Goodreads Summary: When her mother is hospitalization for mental illness, Ashlyn Caverhill is crushed to be forced to go live with her grandmother in Prescott Junction, Maine. Nothing ever happens in this small, closed town. Nothing except for the ghost train that rolls through on the rusted lines on dark nights – the one the townsfolk pretend not to hear it as it comes to claim tortured souls.
Title: Ashlyn's RadioAuthor: Wilson Doherty
Publisher: Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty
Release Date: June 2011
Source: Author's for review, thank you!
I am not usually into books about ghosts that are in the current, but this book was just fantastic. It was full of mystery, intense suspense and thrilling action. And romance of course.
Ashlyn Caverhill thought she was a typical 17 year old until her Mother became ill and was admitted into a psychiatric ward near her Grandmother. Ashlyn is now living with her Grandmother in a little town called Prescott Junction, or Podunk Junction as Ashlyn calls it.
There is a mystery in the town that nobody likes talking about. There is a ghost train that comes through the abandoned station at night. Nobody goes out at night, it's just not done. All the towns folk know about the mysterious train, but all they do is hide in their homes and ignore it. At night Ashlyn hears the train's whistle and music from the Radio. When she asks her Grandmother about it, she just tells Ashlyn to stay in her bed and do not go out at night.
Ashlyn starts school and almost immediately makes friends with Rachel, the witch, the local loco. Rachel is willing to tell Ashlyn about the ghost train and has told her she has seen it many times.
Ashlyn's Grandmother breeds show dogs and hired a boy to help maintain the kennels. Ashlyn looks out her bedroom window to see the boy playing with the dogs. Caden Williams is the most handsome boy she has ever laid her eyes on. She introduces herself and they soon become friends and even more than friends. Rachel, Caden and Ashlyn become good friends and Rachel offers to show them THE ghost train.
One Friday night Ashlyn sneaks out to visit the train with her friends. She is hoping it is all a hoax and tries to calm her nerves. But too soon they all hear the trains whistle coming down the tracks. Ashlyn and Caden cannot believe their eyes, it is a monster of a train, black and full of trapped souls. The conductor is part flesh and part bones, the most hideous creature Ashlyn has ever seen. Rachel is drawn to the train and Ashlyn and Caden are on a mission to not let Rachel get on board.
There is an old story about the Caverhill women, starting with Ashlyn's Great Grandmother. She is the one that bought the radio back when the war began. Ashlyn discovers her Grandmother in the basement with a shotgun one night and is appalled to see her Grandmother trying to blow up the radio. The radio is blown to pieces but it still broadcasts the song and news. Ashlyn is shocked and frightened, but she does hear some of the words in the news broadcast about the towns people.
Can Ashlyn stop her friend from boarding that train? Will Caden and Ashlyn's relationship last after the frightening events on that night with what they witnessed? Can Ashlyn find out the true story of the train, the radio and her father? Can the train ever be stopped and the souls set free?
This is a wonderfully frightening story. The song "She'll be coming 'round the mountain" has been stuck in my head ever since starting the book. I go to bed at night with it stuck there and thinking about this black ghost train full of souls. Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty have created a very imaginative tale that you can't put down. I was laughing at Rachel's quirkiness and Ashlyn's attempts to seduce Caden; crying with tears streaming down my cheeks with Ashlyn visiting her Mother and her Grandmother's fear. You can't help but be drawn into the mystery and the frightening story behind the ghost train. A must read!
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