- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Pan Books; New edition edition (10 July 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330367447
- ISBN-13: 978-0330367448
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,127,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Journalist Joanna Cross has exposed a group of fraudulent spiritualists. Intrigued by claims of psychologist Sam Towne, that paranormal phenomena do in fact exist, Joanna enters into his experiment to "create" a ghost. But the birth of their creation is leading to the death of all those involved.
About the Author
David Ambrose read law at Oxford and has worked internationally in theatre, film and television. For more information, visit his official website on www.davidambrose.com
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Suppose you are a parapsychologist and you decide to create an imaginary ghost, which will help prove your theory that "ghosts" are really some kind of psychokinetic Jungian construct, put together by a collective unconscious? Now, further suppose that you succeed in your experiment and this ghost seems to start acting of its own accord. Does this make the ghost real or a construct of its creators?
This is the basic hypothesis of David Ambrose's "Superstition", and the horrors that follow are based on the struggle between the wills of the group that created an imaginary ghost, and the will of the imaginary ghost that seems to think that he is real. As one of the characters observes, this leads to certain "incompatibilities" which, somehow, have to be resolved. Either the ghost must die, or its creators must.
Readers of this book who know their SF will be irresistibly reminded of Ursula Le Guin's "Lathe of Heaven" rather than the more obvious candidate when it comes to shifting perceptions of reality -- Philip K Dick. There is, though, one moment that also has echoes of an incident in "The Man In The High Castle".
Superstition is more, therefore, than your average UK horror shocker involving the supernatural. It poses fundamental questions about the natures of reality and time, of cause and effect. And, in a fashion, it comes up with possible answers. Ambrose can also write with admirable fluidity, which made this an easy book to read in a day and a hard one to put down without doing so.
Notwithstanding this, most of the characters come across as channels for the plot rather than individuals in their own right. We have the stereotypical rich philanthropist, sleight-of-hand "mediums", love affair between the two leading characters, and so on. None of them ever really jump off the page and have the reader saying "Yes, I know this person, they seem real to me".
Curiously, the most real character is the imaginary ghost. Was this perhaps deliberate on Ambrose's part, or am I giving him too much credit?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Apparently this book is based (loosely) around events that took place in Toronto in the ealry 1970s and has been widely written about in Parapsychology literature.
I stumbled upon this book merely by chance decided to give it a go as I love horror but struggle to find books or films that are scarey.
A couple of researchers recruit a group of volunteers to test out the hypothesis that it would be possible to create a poltergeist. Needless to say the group create an identity for a ghost between them and then proceed to use a Ouija board to interact with it.
As you might expect things don't quite go to plan and they soon realise they have started something that they do not have the power to stop.
Unlike many, many horror books I've read this seriously unnerved me! Once things take a turn for the worst, the descriptions of telekinetic and poltergeist activity turned nasty, really tapped into some primevil fear and I was on really on edge!
There is a fabulous twist in the plot that turns everything upside down and greatly adds to the sense of panic and fear. I will not spoil it here.
Some of what happens to the characters shook me up badly and in some ways undermined my sense of reality. For me Superstition not only scared me, it also questioned my perspective, my supposed grip on reality.
Somehow Dabid Ambrose manages to tap into not only overt fear, but also a more instinctual and vague sense of dread in Superstition.
It is a rare occassion that I am frightened or on edge after reading or watching horror, but Superstition frayed my nerves! So much so, that as a certified adrenaline/fear junkie I've bought some of his other books!! LOL
I stumbled upon this book merely by chance decided to give it a go as I love horror but struggle to find books or films that are scarey.
A couple of researchers recruit a group of volunteers to test out the hypothesis that it would be possible to create a poltergeist. Needless to say the group create an identity for a ghost between them and then proceed to use a Ouija board to interact with it.
As you might expect things don't quite go to plan and they soon realise they have started something that they do not have the power to stop.
Unlike many, many horror books I've read this seriously unnerved me! Once things take a turn for the worst, the descriptions of telekinetic and poltergeist activity turned nasty, really tapped into some primevil fear and I was on really on edge!
There is a fabulous twist in the plot that turns everything upside down and greatly adds to the sense of panic and fear. I will not spoil it here.
Some of what happens to the characters shook me up badly and in some ways undermined my sense of reality. For me Superstition not only scared me, it also questioned my perspective, my supposed grip on reality.
Somehow Dabid Ambrose manages to tap into not only overt fear, but also a more instinctual and vague sense of dread in Superstition.
It is a rare occassion that I am frightened or on edge after reading or watching horror, but Superstition frayed my nerves! So much so, that as a certified adrenaline/fear junkie I've bought some of his other books!! LOL
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I found this book to be a rare thing: something its cover says. It is disturbing and frightening. I had weird dreams based on it. It was scarey, I hasten to add, because of blood, sex, shock, and gore; there's none of that. (Well, perhaps a teeny bit.) Yet the whole thing is wonderfully paced, convincing, nail-biting stuff. Very readable, very well-written, this is Ambrose's yet. (I don't want to give anything away about the plot; don't read the adverts or back, don't cheat and turn to the last few pages, just buy it and read it.)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Superstition
A journalist, into exposing fake mediums etc gets involved with a paranormal research group who want to create a ghost. Unsurprisingly things, turn nasty. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Rich
Something different
I picked up another David Ambrose book at a holiday villa and really enjoyed it so I wanted to read some more by him! Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by Ojjah
The only book that scared me and made me even consider the existence...
I am a pretty synical guy and believe me this book will leave you astounded. An excellent narrative trying to bridge the gap between science and the paranormal. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2008 by Dr. Sasi Attili
Good idea badly written
The writing style is clumsy, as if the idea was to create a good plot to be turned into a screenplay. Read more
Published on 2 April 2000
Make sure you hear no strange noises when reading this!
Are ghosts real or are they just mind over matter, a fragment of our own imagination conjuring up images of what we think are there? Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2000
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