Book Title: Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum
Author: Stephan Prosapio
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
DISAPPOINTMENT!!!
Obviously, most of the books I've reviewed thus far are of the paranormal fiction nature. Therefore, you are safe to further assume, if I read it, I also WATCH it on TV.
The characters in this book seem to be not so loosely based on people from paranormal TV shows on cable. Even going so far as to name one of the characters "Zach" which, if you watch "Ghost TV" as my four year granddaughter calls it, is the Lead Investigator of the "WHOA DUDE!" show, again as my four year old granddaughter calls it; He's muscular, got tattoos and he and his cohorts are, what they refer to as "locked down" at an investigative site, so they can make sure the area is free of contamination. (Or is it so they can't freak and run out like they've tried to in their early days?)
Given that information, the lack of inventiveness for character building and background gives the reader, at least this reader,the chance to confuse characters, given that the character of "Zach" already gives me a mental image of that person in the above paragraph, from personality and stature to cadence of speech patterns.
The lead character as a person, without even using his name, seems to be based upon another paranormal research team founded at a well known college and was also on TV. This founder went on to write an autobiography where he admits to being bi-sexual, whereas in this book, Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum, the lead character is described as being effeminate (Which is defined as an adjective of a man, having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman or unmanly.) which goes as far as one can to get as close to the TV college ghost hunter without taking the book character's self proclaimed title of "Straight" away from him.
The next main character is called "Bryce". He's as close to the Lead Investigator of "WHOA DUDE!" "Ghost TV" as you can get. In fact, in this book this character indulges in smoking pot, which would explain a lot of the actual TV show in reality, if we didn't already know THAT lead investigator has severe respiratory issues. Even down to the ritual of "pounding fists" before a "ghost hunt" is used by "Bryce" and his team. REALLY!?
I could go on and on about the lack of originality in the characters, but let's look at the story now.
The story was intriguing, and the plot was a good one, however I was even reminded of movies I'd already seen when reading this. Does "I see ghosts" mean anything to you? There are burial grounds, fires and demons and ghosts, murders and spirits who want a physical body. Good story, bad characters.
I am not Catholic, however it is THOROUGHLY pointed out that the lead character is and through the book you learn he has an "affliction" that the Catholic Church refers to as "Stigmata". However, he also shares his body with his God-Father/Uncle's Spirit who shows him and tells him paranormal things and tries to keep him and his team safe. However, through the Stigmata along with those paranormal visions (which he calls an "episode" and the longer they last, the more blood and fluids he loses, taking him close to death at times.) he tries not use his "gift" too much, relying on his research and science.
The epilogue of the book was a nice way to wrap up some of the loose ends, but was obviously taken, yet again, from the TV Shows in the way it was written and portrayed.
2.5 out of 5 Bookmarks (the 2.5 is because the story itself was decent, but I just couldn't get past the crappy characters and TV show rip-offs. If the story was as bad as the characters it would be much lower!)
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