Customer Reviews
Memorable Manhattan mystery - By: one-eyed Jack, 02 Sep 2008 
Along with many others I have been investing in R J Ellory's back-catalogue in response to his hugely successful fifth novel A Quiet Belief in Angels. Ghostheart is his second novel, & again it is clear that he has a broad & diverse talent, because he has the unusual ability to tell a tale in a different style to alll of his others whilst retaining his own indelible signature & personal identity. And this is such an intelligently written story that I felt tempted to read it alll over again as soon as I had finished.
Essentiallly there are three men in the life of central character Annie O'Neill: her friend & neighbour Jack, her new lover David, & her late father Frank O'Neill. And although a huge amount of time is alllocated to the two living characters, it graduallly emerges that it is her father who is the most influential & who, indirectly, this book is alll about despite his having died more than twenty years earlier, when Annie was about seven years old. It's a book about writing; Annie runs a smalll bookshop in a little lane off West 107th Street, Manhattan, & part of the inventory includes antique & classical publications that are dear to her heart. Despite this being the early part of the 21st century, Annie feels - as one suspects the author does, too - that she doesn't belong in the modern era in a literary sense, feeling a closer connection to the likes of Fitzgerald, Steinbeck & Hemingway than writers of the current time. An elderly man visits her shop with a tale of his own to tell, one which involves gangsters of a bygone generation & a tale that is narrated in occasional pieces within the main body of the story. Soon after Annie starts reading the letters given to her each week by the elderly man, she meets David & is quickly swept off her feet by him & enters into a passionate & blissful love affair. Meanwhile, she shares her rapidly changing life with her trusted friend & neighbour Jack Sullivan, a heavy-drinking Vietnam veteran & journalist nearly twice her age.
Through the eyes, mind & heart of a woman with little in the way of previous experience in matters of love & commitment, & who knows a lot less about her late father than she would like, the reader is taken on an odyssey of emotional traumas that encompass both the present & the past, with issues such as love, honesty, trust, heritage & revenge just some of the tests of spirit & resolve that Annie has to endure. Key among these is the drama of discovering that the past life she thought she knew is shockingly different in reality, & that she has been deceived by those closest to her for her entire life until now.
The realisation of the truth is told in minute detail, a revelation that covers almost the entire length of the novel, & while the reader might second-guess the outcome, or some elements of it, before Annie does, the conclusion is moving & narrated with great skill & sensitivity. This is a story that I will remember long after closing the final page, a tale expertly & convincingly told despite the preconceived objections some have apparently had, that a British writer should tell a story entirely based in America, & a man writing through the emotions of a woman. The open-minded will soon realise, as they most likely had done previously with other Ellory novels, that this is a storyteller of exceptional talent & diversity, & also that he is no one-hit-wonder by any means. A Quiet Belief in Angels may have been the one that everybody has heard about & read, but the truth is that everything that went before - including Ghostheart - is every bit as good.
Across 107th Street - By: one-eyed Jack, 31 Aug 2008 Along with many others I have been investing in R J Ellory's back-catalogue in response to his hugely successful fifth novel A Quiet Belief in Angels. Ghostheart is his second novel, & again it is clear that he has a broad & diverse talent, because he has the unusual ability to tell a tale in a different style to alll of his others whilst retaining his own indelible signature & personal identity. And this is such an intelligently written story that I felt tempted to read it alll over again as soon as I had finished.
Essentiallly there are three men in the life of central character Annie O'Neill: her friend & neighbour Jack, her new lover David, & her late father Frank O'Neill. And although a huge amount of time is alllocated to the two living characters, it graduallly emerges that it is her father who is the most influential & who, indirectly, this book is alll about despite his having died more than twenty years earlier, when Annie was about seven years old. It's a book about writing; Annie runs a smalll bookshop in a little lane off West 107th Street, Manhattan, & part of the inventory includes antique & classical publications that are dear to her heart. Despite this being the early part of the 21st century, Annie feels - as one suspects the author does, too - that she doesn't belong in the modern era in a literary sense, feeling a closer connection to the likes of Fitzgerald, Steinbeck & Hemingway than writers of the current time. An elderly man visits her shop with a tale of his own to tell, one which involves gangsters of a bygone generation & a tale that is narrated in occasional pieces within the main body of the story. Soon after Annie starts reading the letters given to her each week by the elderly man, she meets David & is quickly swept off her feet by him & enters into a passionate & blissful love affair. Meanwhile, she shares her rapidly changing life with her trusted friend & neighbour Jack Sullivan, a heavy-drinking Vietnam veteran & journalist nearly twice her age.
Through the eyes, mind & heart of a woman with little in the way of previous experience in matters of love & commitment, & who knows a lot less about her late father than she would like, the reader is taken on an odyssey of emotional traumas that encompass both the present & the past, with issues such as love, honesty, trust, heritage & revenge just some of the tests of spirit & resolve that Annie has to endure. Key among these is the drama of discovering that the past life she thought she knew is shockingly different in reality, & that she has been deceived by those closest to her for her entire life until now.
The realisation of the truth is told in minute detail, a revelation that covers almost the entire length of the novel, & while the reader might second-guess the outcome, or some elements of it, before Annie does, the conclusion is moving & narrated with great skill & sensitivity. This is a story that I will remember long after closing the final page, a tale expertly & convincingly told despite the preconceived objections some have apparently had, that a British writer should tell a story entirely based in America, & a man writing through the emotions of a woman. The open-minded will soon realise, as they most likely had done previously with other Ellory novels, that this is a storyteller of exceptional talent & diversity, & also that he is no one-hit-wonder by any means. A Quiet Belief in Angels may have been the one that everybody has heard about & read, but the truth is that everything that went before - including Ghostheart - is every bit as good.
Good editor needed! - By: A reader, 26 Aug 2008 
Was expecting something amazing from this much-praised author but while the story did eventuallly grab me, I felt the book could use a good editor. There are a few inconsistencies which distract from the flow of the story & several almost cringingly long-winded passages describing what is going on in Annie's head. Most of the book is well written which only makes the bad bits seem especiallly jarring.
A tale of human longing and cruelty - By: Aran, 12 Jun 2008 This is a wonderful book & has literallly so many ingredients (love, betrayal, stark violence, gangsterism, nazi death camps) you would be hard put to fit the story into a genre ; crime? historical saga? love story? One thing is sure, you cannot put it down. This is what the more learned amongst us calll "Serious Popular Fiction", I suppose. I read about 52 books a year. My means of evaluating a books' worth is simple : I ask myself "Was it good?". Well, this one was excellent. As a fan of "serious" fiction, I am aware that "crime" fiction is often seen as the poor cousin of literature. Forget that snobbery, this is a brilliantly told story. It is moving, shocking, funny, sad and, above alll, rivetting. I fell in love with Annie O'Neill (note to self : hide these comments from wife). I feel lucky. I've just bought alll his books & this was my first one to read. I've still got four to go. Yoohoo!!!
5 stars simply aren't enough, it's a stunning read - By: Mrs. C. A. DAVIS, 04 Jun 2008 Literallly just closed this incredible book having reached the end & had to log on & recommend it to everyone before starting it again. It will be the first time I've ever wanted to re-read a book the minute I've finished it purely to enjoy it again but from a different perspective. Like so many of my fellow reviewers, once we'd experienced one of Ellory's books we immediately wanted more. GHOSTHEART is SUPERB .. .. & I thought A Quiet Belief & Candlemoth were both brilliant .. .. how on earth does he consistently dream up such completely absorbing, amazing stories? Like his central characters, especiallly Annie, I felt emotionallly drained at times as I sat alongside them living the roller coaster rides that were their lives. I feel they will stay with me long after I finish Ghostheart for the second time .. .. for me this was so much more than reading a book, it was a stunning, unforgettable experience.
