Review of Holy Ghost Road by John Mantooth
A.E. Jackson Review Score: 3 / 5 Ravens
How was this review scored?
Coming December 20, 2022 from Cemetery Dance Publications, Holy Ghost Road by John Mantooth is perhaps the most uncanny coming-of-age tale since a small band of children battled an evil cosmic horror buried deep beneath Derry, Maine.
Some roads are haunted by the past. Some by ghosts. Some are even haunted by demons. The one Forest must travel is haunted by all three.
Forest discovers Pastor Nesmith praying to a demonic entity in her family’s barn, and knows she must run. Enraged at the possibility of having his true allegiance exposed, Nesmith pursues Forest as she flees on foot, hoping to reach the one person who will believe her - her grandmother.
Unfortunately, Granny is forty miles away, and Forest has no car, no phone, and no friends. To reach her, Forest will have to learn to see the world true, even as the demonic and the sacred wage war for her soul.
John Mantooth masters the deep point of view first-person narrative in this tale. The strong and unique voice of Forest is honest. The voice of a teenage girl beset on all sides by horrors intent on her destruction.
Throughout the work, religious themes blend with the magic of nature and creatures to guide and teach Forest along her journey. There are plenty of unsettling, and scary scenes with an evil, twisted preacher and his band of acolytes. As well as an evil goat demon connected to Forest in suprising ways!
Mantooth layers imagery and symbolism from the first page to the last - imbuing the story with meaning and purpose. Forest has an important lesson to learn, one she teaches her companion in the novel, and one readers will walk away with as well.
John Mantooth is the award-winning author of two novels and a short story collection. His first novel, The Year of the Storm, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. He has also published three crime novels under the pseudonym Hank Early. Heaven’s Crooked Finger (written as Hank Early) was a Next Generation Indie Book award winner and 2017 Foreword Indies Award Finalist. He lives in Alabama with his wife and two children.