Review: THE GHOST THAT ATE US by Daniel Kraus

Release July 12 2022 Without in any way detracting from how engrossing and horrifying this engrossing novel is, from the beginning I experienced such strong overtones of fiction by Grady Hendrix and Daryl Gregory, as well as true-crime Nonfiction and true-crime podcast transcripts. Simultaneously, reading the unfolding story, I felt like a Paris citizen standing on the Avenue watching the Juggernaut rolling with royal victims to the guillotine. The foreshadowing frisson in this novel is as heavy as the silence preceding a tornado lurking just over your shoulder. In addition to the weight of the foreshadowing, which should cause sensible individuals to run away before uncovering the inevitable tragedies, the novel carries its own compulsion: like witnessing a passenger train about to collide with a stalled fuel tanker, the reader simply cannot turn away! We are compelled to witness to the end, no matter how horrifying, nor unavoidable. We must watch and witness.