The Saturday Night Ghost Club – Craig Davidson

Reality never changes.  Only our recollections of it do.  Whenever a moment passes, we pass along with it into the realm of memory.  And in that realm, geometries change.  Contours shift, shades lighten, objectivities dissolve.  Memory becomes what we need it to be.

Neurosurgeon Jake Breaker recalls a summer spent in Niagara Falls many years ago when along with two of his friends and his eccentric Uncle C, they formed the Saturday Night Ghost Club – a ragtag group of misfits who explored the urban myths of Cataract City.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a remarkable novel.  Although it is set in the heart of the 1980s, it doesn’t resemble the current trend of mining nostalgia for a quick buck – characters aren’t quipping quotes from sci-fi movies or talking about the next great 8-bit video game on the horizon.  Instead, this story focuses on memory and the power of the human mind to re-shape our own past for better or for worse – how the events of your life will shape and define you, even if you remember them differently than they happened.

As much as I loved Cataract City – and I would probably still consider that my favorite of Davidson’s books to date – The Saturday Night Ghost Club makes a strong case as his best written work.  There are some passages and quotes within that absolutely blew me away.  I fell hard for this story.  There is some deep heartbreak on display here with characters who will stick with me for years to come.  This isn’t a novel you let wash over you; it isn’t a beach read.  It’s a story you find pieces of yourself in; similarities of the small town you grew up in and those who aged around you.  The best comparison I can make would be to some of Stephen King’s more introspective work like The Body (Stand By Me), an author whom Davidson credits in his acknowledgements as someone who shaped his style early on in his life.

If I had it my way, I would just fill this review with passage after passage, but I feel I would just end up copy/pasting the entire novel which I don’t believe I’m allowed to do.  The Saturday Night Ghost Club further establishes Craig as one of my favorite authors – this is not one you should miss.