Title: The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Author: Craig Davidson

Release date: August 14th, 2018

One thing I’ve found, through being a voracious reader, reviewing everything I read and getting older, is that a lot of my reviews have been more introspective, more memoir-ish, in that when things connect and it brings me back to a time and place I’ve long forgotten or not visited for many years, I’ll often discuss that in the review, which to some maybe annoying as heck, and others just may enjoy.

Craig Davidson is a few years older than myself, but one thing we share in common, is the growing up in a small town in Canada and having most of our formative years being in the late 80s and early 90s.

This book had me enraptured, squeezed tight with nostalgia and the overwhelming knowledge that something bad had happened and how would its tentacles reach those around this event?

I grew up in Burton, BC, Canada, population maybe 100? I grew up in the time of party lines, three TV channels, NHL games only on Saturday Nights and thinking nothing was bigger than winning the Stanley Cup. When I arrived, my parents lived in a trailer near the beach, across from the Hankins. It wasn’t long until the kind lady across the gravel road became Grandma Hankins, which she remained until she passed away a few years back. Grandma Hankins was my original gateway into the unknown. She always had Weekly World News tabloids laying around and when I’d ask her questions, she’d give me as straight of an answer as she felt necessary. She never teased me about Bat Boy or the Loch Ness Monster or Elvis meeting Bigfoot, instead she answered as though all of that was fact. She was my introduction to Spontaneous Human Combustion, an affliction that still haunts me to this day.

My Grandma Hankins was my own Uncle C, a character that was paramount in this novel.

Now, before I dive deeper into this review, I have to also mention, this story is centered around two friends, Jake and Billy, who along with Jake’s Uncle (and occasionally Billy’s sister Dove and Uncle C’s friend Lex) form a Ghost Searching Club. Nothing official, just a few trips out around the town to seek out things, and discover what people don’t want you to know. God, did this bring me back. I tried desperately a few times to create a similar thing with my few childhood friends. Back at that age, Chad didn’t care about ghosts, he wanted to rip around on his dirt bike or smash bottles. Lorne didn’t care about ghosts, he wanted to play sports or play in the sandpit with our Tonka’s. My younger friend, Tyson didn’t care about ghosts, unless it was a ghost movie that had boobs in it. And my friend Simon wanted to play video games, discuss which girls were getting boobs and try and steal his older brother’s porn.

My own attempts at a Saturday Night Ghost Club continually failed, so like most of my childhood, where I was on my own a lot and created worlds and characters in my own head, I went about it on my own.

What I liked: As I mentioned, the story follows Jake, a neurosurgeon, looking back at a special time in his childhood when he made a true friend, spent time with his Uncle C, and fell in love for the first time.

Now, it may sound crazy to some to say this, but this was the first time I’ve read a proper Craig Davidson book. I first discovered him as Nick Cutter, reading both ‘The Troop’ and ‘The Deep.’ I then read two of his releases (‘The Preserve’ and ‘The Coliseum’) under his Patrick Lestewka pseudonym. Not that the Davidson releases haven’t interested me, it just happened to occur in that order. This book is pristine. The writing is crisp, the pages drip with nostalgia and emotion and there are a few moments in here of genuine fright. While, for some, this may be a book that falls flat as it doesn’t have any of the gore that Cutter/Lestewka reads are known for, this book is simply haunting and made me nervous over what was happening.

I loved the lessons/anecdotal openings to each chapter, where grown up Jake would share something from his current job that related back to that time in his life. It really helped to tie our adult existence into our childhood experiences. Also, the usage of the character, Lex, Uncle C’s best friend, was spot on. A way to gauge each instance and ultimately a barometer that showed the rapid spiral that was happening.

Watching Jake and Billy become friends was such a joy. Early on we learn that Jake often makes friends with new kids, only to have them move on to other kids and ignore or torment him later on. To see Billy be a true friend was so heartwarming. As well, Dove was a great character. That wild child influence who pushed Jake out of his comfort zone, while also acting as that free spirit who was up for anything. She really added to the nostalgia feelings that carried throughout.

Davidson wraps it all up by including an ever present bully, parents who care deeply about their son and want to see him become the most he can be, and the town itself acting as a fluid character, one offering places to explore but darkness around every corner.

What I didn’t like: Frankly, I loved this book and a big part of that is the direct relatability to so many elements in here. I think some may not get that same attachment or association if they’ve not experienced a lot of what’s happened in this book and that may really sway a readers experience with this release.

Why you should buy this: Over the last five years, my life has changed immensely and I’ve begun to discover that books seem to end up at the top of my TBR just when I need it. Oddly, I just recently watched a live interview between Craig and Andrew Pyper and the fact that I discovered both of those writers at the same time, when I bought ‘The Demonologist’ and ‘The Troop’ together all those years ago in Abbotsford, really brought this one around and landed hard in my soul.

I’m now a forty year old father, a husband, no longer an athlete, no longer a university student, no longer in high school, and no longer that lonely kid playing in the forest behind our home, pretending to be searching for ghosts and sasquatch and Chupacabra, scared that I was about to spontaneously combust. You can’t go back in time, but you can try and revisit it in some sense, some fashion that makes you smile, and makes you happy that you had that time, that freedom.

As for this book, it unlocked a lot of those emotions, made me reach over and hug my son, knowing that soon I’ll be having to guide him through those years, when kids can be mean, shadows can be monsters and the future never looked so far away.

My only sorrow with this book, and in turn this review, is that Craig’s not on social media, that I can’t tag him in this review or DM him to say thank you for returning me to those days long since lived. I may reach out and find a way to email him, but until then – just know, this book is precious, this book is beautiful, and if you lived a similar childhood – of seeking out strange things, enjoying the wind in your hair and the clack-clack-clack of baseball cards on your spokes as you rode your bike faster than a race car – this book is one you have to read.

Coming of age brilliance.

5/5