It's a shame the book doesn't quite live up to it.
We have three groups of characters to follow - an israeli secret agent and his new girlfriend following a lead about a new hashish fed assassin cult, a bunch of hippies looking for "The experience" in a far off valley led by an American psychopath into human sacrifice, and finally the beautifiul archeologist, her father and her new love interest who are excavating a secret hidden tomb in the same valley.
So far so cliched. Maybe the characters will meet in interesting ways. Maybe they'll team up against the ghoul which pops up occasionally in the narrative. Maybe that would be hoping for too much.
The book is solidly written, and the characters fairly well drawn - even if there are a couple or more blatant sterotypes in there.
Unfortunately, none of the groups ever meet up for more than a page at a time. There are just three narractives that sort of circle each other and only meet tangentially. Particularly the spy character. He only runs into one member of the rest of the central cast and that's in the final pages. He doesn't do anything to move along anyone's narrative but his own.
The same goes for the eponymous ghoul. It just sits in wait and doesn't really do much. It eats a couple of people. and runs away from one. It doesn't actually have any impact on any of the plot lines in what's intended to be its own book.
The ending leaves things wide open for a sequel. In other words, it leaves most of the story so far totally unresolved. I'm hoping the sequel doesn't exist.
This book sells for the cheapest on Amazon at about £26. This can only be for that rather fetching Les Edwards artwork on the cover. It certainly isn't because the book is any kind of great literature.
As far as these potboilers go, it's ok. I've read a lot worse. I've read a hell of a lot better though.
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