The Destruction of.
Family.
Friends.
Connection.
Feeling.
Healing.
Hope.
Faith.
Future.
Only alive, a human becomes_______.
After killing his entire family, we follow the violent path and dark, nihilistic introspection and transformation of an unnamed mass killer as he embarks on a cross-country killing spree, marking everyone for death.
I started writing No Ghost towards the end of 2014 and finished my first draft the summer of 2015. After the completions of final revisions and edits, No Ghost was officially completed May 2017.
A plethora of sources were utilized to conjure this book. To capture realistic graphic violence, war footage was carefully watched and studied. To capture feelings of desolation and sadness, the anonymous website Suicide Project was referenced from posted suicide notes. When writing, I would listen to bands I'd listen to when needing to channel out negativity. This helped build an authentic atmosphere of darkness I sought to capture in the story.
Each chapter consist of two sections. The first section depicts the actions as they are happening via third-person perspective. This is coupled with a second section, which is the first-person perspective of the protagonist reflecting on his thoughts and feelings in regards to what had happened. This chapter format was designed to balance out the story. Only third-person would simply be a story of violence without meaning. Only first-person would leave doubt if killings actually happened or were just in the protagonists mind.
Other scenes of interest include flashbacks. We may sometimes journey into the protagonists past, where we see how his life was before he changed. We also get a glimpse at various dream/nightmare scenes where people killed make their undead appearances. To foster the over-all theme of destruction outside the protagonist's perspective, unknown sources may give their own monologues of despair as well.
For those interested in getting to know the dark psychology of a given character, this would be an excellent choice. No Ghost offers the reader the unique opportunity to go on a psychological journey of a killer and read their thoughts and feelings. There is a feeling of honesty through visceral stories where you get the chance to get inside character's heads when they assume no one is reading their thoughts. There is no holding back nor filter.
This book was written to encapsulate the destruction of life across the known spectrum of physical and psychological suffering. It is not what one would identify as a "pleasure" read. No Ghost was written to explore the plethora of layers and levels of existential torment without excess or repetitive coverage. It seeks to explore how deep a person can dive into the darkness. It is not recommended for anyone seeking out happy endings.