the saturday night ghost club book review

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Book Reviews

'saturday night ghost club' celebrates the wonders and horrors of being a kid.

Jason Heller

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Buy featured book.

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

"Brain matter will squeeze through a keyhole," says Jake Baker, the main character of Craig Davidson's new novel The Saturday Night Ghost Club . Jake should know. He's a neurosurgeon, and he spends his days cutting into people's brains, hoping to heal the mysterious maladies that afflict the human brain. The Saturday Night Ghost Club is his story, although most of it takes place in the past — one summer during the '80s, in which he turned 12. He grew up in Niagara Falls, and the town's mist-shrouded natural monument serves as a dramatic backdrop to something bordering on the supernatural. Because as Jake tells it, he spent that summer with his eccentric Uncle Calvin and a handful of friends, practicing rituals and hunting ghosts and monsters.

Jake is a stereotypically nerdy kid: overweight, socially awkward, and prone to spending his time with his nose in a book. Uncle C, as Jake calls Calvin, is something else entirely. Tall and intense, he sports a necklace of tiny Cthulhu heads and owns a curio shop called the Occultorium, which is equipped with a homemade "Psycho-Phone" that Calvin alleges can be used to speak with the dead. Young Jake is an old soul, but Calvin is frozen in a state of eternal adolescence, living a kind of perpetual daydream made of urban legends, mystic folklore, and benign conspiracy theories. When a circle of their friends — including the Native American siblings Billy and Dove Yellowbird, the latter of whom Jake has a hopeless crush on — join them in the weekly ritual of investigating unexplained phenomena, nephew and uncle form a bond that begins to shake loose secrets from the family's past.

A Noir Stalwart Builds A New Old World In 'The Grand Dark'

This 'Spectral Hue' Has A Shimmering Life Of Its Own

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is an unabashed bildungsroman, complete with budding romance, rites of passage, and the gradual awakening to adulthood. But it's as much a going-of-age story as it is a coming-of-age one. Bracketed by the adult Jake's struggles with losing patients and raising a boy of his own, the story is steeped in loss — particularly what we lose as we grow up. Davidson points out how childhood wonder comprises equal parts hope and fear, and how the two coexist in Jake's transition into teenhood. And as the novel deepens, the adult Jake's ruminations on being a parent himself — both the fulfillment and the terror, the responsibility and the helplessness — grow harrowingly poignant.

The plot of the slim book is slow to kick in, but that's not a drawback. The leisurely opening gives Davidson a chance to lovingly indulge in some genre tropes, everything from the neighborhood bully to baseball cards stuck in bicycle spokes. Rather than feeling clichéd, they resonate; Davidson is clearly and intentionally using such archetypal elements as modeling clay, just as the story touches on coming-of-age works from Stand by Me to Stranger Things . But there's a much more complex machinery at work. The author's powers of description poetically evoke the magic of youth, from "the rustling of dead leaves in the eavestroughs" that startle Jake in the night to the "hint of woodsmoke come autumn" in his line-dried bedsheets. The masterful segues between the narratives of child Jake and adult Jake shimmer. And even more profoundly, the book is a celebration of the secret lives of children, both their wonders and their horrors.

Ultimately, though, The Saturday Night Ghost Club 's biggest triumph is its examination of memory. Jake's observation that a brain can squeeze through a keyhole is more than just a vivid illustration; it's symbolic of the way the human mind unlocks — or fails to unlock — both history and itself. The future neurosurgeon in Jake must grapple with the fallout of trauma, both physical and emotional, as well as the memories of experiences that teach him a hard lesson: Hunting imaginary monsters is a grand adventure, but the most horrendous monsters can be real people. Immensely enjoyable, piercingly clever, and satisfyingly soulful, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is an exquisite little talisman of a book, one that doesn't flinch as it probes the dark underside of nostalgia.

Jason Heller is a Hugo Award-winning editor and author of the new book Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded. He's on Twitter: @jason_m_heller

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB

by Craig Davidson ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2019

Through the intensity of his characters’ experiences, Davidson reconnects us to our own memories of growing up.

A coming-of-age narrative about ghosts, friendship, and family secrets.

Jake Baker is a neurosurgeon who takes us back to the summer when he was 12 years old and growing up amid the tackiness of Niagara Falls, a landscape desperately in need of redemption. Although Jake is something of a loner, he hits it off with two kids new to the neighborhood, Billy and Dove Yellowbird. While Billy is the same age as Jake, Dove is two years older, and Jake is immediately smitten by her strength and self-confidence. There to help them all in their transition out of childhood is Jake’s eccentric Uncle Cal, like Jake, an “odd duck” who is almost like a child himself. Cal owns a shop called the Occultorium and has over time “cultivated a network of mystics and paranoiacs and those who saw the world at a different skew.” Through motivations mysterious even to himself, Cal proposes that they form a Saturday Night Ghost Club to explore arcane places around their neighborhood, including a Screaming Tunnel (“Cataract City’s most famous haunted spot”), a car that has been submerged for years in the bend of a river, and the remains of a house that had been ravaged by fire. As he moves through these adventures, Jake transitions from being terrified to accommodating himself to both the strangeness of his uncle and the strangeness of the world. Through his parents, Jake eventually learns how Cal is connected to each of the venues he takes the children to even though Cal himself doesn’t understand the depth of these connections. As a result of these experiences during this memorable summer when he’s on the cusp of adolescence, Jake’s understanding and compassion are enlarged: tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner.

Pub Date: July 9, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-14-313393-3

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Penguin

Review Posted Online: May 12, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019

PARANORMAL FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More by Craig Davidson

BOOK REVIEW

by Craig Davidson

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

NINTH HOUSE

by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019

With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...

Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.

Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s ( King of Scars , 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home .” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | FANTASY | THRILLER | PARANORMAL FICTION | PARANORMAL FANTASY | SUPERNATURAL THRILLER

More by Leigh Bardugo

by Leigh Bardugo

by Leigh Bardugo ; illustrated by Dani Pendergast

More About This Book

SEEN & HEARD

PERSPECTIVES

A BLIGHT OF BLACKWINGS

by Kevin Hearne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020

A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.

Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings ( A Plague of Giants , 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.

In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3

Page Count: 592

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | PARANORMAL FICTION | EPIC FANTASY | PARANORMAL FANTASY

More by Delilah S. Dawson

by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne

by Kevin Hearne

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Book reviews, interviews and more!

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson : Review

A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of “Stranger Things” and “Stand by Me” about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends. Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls–a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place–Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the “Saturday Night Ghost Club.” But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly lighthearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become.

For the last few weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve been in a bit of a reading rut as I’ve been unable to find any new books that really stood out to me or managed to grab my attention for more than a couple chapters at a time. So when I received an email about reviewing this book from an author I had never heard of and in a genre that is way outside of what I usually review, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a chance. This is definitely a book that I’m glad I decided to read — The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson was a surprisingly deep and insightful book filled with enough suspense and mystery to keep me reading well into the night at a time when I should have been sleeping before work.

One of the things that really stuck out to me when I was reading the cover blurb describing The Saturday Night Ghost Club was how it was compared to both Stranger Things and Stand By Me and I would have to say that if you threw in some Goosebumps as well you would have a fairly accurate comparison. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that managed to capture that kind of unique 80’s coming-of-age vibe the way that The Saturday Night Ghost Club does. Reading this book really made me wish I had grown up in Niagra Falls along with Jake and his friends and was able to experience this story with them.

I think one of the most interesting things about this book is the way that it is told from the point of view of a single person, but from two different points in time in his life. We get to see Jake the brain surgeon as he makes comparisons between the children he’s operated on and his own past. While in the other I thought Craig Davidson did a fantastic job of putting us into the head of a 12-year-old boy slowly turning into the man he would one day become and just discovering that not everything life is as it seems and that parents often lie to protect their children from the harsh truths of life. I found The Saturday Night Ghost Club to be one of the best and most coming-of-age stories that I’ve read in quite a while.

I think I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something new to read as I think it’s enjoyable no matter what genre of books you usually read. If you’re anything like me you’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat reading this book and unable to put it down until the mystery of The Saturday Night Ghost Club is completely unraveled.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

You May Also Like

Willful Child by Steven Erikson : Review

Mating Flight: A Non-Romance of Dragons by Bard Bloom : Review

Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey : Review

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Locus Online

The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field

Colleen Mondor Reviews The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is only the slightest wisp of a ghost story. It is far more a memory of childhood, a winsome look back by a narrator who now works in a dif­ficult profession (as a surgeon) and is remembering the most significant summer of his life. That the summer in question occurred in 1986, when Jake Baker was 12, will immediately bring to mind comparisons to Stranger Things . But The Satur­day Night Ghost Club is not that kind of book: the hauntings are far more subtle and the horror is, almost entirely, suffered by one man, Jake’s beloved Uncle Cal. So this is a quiet ghost story and, because of that, the heroics are quiet as well.

Jake has suffered more than his share of bullying in school and intends to spend his summer with a singular life goal: avoiding his nemesis. Author Craig Davidson places Jake firmly in middle-class America territory: he is the sole child in a stable family living in Niagara Falls, a classic and com­plicated American town. Family dinners each week star the eccentric Uncle C, who owns a store of odd kitschy objects downtown (the Occultorium) and is best friends with Lex, a video store owner who went all in on Betamax and is now regretting that decision big time. Through a chance meeting at the store, Jake befriends Billy Yellowbird, who has recently moved to town with his sister Dove and their mother. That day, at the urging of Uncle C, whose grip on reality seems to waver at times, the Saturday Night Ghost Club of Lex, Cal, Jake, Billy, and sometimes Dove, is born. Over the course of the summer they go out in search of Niagara’s ghosts and, of course, find much more than they bargained for.

Davidson uses an exceedingly light touch in tell­ing Jake’s story as he allows the now adult narrator to recall the easy way in which the club members succumbed to Cal’s often manic energy. Over a pe­riod of several weeks, they meet at a haunted tunnel where a family met a grisly end (there is definitely a ghost sighting here), in a reservoir where a car sank dooming a family looking for help, and at the burned-out remains of a house which was the scene of a violent attack from strangers. Finally, they arrive at the local cemetery, home to the legend of a desperate and doomed mother. Along the way Jake and Billy cement their friendship, a bully is vanquished, Dove exposes some personal demons of her own, Lex gets stoned, and Cal slips further and further away. Ultimately, Jake’s concern for his uncle sends him to his parents (two delightfully fleshed-out supporting characters), who help him do the right thing as he learns the source of Cal’s trauma. The true meaning of the club crystallizes in the final pages, and this elegantly written title reveals just how neatly it has been constructed. So yes, there are ghosts, but these are not the scream­ing kind but rather those that cry across the years and, as evidenced by the adult Jake, can never be forgotten.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is not a YA book, although it could appeal to older teens. You need an ability to look back on your life to really “get” this novel; you have to appreciate that things from your past can and do affect you forever. I think you need a few years under your belt to understand that, so I recommend an older audience for this title. Regardless, it’s a lovely book that proves how a good storyteller requires only a big heart to resonate with readers. The Saturday Night Ghost Club has a lot of heart, and it carries these characters through every tender page.

Colleen Mondor, Contributing Editor, is a writer, historian, and reviewer who co-owns an aircraft leasing company with her husband. She is the author of “The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska” and reviews regularly for the ALA’s Booklist. Currently at work on a book about the 1932 Mt. McKinley Cosmic Ray Expedition, she and her family reside in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. More info can be found on her website: www.colleenmondor.com .

This review and more like it in the September 2019 issue of Locus .

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

You May Also Like...

The Silver Wind by Nina Allan">Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Silver Wind by Nina Allan

Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling">Liz Bourke reviews Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling

Beyond the Outposts by Algis Budrys">Russell Letson Reviews Beyond the Outposts by Algis Budrys

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

We are a READER-SUPPORTED VENUE! That means you!

If you enjoy our book reviews, news, recommendations, and resources… if you value keeping up on new books and staying in touch with the field…

Support our work via Locus  Patreon and show the love, so we can keep doing the magazine, the website, and the Locus Awards! Books, short fiction, art, conventions, publishing industry news, international reports, recommended reading lists – don’t let them disappear!

We use essential cookies to make our site work. With your consent, we may also use non-essential cookies to improve user experience, analyze website traffic, and serve ads to our users based on their visit to our sites and to other sites on the internet. By clicking “Accept,“ you agree to our website’s cookie use as described in our Cookie Policy .  Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings.

Awake at Midnight

Saturday Night Ghost Club – Review

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

by Craig Davidson

Penguin Books, 2019

Young Adult (14+)

This is a ghost story, but not a scary paranormal fright-fest. It’s about the ghosts of the past.

Outcast Jake meets Billy Yellowbird at his Uncle’s tourist-trap crystals and magic shop, “The Occultorium.” Soon after he realizes Billy’s sister Dove is the stranger who saved him from a whooping from some bullies. She’s an energetic firecracker beset with wanderlust, desperately seeking excitement in the backwoods town her low-income parents landed her in. Except it’s not a small town, it’s Niagara Falls. Just… not the tourist destination we all think of, it’s the back-side world of the townies, the year long residents.

Smitten, Jake takes his Uncle Calvin up on his offer to explore some haunted locations on Saturday night, inviting Billy and Dove. The story is written with amazingly rich prose; three friends exploring the mysteries of a small town guided by a boy’s quirky uncle, encountering ghosts and the geography of local legends. 

Each section of the novella is prefaced with an anecdote told by a brain surgeon, little slices of life that, oddly, didn’t seem to have any connection to the following chapters. 

The kids keep it all a secret, their crazy uncle chaperoned by his friend who runs the video rental place next to the Occultorium, though they have a few close calls. They have a run in with a murderous drifter in a big junkyard, recalling the horror and coming-of-age movies of the 80’s.

By the mid-point, I had pretty well figured out that all the haunted scenes the Saturday Night Ghost Club had visited had something to do with Uncle Calvin. (Well, Davidson purposely foreshadowed it,) but then the author made me suffer through Calvin’s painful, sad descent into madness, blow for blow, stripping the book of any supernatural flavor it had.

If you are looking for Stranger Things , this misses the mark, but it is a nostalgic look back to the ‘80s when you could take off on your bike in the middle of the night and fall in love with the new girl who rides a skateboard and beats up bullies.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

The horror (relic radio otr).

Copyright © 2024 Awake at Midnight

Design by ThemesDNA.com

• Bookreporter
• ReadingGroupGuides
• AuthorsOnTheWeb

The Book Report Network

Sign up for our newsletters!

Regular Features

Author spotlights, "bookreporter talks to" videos & podcasts, "bookaccino live: a lively talk about books", favorite monthly lists & picks, seasonal features, book festivals, sports features, bookshelves.

• Coming Soon

Newsletters

• Weekly Update
• On Sale This Week
• Spring Preview
• Winter Reading
• Holiday Cheer
• Fall Preview
• Summer Reading

Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the saturday night ghost club.

• About the Book

A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of "Stranger Things" and Stand by Me about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls --- a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place --- Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined.

With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB is a note-perfect novel that poignantly examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become, and establishes Craig Davidson as a remarkable literary talent.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

• Publication Date: July 9, 2019
• Genres: Fiction
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• ISBN-10: 0143133934
• ISBN-13: 9780143133933

Together Let's Promote Horror

To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'it's only kendall reviews...it's only kendall reviews...', {book review} the saturday night ghost club: craig davidson.

7th July 2020 Gavin Kendall Reviews Books 0

The Saturday Night Ghost Club: Craig Davidson

Reviewed By Fiona Dodwell

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson was a wonderful read. Although it doesn’t stretch under the umbrella of horror, it does explore paranormal elements and has a cast of characters that are authentic, likeable and interesting to follow.

It’s a story that, in some ways, reminds me of both It by Stephen King and the series Stranger Things . It follows a group of kids, who through a blistering hot summer, start a ghost club where each Saturday night they explore a local haunted spot, or urban legend etc. In a way, I related to it, as it reminded me of my own childhood of growing up obsessed with ghosts stories and haunted locations. In that way, it really touched something within me.

There is an emotional depth to the story, with elements of childhood trauma, bullying and family relationships. It really makes you feel invested in the characters and care about them. The ghostly tales scattered throughout the novel are creepy and unsettling, but it isn’t full of cheap, tacky scares – even the ghosts in the novel are very much born from human tragedy.

I found the novel to be beautifully written and, whether you like ghost stories or not, I think this coming-of-age tale will really engage with a lot of readers. I highly recommend.

• The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls – a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place – Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories.

The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the “Saturday Night Ghost Club.” But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined.

With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a note-perfect novel that poignantly examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become, and establishes Craig Davidson as a remarkable literary talent.

You can buy  The Saturday Night Ghost Club  from  Amazon UK  &  Amazon US

• Fiona Dodwell

Fiona Dodwell has been writing fiction for almost 10 years, with several horror/paranormal titles released under various publishers. Alongside this, she is a freelance writer for various websites and magazines. She has written features for Warner Music, Made In Shoreditch Magazine, Music-news.com and Tremr.

Fiona has studied Psychology, Film Studies, Theology and Health & Social Care.

Her biggest passion is reading dark fiction, as well as creating new stories of her own – the creepier the better!

To find out more about Fiona:

Twitter:  @Angel_devil982

Books:   Amazon Store

Share this:

• Book Review
• Craig Davidson
• Kendall Reviews
• Nick Cutter

Be the first to comment

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Copyright © 2024 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes

AfterTheLastPage

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson–ATLP Book Review

• Reminiscent of Stranger Things

The Saturday Night Ghost Club takes place in the 1980s near Niagara Falls, just by the border between Canada and the U.S. Young Jake is twelve and he spends most of his free time with his Uncle Cal, who runs “The Occultarium” in town, a shop filled with spooky objects that tote the line between the living and the dead.

Known for it’s occult artifacts and conspiracy theories, Billy enters The Occulatrium, hoping to connect with his recently deceased grandmother. Instead, he finds friendship with Jake and Cal, and they form “the Saturday night ghost club.” Yet, what begins as a seemingly lighthearted project to uncover the mysteries of the town quickly shifts into something much darker–within themselves.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a coming-of-age novel with some serious Stranger Things vibes. It’s nostalgic, it’s supernatural. It’s Magical. And, it’s the perfect spooky season read.

I came across The Saturday Night Ghost Club while pursuing the shelves at my local library, and I was hoping this small book (seriously, it’s barely 200 pages) would help me get out of a book slump I’ve been suffering through.

This book was SO unexpected–but in the best ways.

First off, I was totally expecting The Saturday Night Ghost Club to be a lot more supernatural than it actually was. While there are definitely some ghost-sightings here, that’s not really what the book is about. This book is mainly about Jake’s journey from innocence to awareness and the things his Uncle Cal has suffered through.

While I won’t delve too far into how this book ends, it does talk about some very dark happenings in Uncle Cal’s life that might border some trigger warnings for those who struggle with grief. Though, in my case, I felt like The Saturday Night Ghost Club was a really great representation of what grief looks like–especially to those that have not experienced the level of grief some of these characters have.

One thing I really loved about this book was the comradery between the characters. Jake’s parents are so supportive of Uncle Cal (and Jake), especially when Jake is keeping things from them. When he finally talks to them about The Saturday Night Ghost Club and what he’s been doing, his parents are quick to help him, without much judgement. I feel that this would be a little uncharacteristic in the ’80s, but I felt like it was so necessary to this story.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

What I expected to be a quick and easy read surprised me–this book is more dark and haunting than I ever would have thought, and yet it explores these topics with great depth in less time than most.

Was this book missing something? I’m not sure. The reason I rated this book 4 stars was because I didn’t love it the way I’ve loved other books. I’m not sure if it was the time jump for me, or the formatting (it very closely resembles short stories compiled together). Yet, something held me from rating this one a 5 star book. Though, as you all know, I’m a bit stingy handing out those 5 stars to just any book.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. Though, please do consider the content warnings before going into this book, especially if you’ve had any recent brushes with grief.

If you love Stranger Things and are having trouble waiting for the next season, try this one. The boys ride their bikes through town, there’s a girl that’s independence rivals Elevens, and there’s also a lot of supernatural notes here. Plus, it takes place in the 1980s.

This book is definitely moving and dark–perfect for your October TBR.

For more book reviews, be sure to subscribe below for notifications, or check out my Book Reviews page here.

Type your email…

Share this:

• 10 Green Books to Read For St. Patrick’s Day
• The September House by Carissa Orlando–ATLP Book Review
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch–ATLP Book Review
• Whispers of Doom: Unmasking Secrets within ‘The Shadow of the Gods’
• Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite–ATLP Book Review

Discover more from AfterTheLastPage

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

A Journey of Words

Book review: the saturday night ghost club, the saturday night ghost club by craig davidson my rating: 1 / 5 genre: coming of age drama.

The blurb for this book says that it’s about some kids who spend the summer investigating local urban legends and ghost stories. It mentions the MC’s uncle with whom the MC spends most of his time. And in some places online, the book is compared to Stranger Things . None of these things is accurate. Oh, and you may see the book listed as horror. It’s not.

What really happens is that the summer passes quickly and only 5 local legends are investigated, the MC (Jake) goes long stretches without seeing his Uncle Calvin, and the only comparison that can be made to Stranger Things is that the book is set in the 80s and there are kids who do things.

The very first legend this club investigated was nice and creepy, and I thought it would ramp up from there. Instead, it ramped down. And the characters were limp and/or cliched. The girl felt like such a stereotype, and from the moment she’s introduced, Jake sees her as a goddess…for what reason, I still can’t tell you. Because she’s older, I guess?

Each chapter begins with tales of adult Jake’s life, from stories about his neurosurgeon cases to an account of his son being born. The reception of these parts seems to vary widely from reviewer to reviewer. I could have done without them, especially the too-descriptive explanations about how a brain looks and feels, and what it’s like to do surgery on one.

The “reveal” wasn’t very exciting, and I found it strange that the previous events didn’t all tie together like it seemed like they should (hard to explain what I mean without spoiling). Also, the book is possibly meant to be YA–it depends on where you look, but the MC is 12, after all–but there is some language and references to adult situations.

So clearly this book was a miss for me. I’m not generally one for horror anyway (and the fact that I read it a few days before Halloween is completely coincidence, as I don’t really do Halloween), but I thought it’d be a fun, intriguing read. Instead, I found myself wondering what the point of it was. And though I generally rate lower than the average book reviewer, this is the first book I’ve ever rated 1 star (I gave 1.5 stars once last year). I hate writing a review like this, and I know that the author put a lot of work into the book (as every author does) and that other people really liked it.

Find out more about The Saturday Night Ghost Club

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Share this:

Leave a comment cancel reply.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

Review and Q+A: The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

July 8, 2019 by David W Leave a Comment

Rating: ★★★★☆

A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of  Stranger Things   and  Stand by Me   about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends  

Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls – a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place – Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the “Saturday Night Ghost Club.” But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories,  The Saturday Night Ghost Club  is a note-perfect novel that poignantly examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become, and establishes Craig Davidson as a remarkable literary talent.

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advanced reading copy of The Saturday Night Ghost Club in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this ARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

I have actually been anticipating this novel for some time as I had seen it flashing across social media toward the end of last year/beginning of this year with its Canadian release. I ended up buying a HC copy of the Knopf Canada version solely based on the cover, you know, on top of it being by one of my favorite horror writers (Nick Cutter). Having said that, this reads noting like the novels he writes as Cutter. I have yet to read anything else Davidson has put out, but I have heard good things about Cataract City and Rust and Bone: Stories. After having read TSNGC, I will be adding these to my list ASAP.

So, you know how we cannot get enough nostalgic entertainment surrounding us right now? Well, The Saturday Night Ghost Club adds to the pile. Kids growing up in the 80’s: bullies, girls, weird late night trips with your Uncle to find ghosts. That type of thing. It has definitely earned its place in the category with Stranger Things, Boy’s Life, Stand By Me, etc. List goes on and, I’m sure, will continue growing until the writers of stranger things shrug their shoulders at what to do next.

This is a pretty quick read at around 270 pages, depending on your reading speed obviously, and can be finished in a day or 2. I wanted to lengthen it out a bit as it is a fairly emotional story to boot. I came into it expecting a Ghost Hunter-esque type story and ended up with a coming-of-age tale that I will be coming back to for years to come. Davidson really knows how to tug on the heartstrings and create characters that you can liken to yourself at their age. It is a very engaging story, fraught with ventures into the unknown, fantastic story-telling, and a climax that will have you erupting in tears.

Overall, if you enjoy coming-of-age tales with a drop of the paranormal, a hint of a love story, and a dash of horror, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a perfect late-summer read. I would honestly recommend it as a must-read to anybody, but I am a tad bias. I just wish I had had an Uncle Calvin growing up. Not saying my childhood was bad in any way, but TSNGC sounds like a much better way to spend time than catching lizards out in the backyard.

A Conversation with Craig Davidson Author of THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB (July 9; Penguin Books)

You’ve previously published four literary fiction books, including the short story collection Rust and Bone, which was adapted into a Golden Globe-nominated feature film, and penned bestselling horror novels under your pseudonym Nick Cutter. Already a prominent writer in Canadian fiction, THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB seems poised to be your big, breakout book in the U.S. Why do you think this novel will resonate with so many people? How did your previous books and your horror novels as Nick Cutter influence THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB? Well, it would be nice to break out, sure! I think this is probably the most, I guess you’d say, the most accessible book I’ve ever written? With my earlier work, well, those are the books of a young man, full of the things that some young men worry about, obsess over, aspire to—as a result, they were kinda violent, myopic in the way that twentysomethings can occasionally be, navel-gazing, all that. They were a true expression of how I felt at the time, for sure—all the things that vexed and bothered and energized me, they’re all on display. But they may’ve been narrowly focused for all that. The Cutter books … I’m really proud of those, but again, perhaps narrowly focused. They’re likely seen (fairly) as pretty extreme in some ways. They’re a product of the horror books I grew up reading; in addition to King and McCammon and Barker—who is himself a rough pill to swallow sometimes—I enjoyed David Schow, Joe Lansdale, Poppy Z Brite, Skipp and Spector; writers who had a real dangerous edge. So again, if your influences are those, and you set out to have your writing have those kinds of sharp teeth … well, likely it won’t be for everyone. But that’s not to say The Saturday Night Ghost Club is some sort of toothless pap. It’s just that it’s concerned, I suppose, with the things that now matter to me: being a parent, nostalgia and what it felt like to be a child, the mysteries innate to that time of one’s life. Maybe I’ve become an old softie, I don’t know.

THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB beautifully addresses sophisticated concepts of memory, trauma, family dynamics, and mental health, but it is also very accessible and includes fantastical elements that appeal to wide range of readers. How were you able to create a story that transcends both genre and generation and why was that important? I suppose to be honest it was a lot of luck! Most writers will likely tell you that they aren’t 100% sure where their ideas come from—although there’s often a hint of their own selves and history in their stories, as there is for me in this one—but ultimately I just find some characters who I want to follow, to invest myself in their fictional existences, and I guess to work through some element of life (my own, or just some ambient question that I’ve wanted to try to answer, in this case about the power and frailty of human memory) that I find fascinating. Where it goes from there, how successful it eventually is in capturing those characters or addressing that question … well, that’s one of the challenges and fears of writing a book. How close did I come to accomplishing my ambition, lofty though it may have been?

The mutability and fallibility of memory is a clear theme of THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB, which makes the protagonist Jake an unreliable narrator as he looks back on his summer as a twelve year old. Memory continues to be a thread throughout the narrative with adult Jake’s profession as a neurosurgeon and his eccentric Uncle Calvin’s severe brain trauma. How do you think readers will look back on Jake’s story after revealing himself to be an unreliable narrator? Why does the function of brains in relation to memories interest you? I think we’re all fairly unreliable narrators when it comes to chronicling our own lives, or even the lives of others. Some of that is pretty harmless—say, a person’s Instagram page presenting a narrative of that person that is more glamorous or wise or instructive than their lives most likely are; so, basically a curated presentation of one’s life—and some are probably more problematic. But I mean, I’ve curated my own memories over time. I remember things differently than they happened, I’m sure. I could talk to old friends about a given event from our childhood or even our twenties, and we all may remember it slightly (or vastly) differently. Why is that? Well, we evolve as people. The things we felt and believed at one point in our lives—and acted on those beliefs—may not prevail when we look back at those events years later. So we kind of … sanitize our past selves, I guess. Make our past selves measure up in some way to the people we believe ourselves to be now. Unless there’s definitive proof to dispute our memory, then I suppose it can hold up in the only place it really matters—our own minds. So however readers react to Jake, I suppose it may inform the way they think about their own memories, and how reliable they really are.

THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB introduces its central characters to the supernatural world. However, they come to learn that the real monsters, and ghosts that haunt us, are human. Through the scenes depicting human violence, you weave in stories of how far one will go to protect those they love. What were you trying to convey about the challenges of protecting someone from the world and themselves and, as a father yourself, particularly the desire for parents to protect their children? I think a lot of that comes from being a parent now. Someone wrote that being a parent opens up this new intensity of love—like, something that registers on a different tenor or timbre than romantic love, or love for a friend. I’m not sure that’s the case. It could be for some, that’s not for me to say. But I do feel that it unlocked a new level of fear. I feel fear that I never really dreamt was possible when I think of all the terrible things that could happen to my kid. A lot of it is stupid, daydream-y ridiculous things, shark attacks and bizarre unfeasible threats, but they feel real to me! But in the end, I won’t always be there to protect my son. I won’t be there when he needs me, not always, and anyway, he may not take any advice I have to offer. So a great deal of that kind of love—of all love, really—is helplessness. You’re helpless to make someone love you, and you’re helpless sometimes to help those you love so much. In THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB, you alternate between scenes of twelve-year-old Jake and adult Jake’s perspective, which creates a fascinating juxtaposition between the experiences that shape us as children and who we become as adults. How do you write such complex children? I just came back from picking up our six-year-old from daycare, and it always amazes me the innocence of emotion and, I guess, need, on display. As adults, we withhold things, don’t say what we mean (or not quite), and sometimes fail to let other people know how we feel about them, good or bad. And that’s likely the way it needs to be to have a functioning adult society. But the kids in this novel (and in a way, Uncle Calvin, who exists in somewhat of a permanent, willfully childlike state) are in that middle zone: old enough to know you can’t just blurt out your feelings like you did when you were five, but not yet cynical or wounded that they might chastise themselves for feeling things as deeply as they do. So, to be honest, I think any ability I may have on the front is really a “feel” kind of thing; you try different ideas and different thoughts out, as presented through your younger characters—and if they feel accurate, representative of how you yourself may have felt at that age, then you go with them. Niagara Falls is not only the perfect setting for a ghost story given its surrounding lore, such as the “Maid of the Mist,” but it is also your hometown. As someone who grew up in Cataract City, how much of the book is inspired by your own childhood? Why was it an important setting for the narrative? A great deal, yes. A huge amount. The Niagara Falls of the book is more the Niagara Falls of my childhood and teenagehood: the taffy stands, the cheap tourist junk shops, the cheesy haunted houses and wax museums. Clifton Hill’s really corporate now! They’ve got Starbucks and IHOPs on the strip now. All the mom and pop places are kinda gone. So again, it’s that feeling of going back, for me. The more I write, the older I get, the more I inevitably seem to retreat to those times and places and people in my past. It’s not that I don’t love my life now. I do. I’m so lucky, so grateful for it. But the world now has a complexity and threat that unnerves me sometimes. You’ve got people in positions of great power who don’t seem like they belong there, aren’t doing the right things, and vast swathes of people who support them anyway. So maybe I just skedaddle back into the past as a mental health measure! From Stranger Things to GLOW to The Americans, eighties nostalgia has become increasingly prevalent in media and pop culture over the last five years. Why do you think that decade is captivating viewers and readers right now? Why did you choose it as the time period for THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB? Yes, well, the simplest answer is: I grew up and came of age in the 80s. I basically thought, what year was it when I was Jake’s age? 1988. So I tried to put myself there, at the tail end of the 80s, and write from that perspective. I would guess the popularity may be due to simple nostalgia value, plus the fact that a lot of creative people from that generation are now in their thirties and forties, and are writing books and TV shows and films, and that’s the time-frame they gravitate to for the same reasons I do. The 80s feel like such a lightweight, untroubled decade now. The Amblin decade, right? The nineties, everyone became Wall Streeters. So it feels like the right decade to tell stories for some of us who grew up at the time, and it’s perhaps an embraceable decade for those who didn’t.

About David W

Believer, Hubby, Girl Dad. Owner/CEO of FanFiAddict. Works a not so flashy day job in central Alabama. Furthest thing from a redneck and doesn’t say Roll Tide. Enjoys fantasy, science fiction, horror and thrillers but not much else (especially kissy kissy).

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review: The Devising (The Dark Oak Chronicles #3) by Jacob Sannox

Review: Araña and Spider-man 2099: Dark Tomorrow (Marvel Press Novels) by Alex Segura

Book Review: LastRock (Great Souls #3) by Phil Tucker

Reader interactions.

July 8, 2019 at 7:46 am

I’ve been wanting to check this out for a bit!

July 8, 2019 at 7:59 am

It’s totes worth it!

I loved this too! Awesome review and Q&A😁

July 8, 2019 at 7:57 am

I’m so glad you did! Thank you!

July 9, 2019 at 12:35 am

Man, I loved this book. The ending tore my heart out. Great review and interview!

July 9, 2019 at 5:29 am

July 9, 2019 at 12:58 am

As a child of the eighties, I love these books that are a little bit nostalgic. This looks like a great book for summer to share with my teenage boys.

July 9, 2019 at 5:31 am

Absolutely!

December 15, 2020 at 11:06 pm

Are there a list of questions to provoke discussion for our book club?

December 16, 2020 at 5:12 am

You’re more than welcome to pull from the post, but I don’t have a set that I can send.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Kindle Store
• Kindle eBooks
• Literature & Fiction

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

The Saturday Night Ghost Club: A Novel Kindle Edition

• Print length 273 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Knopf Canada
• Publication date August 14, 2018
• File size 2653 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B077CSX3GD
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Canada (August 14, 2018)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 14, 2018
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2653 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages
• #9,995 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #10,112 in Romance Literary Fiction
• #11,720 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices