Ghost Eater

I enjoyed reading this book. I don't read many books, nad this got me back into reading. I would recommend this book to anyone.

In the advance praise on the back cover of the book, James Nelson says "Ghost Eater puts me in mind of one of those classic movies, the kind they don't make any more. ... It takes us to a time and place rarely visited - Sumatra in the mid-nineteenth century - and sweeps us through the villages, jungles and rivers of that exotic land. ... This is a finely crafted novel, a book rich in character, authentic in time and place." This is precisely what Ghost Eater delivers: a story and setting that engulfs your imagination and whisks you far away from the glass and concrete of modern city life. There are several themes I found interesting: the natural history of the area, as introduced to the western world by Alfred Wallace in the 1800s; superstition, still amply common throughout modern Malaysia; and the journey itself, one not only of a string of mishaps worthy of a rousing river adventure in terra incognita, but a journey too through the psyche. Highland weaves these ideas in a lively, humorous, and often poetic way, touching all our senses and skillfully drawing us into this mystical world he has created. There is a wonderful scene of sailing through shrimp-pink waters of a river estuary as the ship maneuvers towards the sea, that seamlessly dissolves to a very very funny scene at the Captain's mess table. Myths and superstitions of the Malay are recreated and made real through various characters and scenes, with a clever and subtle twist that includes what was then radical: a psychologist! Women too play a more than passing role in this story, as they too contributed to the age of exploration, not to omit the more immediate parts they play in in the story and in Captain Vanders' life. To say more would spoil the plot and the very startling ending. Suffice it to say, Ghost Eater is excellent fun, a pleasure for those who appreciate skillful and creative story telling. It is, in short, a thrilling and entertaining read.