, only better! Character development is stellar, storyline is delightful, and the ride is just fantastically fun! Worth every dime I dropped on this Omnibus!

[Siobhan Falen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. I love it and have been talking anyone's ear off about it that I can. I see a lot of influences in it and they work well but what for me, the best breakdown of all three books and the extra goodies is: This is 13 Ghosts meets Jurassic Park meets The Stand.

You've got these different teams amassing their characters like Duck Fall is about to host a dodgeball convention. You know good ones are gonna go, you're hoping the bad ones too, but among all, you're there to watch the shots happen and cheer when either the knockouts happen or the amazing catches.

I was so invested in this story. I loved the characters, wanted to see what happened, was interested in the way everything wove together, and wanted to see what the ultimate showdown was going to be. I loved the writing style. It was casual, easy to understand, gore in all the right places, a sense of humor to ease the sadness and grossness, just everything that really makes a great horror book great.

Admittedly, this took me longer to read than I expected but not because of the quality (the story was awesome), but because of the size. Omnibus means giant, massive, so much good book, but I have little hands and finding the right position restricted when I could read it. I was 76% of the way through when I downloaded the e-version. I finished that last 24% in about two days. I have the feeling had I downloaded it in the first place, this book would have been consumed in a far faster than healthy manner.

Duncan really created a masterpiece here and it wasn't just a "horror" book. It was so much more. It was family, drama, dealing with trauma, forgiveness, love, coming of age, disaster, exploration of human nature and the fear of the unknown, afterlife, and just... I loved this book and am very, very pleased to have a copy. I recommend you get one too.

[Johann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Is Amazing!!

This Omnibus collection has over 1500 pages consisting of the prequel to Ghostland called The Moving House as well as the Ghostland trilogy.
The characters are well developed. Ben and Lilian are the main protagonists, and they go through things in this book that make therapists want to reconsider treating them!
Ghostland is a theme park that has integrated haunted places with amazing new scientific innovation.
The author states it best as 13 Ghosts mixed with Jurassic Park but no dinosaurs.
The plot is crazy fun that has multiple twists as well as subplots hiding in plain sight. Very well done set of books!
Highly enjoyed this very original series!
Recommend to anyone who enjoys the above mix!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off this book(well 3 books) is freaking huge and took me a couple of months to read through as I read other books in between but any time that I picked up this behemoth I just couldnt put I down and frequently sat up to 3 am reading it. There's far too much story to cover in 1 review but The journey covered in this series is incredible and the characters are awesome I have to mention LeMon specifically as he was a personal highlight for me, also absolutely loved the ending. All in all I adored this book and 100% recommend.

[Rikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read, but I felt like it read a bit more like a YA novel. However, that’s not a bad thing, it just isn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t really care for the characters either, but again, it was fun and there is a lot of action in this book.

[BookNerdsBrainDump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short Take: Dizzyingly overwhelming… but like, in a GOOD way.

Hello my beloved Nerdlings, and welcome to End Of Summer. The kids are heading back to school, the leaves are falling into the pool, and I… don’t have another clever rhyme. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Duckies, this is where it gets tricky. Because this 1500 page Behemoth (heh - read the book & you’ll see why that’s clever) is actually three full-length novels with some lovely interludes in between and a new opening introduction chapter. So obviously, there’s substantially more book than would fit in my usual quickie description. I’m going to try to keep it brief anyway, so:

In the small town of Duck Falls, Maryland, a billionaire has teamed up with a group of scientists to create a one-of-a-kind theme park. Using some truly wild technology, guests will be able to see actual ghosts. The park will be made of the actual sites of famous hauntings (such as Bonnie & Clyde’s car), with the buildings carefully disassembled and rebuilt at Ghostland.

The most notorious of these attractions is Rex Garrote’s house - a super-famous horror author who committed suicide in a horrific way in the house. Ben & Lilian are 15 year old BFFs when Garrote’s house is towed through Duck Falls, and their lives are changed forever. A malevolent shadow in the window causes Ben to suffer a debilitating heart attack, and their friendship never quite comes back.

In the present day, deciding to put their metaphorical demons to rest, Ben and Lilian show up for Ghostland’s opening day, and Duckies, do you need me to tell you that Everything Goes Horribly Wrong?

The author was obviously inspired by Jurassic Park, so you can probably figure out what happens from there. But you see, the carnage is just the beginning.

I read and reviewed the first Ghostland book in 2020, and I fell in love with Mr. Ralston’s ambition. Not only did he blend sci-fi, horror, social issues, and a smidge of puppy love, he created a whole wonderful, terrifying, and very realistic world. So it might sound odd that I was hesitant to pick up the full trilogy, but it’s the truth.

I have a thing about sequels, namely that they are rarely as good as the original and often end up just trying to recapture what made the first story great (which is just stupid in my opinion. Usually what makes a story great is how unique it is, so trying to just keep copying the formula is obviously going to make each iteration dumber).

And yet….

I’ve read a few of Mr. Ralston’s works, and well… he hasn’t let me down yet. When he first started talking on social media about the trilogy, my first instinct was to smile politely, say “Wow, that sounds fun!” and then quietly not read it. But eventually, I looked closer, and realized that in fact, Ghostland is not a good story and its sequels, but one single story. One incredible, immense, heartbreaking, breathtaking story.

As mentioned, Ghostland: Ghost Hunter Edition is a LOT. A lot of characters, a lot of pages, a dizzying amount of words. And sometimes, to be honest, it felt like too much - I’d forget who this or that character was, or lose track of why they were in a certain location. This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart (or stomach, if I’m being completely transparent).

But as always with Mr. Ralston’s work, the real joy is in the characters. A dad who’s the king of corny dad jokes, a Scottish ghost who finds great joy in his disembodied (heh. Again, read the book, you’ll see why that’s clever) state, a gambling addict in love with a psychic, and so, so many more.

And finally, I absolutely adored the kaleidoscope-on-hallucinogens sensation the author creates when different timelines and realities collide.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and my undying grudge about one character’s death. Mr. Ralston knows what he did.)

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a monster in terms of size, but the story is truly dynamic and kept me interested the whole way. This book is technically 3 books in one, but the story flows very well. The characters were intelligently written and engaging. You felt like you understood their motivations. I really loved the footnotes in the first book about the background of the different ghosts, cursed objects, and attractions, as well as the explanations of the different types of spirits. Even the buildings in the park felt like characters with personalities of their own. This book really kept me guessing until the end about who would survive and how. The ending was most definitely a surprise but very believable within the context of the story. I loved it.

[Edie · Rating 2 out of 5]

😒🙄👎🏻

I wish I had been able to DNF this book, but I was on a road trip, and it was the only audiobook that I had downloaded at the time. I was stuck and so I continued to listen.

I don’t think this book is YA but it reads extremely YA. It feels like it’s written by an adult “dude” pandering to young “dudes”. 😒🙄

I didn’t like or care about any of the characters. There were several moments where I completely checked out, but didn’t miss anything entertaining for relevant to the story.

Creepy in the way that YA books are creepy. Not scary.

[Chris Wroblewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this trilogy with a few caveats

I bought this book years ago and just finally finished it though I'm sure that boils down to the fact that it's three books in one.

Out of the three books my personal favorite was the first one, followed by the third one and the second book coming in last.

Duncan Ralston is really good at making characters you love and just as good at making characters you hate.

Plus his way with describing scenes is really effective.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride! This omnibus was fantastic and certainly a labor of love. I loved the ghost hunter’s guide. Reading descriptions of the ghosts mentioned in the later books, I remembered exactly who they were and their back stories. I knew I was going to love this when I opened the book and saw the map, yes A MAP. I took my time reading this one because I didn’t want it to end.

[Sarah Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5-star reviews. For me, a 5-star book is one that stays with you for years to come. The premise, the characters, the story-telling... all absolute perfection. I LOVED this book and I will continue to recommend it to everybody I come across.

[Brittany Tripp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting premise…

but I could not follow the plot and keep track of all the characters. The constant pop future references were also jarring and pulled me out of the fictional world too frequently.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, Duncan really went all out on this thick ass tale. I really enjoyed every aspect of the park, the pseudo-science, the characters, the bad guy, the array of entities and their vicious tendencies... It was all chefs kiss

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not recommend this book enough! It was awesome!! I never, ever loan my books out but this one is making the rounds through my friends and family. Totally worth 5 stars!

[Tracy Gilmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

[Amanda Awtrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new favorites!!! If you love Thirteen Ghosts and Stephen King’s The Stand, you’ll love this series!

[Dan Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a journey this book is. Very Pleased i read this book

[Amy Nichol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic! I loved every minute of this novel!

[Lisa Sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these books. Action packed, great characters.

[Barrett Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In rapture?
No, only pain. But pain was enough for now.
They would learn to grovel at His feet before He extinguished them. Before the Living Dark absorbed their energy and reconstituted it into whatever form might delight their Master, their God.”

Ghostland was a strange, but welcoming departure from the normal work of Duncan Ralston, specifically after coming from Woom & Gross Out. This was a mixed omnibus in the end. I did not like the first book much at all, with the exception of a couple of good moments. Books two and three were very good, and much stronger in the writing and storytelling.

Starting where it all began, we start with the prequel titled The Moving House. It's a good introduction to important characters, mostly Sara Jane Amblin, but also Christopher Hedgewood, whose family is vital to the story. We get introduced to famed horror author Rex Garrote, too, as well as the Recurrence Field, something crucial to the creation of Ghostland. I think the descriptions of the house were fun and the suspense was fun when the lights went dark, but it was sort of short and forgettable in the scope of the omnibus.

Moving into book one, Ghostland, this is where most of my problems lie. This books was not good to put it bluntly. Getting a full trilogy of basically "One Day at Horrorland" from the Goosebumps series was a instant sell to me and I wanted to love this book, but it was hard to after the Recurrence Field fails and the ghosts get let out. It gets a bit goofy from the descriptions of the hoards of ghosts that roam the amusement park, and that I could not get over. I loved Ben's character, and the growth of Lilian over the series is great, but she's a bit weak here. I like Dr. Allison and her helping Ben and Lilian over their journey in the book. Her death was very well written and I liked the foreshadowing it brought with the Red Pool. I liked the end and the set up for the rest of the series, but the goofy nature of the ghosts over the course of the entire book, and the goofy descriptions of the characters actions just took me out of it.

Moving onto Afterlife, this is when the series gets really good. It takes a different course of action, where instead of just following Lilian, we get some different POVs from new characters Sam Beadle, Le Mon, Andy, Lamb, and Thea. Getting more descriptions of the ghost world and how Ben navigates the afterlife was so incredible. Getting to see the aftermath of Duck Falls was a trip, and finding out the motivation and just how evil Rex Garrote can be was all great writing. A very solid book, and makes up for all the shortcomings of the first book. The setup for the final book was seamless, and made me excited to finish the trilogy.

Lastly, with Infinite, we basically get into an all out war with the ghosts, humans, military, private organizations, and ghost rights activists. It all sounds insane how many different groups we follow and how convoluted it all could have become, but it all flows seamlessly in the end and everyone has the perfect amount of page time and actions. The twists and turns in the GRP2 and each of their own agenda was thrilling to read. The resolutions for all of our characters in the end was so satisfactory, and the end with Rex Garrote was honestly unexpected and I could not stop thinking about it for some time after. Ben's story coming to a close brought a tear to my eye, and I love how far this story grew from the mediocrity of the first book to the epic conclusion of the last, in the end, it was a read well worth it.

"The sickly smile returned to his erstwhile silent partner's face. "Misery acquaints a man with s-trange bedfellows," Hedgewood said. "Wouldn't you agree?"
Rex Garrote couldn't help but smile himself. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to bide his time. How to plan and scheme and toil away in a dusty little corner of this House, like a spider weaving an intricate and complex web.
His House might currently be nothing more than rubble, and his link to the Dark Rift and his pets may have been temporarily severed, but time was still with him."

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing! Full of creepy fun!