Audiobook Review: The Ghost Slept Over by Marshall Thornton

When failed actor Cal Parsons travels to rural New York to claim the estate of his famous and estranged ex-partner, he discovers something he wasn't expecting...the ghost of his ex! And worse, his ex invites Cal to join him for all eternity.

As Cal attempts to rid himself of the ghost by any means, he begins to fall for the attractive attorney representing the estate. Will Cal be able to begin a new relationship or will he be seduced into the ever after?

Listening Length: 6 hours and 13 minutes
Narrator: Jason Frazier

Hi. *waves*

It’s me in my corner. Again. In my box of shame.

Full disclosure. I’m not one who usually likes ghost stories, but the chance at listening to an audio and a Marshall Thornton one at that, I was hopeful this would change my mind. It didn’t.

Basically this is about Cal, a non-working actor scraping by but just barely. Luck is on his side when he confoundingly inherits the estate of his very rich ex whom he hasn’t seen in 15 years. As Cal arrives in the small town where his inheritance is located, he just wants to quickly liquidate things and move on. However, his dead ex Mac won’t let him do so easily, and Cal unknowingly gets pulled into an extended stay due to the machinations of the town’s small theatre group who're desperate to gain some extensive funding from him. In and amongst these happenings, Cal finds himself getting more and more romantically entangled with lawyer Dewey, who is happy to help him navigate and manage his new assets.

So….. I apparently am not the target audience for such, and apparently my sense of humor switch was not turned on either. The reason why I often scoff at ghosts is because I tire of shenanigans where the MC is trying to look sane while fending off a jealous, malicious, annoying spirit who just won’t let sleeping dogs lie. The farcical moments of everyone not being able to see said ghost, except the one person it’s “haunting”, can be a bit much. However, many many readers thought this funny and quirky so don’t mind me in my corner. I just found the greedy townsfolk bent on getting Cal’s money and the selfish reasons for why Mac wanted him so badly, overshadowed the romance brewing between Cal and Dewey, and it was quite frustrating.

You can’t win ‘em all right?

Narrated by Jason Frazier, I liken him to a more subdued Joel Leslie which may work for some and not for others. However, his very distinctive cadence and rhythm took some getting used to and I never quite warmed up to him, despite his enthusiastic interpretation and great voice distinction.

I so wanted to like this hard. I won’t say never to another ghost story, but I think for now, I’ll just stick to Thornton’s mysteries instead.



Thanks to the author/publisher for the audio in exchange for an honest review.