Ghost Town by Dr. James R. Gregory
Publisher: Morgan James Fiction
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeIn the isolated coal mining town of Sulphur Creek in the late 1800s, young Sammy Murphy’s world is a blend of shadowy tunnels and unspoken secrets. Born into solitude and pushed into reclusion, Sammy’s quiet life starkly contrasts with the booming industry that surrounds him. But as he searches for connection in an era of ruthless expansion, he finds himself at odds with forces far greater than he imagined.
Enter Barry Bacon, an ambitious industrialist who fancies himself a peer to magnates like Andrew Carnegie. Driven by unbridled ambition, Bacon’s dreams stretch far beyond the soot-covered rooftops of Sulphur Creek. But as the weight of his empire bears down, his unchecked arrogance threatens to unravel everything he’s built.
As Sammy faces an unexpected awakening brought forth by a fleeting love, and Bacon’s empire teeters on the brink of collapse, both men must face truths that transcend time—true love extends beyond mere attraction and real power is more than forceful arrogance.
A little intrigue goes a long way.
The strong, steady pacing kept my interest levels high from beginning to end, and this was accomplished while including characters who tended to have quiet, reflective personalities and a preference for avoiding conflict when possible. These are the sorts of folks I love to read about and don’t get to meet in fiction nearly as often as I’d prefer to. I appreciated the fact that the plot, while sometimes rightfully given precedence over character development in the most dramatic moments, never overshadowed the gentle souls who inhabited this world. Having such a natural ebb and flow to what or who was being described worked alongside the pacing even if some scenes did temporarily veer a little further into one direction or the other. As someone who has been writing book reviews for many years, this doesn’t happen as often as I’d like to see, and it’s made me incredibly curious to see what the author writes next.
There were a few memorable plot twists that kept me wondering what might happen next. I especially appreciated the fact that not every aspect of the storyline was tied up neatly by the final scene. There was enough of a resolution to make me feel comfortable saying goodbye to these characters while still having a few things left to mull over that could make for a reasonable starting point for a sequel if the author ever chooses to write one. I have no way of knowing if that will occur, of course, but I enjoy having that possibility, however faint, dangled in front of me all the same.
Dr. Gregory did an excellent job of balancing the thriller, romance, and historical fiction themes here. It isn’t necessarily easy to write something that includes multiple genres, especially with a plot that already filled with so many different types of conflict, from quiet internal struggles for some characters to life-threatening events such as natural disasters in other scenes. They were all blended together so seamlessly that I’d need to pause for a moment before deciding which genre to mention first while describing this tale to someone else. It truly was a little of everything in the best sense of that term.
Ghost Town made me feel as if I’d stepped into a time machine to visit the past. What a ride!
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