Ghosted
Not Reviewed: Lack of a review here may mean that the narrative and/or characters of this book did not capture the reviewer's imagination or interest within the first few chapters (or by page 31). It may also mean that, given current time constraints, the reviewer simply chose another crime novel over this one to review. No inference should be made on the merits of this book based it not being reviewed here.
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Acknowledgment: Counterpoint Press provided a copy of Ghosted for this review.
Location(s) referenced in Ghosted: Toronto, Ontario
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Ghosted by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-10: 1-59376-295-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-59376-295-7
Publication Date: October 2010
List Price: $15.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Growing up, Mason Dubisee had a hundred future selves: Jedi. Cowboy. Jedi-cowboy. Explorer. Rock star. Sandinista-Gandhi-Hemingway-Indiana-Jones type thing. But at thirty, he must finally face the truth: He’s a drug-addled drifter, an aspiring novelist unable to move beyond lists of titles and themes.
Desperate, he takes a job as “The Dogfather”—a downtown hot dog vendor. When a mysterious customer hires him to write a very personal letter, he stumbles into a shadow career, ghostwriting suicide notes for the despondent. The gig helps cover his gambling debts but takes an emotional toll. The trouble is, Mason is hardwired to rescue people, and no one needs rescuing more than the suicidal. Except maybe Willy, the heroin-addicted beauty he’s falling for.
What happens when someone wrestling with his own demons immerses himself in other people’s tragedies? Quite a lot: A hotdog cart is totaled, a convict sprung, a funeral faked, a head scalped, a horse stolen. As Mason’s professional and personal lives become entangled, his sanity is tested—as is the line between suicide and murder.