Steel Ghosts: 6

Michael Paine, Steel Ghosts (Berkley, 2005) Michael Paine is quite the enigma. He wrote three novels in the late eighties and early nineties (only one of which, Owl Light, I've been able to track down; a fine book it is, too), then dropped out of sight for almost fifteen years. Earlier this year, Paine showed up on bookshelves again with Steel Ghosts. And let me tell you, folks, it's been well worth the wait. Steel Ghosts centers around Steadbridge, Pennsylvania, a dead steel town that just hasn't realized its demise. Its factory, Number Five, shut down ten years before, and there was a mass exodus of populace. The town now has a skeleton crew keeping it alive, and their main form of entertainment is drinking away their relief checks. Tom Kruvener, who grew up in Steadbridge, mentions offhand in a meeting at Overbrook, the firm he works for, that Number Five would probably make a great tax write-off if they bought it, demolished it, and put up a movie studio there. Despite having sworn to never set foot in Steadbridge again, he finds himself heading back to scout locations for a Z-grade horror flick (titled, amusingly, The Colors of Hell-- the name of one of Paine's older novels) at the behest of his superiors. Steel Ghosts is your classic haunted-house tale, but it's far more than that, as well. Tom and his old friends Ruth and Bill spend a lot of time mulling over the old saw "you can't go home again," and Paine adds another layer to the discussion by not only having the town, but Tom's old friends, change remarkably in his absence as well. It's almost as if he's penned a coming-of-age tale where the actual coming-of-age took place offscreen, and the characters are musing on how and why it all happened. There's also a subtext about the death of the Pennsylvania steel industry. All this, of course, plays second fiddle (as it well should) to the simple ghost story that overlies it all, and it is at the simple ghost story that Paine excels. Steel Ghosts is the kind of horror novel that you'll go back to years later because you still remember a random piece of scenery and feel the sudden need to re-read the book. I have little doubt that the second (and third, and fourth) time I read this, it'll be just as good. Welcome back, Mr. Paine, we have missed you. **** ½

It seems the only thing truly alive in the old steel town of Steadbridge, PA are its dead people. Here, Michael Paine takes the pulp horror fiction genre and ups the ante by giving us believable, three-dimensional characters: Tom, the NYC film executive who ambivalently returns to his hometown to start up an industry in the town's abandoned mill; Ruth, a single mother of a claivoyant son. Whether alive or dead, no one seems capable of leaving Steadbridge; all are rooted in place to fulfill some unfinished imperative. Paine is obviously a shrewd observer of the human condition. He gives us more than our money's worth by creating not only first rate moments of suspense and terror, but he also supplies a cautionary tale. Namely, the cost of inertia, the price of refusing to change when change is the only option. He also imparts the nagging realization of how this country's wealth was/is built on the backs of those people who do filthy, demeaning, dehumanizing jobs; many of whom frequently lose life and limb in the process. Paine also proves himself quite a humorist when using his characters to comment astutely on everything from the film business to the Catholic church. As I said earlier, you get more than you bargained for in this book, and all of it worth the time. A minor gem.

I really enjoyed this story. I can relate to the decrepit industrial environment that reminded me of Gary, Indiana and all the bankrupt steel mills. I do not usually read ghost stories but this one had an atmosphere that kept my interest. Mr. Paine also writes with a wit that I find most enjoyable. Highly recommended.

I'm sure there are plenty of snobbish literary critics who would find some fault with this book, but for me, the true measure of a fiction novel is whether or not you enjoyed reading it. I did very much; in fact I even slowed my reading of it in order to make it last. Turn on your reading light in an otherwise darkened room and enjoy your stay in "Steadbridge"!

I thought this book was terrific - a nice sense of mystery and creeping dread. I could hardly put it down. The principal characters were well written and refreshingly complex. Highly recommended.