Reviews

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

jamielee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

magicmikel's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyed it! Found it charming and poignant. Went in blind, expecting horror based on the description. Definitely wasn't that. But still, I quite liked it. 

awxblue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

kbarentbaler's review against another edition

5.0

Came for the familial ties to the Niagara area and stayed for the enthralling reminders of youth. I know the areas and locales written about throughout the novel and having that connection pulled me back into wanting to have had my own Saturday Nigh Ghost Club at that age.

Even if you’re not familiar with the Niagara area, you’ll still be pulled into Jake’s story and those of the people he cares for. You’ll stay for the scares and the twist ending that’ll leave you up way past bedtime to finish.

kittynovaaaa's review against another edition

3.0

3.8

dreadfully boring (there’s no reason it took me 3 days to read this and it was literally barely 200 pages long), not scary at all (like a goosebumps tv episode), and actually pretty sad

jenanson3's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

curlyb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

deirdrerose96's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

catyreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

the writing in this book is truly spectacular 

blossom_holland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

“I was scared—with that crystalline, childish fear of being caught and punished. That fear thrashed behind my rib cage like a bird in cupped hands, perhaps the last truly childlike instance of that emotion I’d ever feel. That fear is a kind of magic. As you get older, the texture of your fear changes. You’re no longer afraid of the things you had absolute faith in as a child: that you’d die in convulsions from inhaling the gas from a shattered lightbulb, that chewing apple pips brought on death by cyanide poisoning, or that a circus dwarf had actually bounced off a trampoline into the mouth of a hungry hippo. You stop believing in the things my uncle believed in. Even if your mind wants to go there, it has lost the nimbleness needed to make the leap. That magic gets kicked out of you, churched out, shamed out—or worse, you steal it from yourself. It gets embarrassed out of you by the kids who run the same stretch of streets and grown-ups who say it’s time to put away childish things. By degrees, you kill your own magic. Before long your fears become adult ones: crushing debts and responsibilities, sick parents and sick kids, the possibility of dying unremembered or unloved. Fears of not being the person you were so certain you’d grow up to be.” 

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson is a poignant coming-of-age novel that blends nostalgia with the supernatural. Set in 1980s Niagara Falls, it follows twelve-year-old Jake as he joins his eccentric uncle’s ghost-hunting club. What begins as a summer of eerie adventures gradually reveals deeper, haunting truths about trauma and memory. Davidson’s writing is both tender and eerie, capturing the bittersweet transition from childhood innocence to the complexities of adulthood. The novel is a beautifully crafted exploration of how the past continues to haunt us in unexpected ways.

Perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Gravity Falls.