Ghost Talkers has a genuinly unique premise and offers a fresh take on a First World War novel. The idea of mediums or clairvoyants being used as a form of military intelligence was compelling to me. The concept was well set up and the idea of dead service men continuing to offer service felt eerie and full of possibility. Ultimately it fell short of that promise.
Plot in a Nutshell
Ghost Talkers imagines a slightly different version of the first world war where the allies have a group of clairvoyants working with the Intelligence Services. All service men wear a tag, programmed such that their soul, will on death report to a single location. Here, the Ghost Talkers will interrogate them for any useful intelligence before taking their last message and freeing them to enter their forever. It’s a unique insight with the potential to change the outcome of the war.
Thoughts
What worked best for me was the way in which the author set up the idea and world she is creating. It’s a great example of the power of showing and not telling. The Spirit Corps was not just described as an idea; we actually saw the women working. We saw the danger of what they were doing, and the physical and spiritual risk involved in releasing their own souls’ hold on their bodies while others kept them anchored. That gave the opening of the novel real power from the get go.
I also thought the treatment of the dead soldiers was often beautiful and poignant. The idea that the boys, and a reminder here that so many were boys, who died could leave one final message was touching. I found the simplicity of those messages was even more moving. Their banality made them feel more powerful, especially in the context of what we know about the First World War. The positioning of the huge scale of death against the small, human, everyday things people wanted to say was one of the strongest parts of the book.
Where the novel worked less well for me was in the central mystery and the main romantic relationship. Ginger, the protagonist, is American, and it is never entirely clear why she is already involved in the war effort in 1916, or how she has come to be trained and working with the Spirit Corps. We know her aunt is powerful and important in setting up the Corps, but Ginger’s own path into that world felt under-explained.
The romance with Ben also felt a little cold. We are told, and occasionally shown, that Ginger is desperately in love with her fiancé, who she works alongside. There are moments that make it clear they care deeply for one another, but the relationship does not have the backstory I needed to make it feel truly real.
I knew that the whole point of the Spirit Corps was to provide intelligence, but I had not expected the book to shift, about a third of the way in, into a spy novel. That change felt really jarring. The opening had worked so well as a strange, atmospheric and original piece of historical fiction with it’s spiritualism and empathy. Once the spy plot came to the foreground, the book began to feel less convincing and for me. Certainly it was a lot less interesting.
It also moved away from the stronger “showing” of the early chapters into more telling and explaining. Ben dies, and it becomes clear that he was not simply an intelligence liaison but also a spy who leaves a mystery about his death that Ginger feels compelled to uncover.
Once the novel gets into the spy section, it starts to feel a bit forced. One minute there is a sense of double-crossing, then Ginger is at the front, then there are various villains and hidden enemies to uncover. It becomes neat and convenient especially against the setting of the chaos and devastation of the Western front.
This also affected how invested I was. I cared very much about the people in Ginger’s spirit circle and about the idea of the Spirit Corps itself. The threat to them should have felt worrying and time critical but I found myself strangely uncaring, By the time the villain was revealed and the mystery resolved I was relieved it was over. The book had truly lost it’s way by that point.
I do need to note that I appreciated that the book tried to tell a broader story about the First World War, including people who were not white, not British, or not from the usual officer-class version of the war.
I liked the inclusion of Helen, a Black spiritualist who is clearly powerful and intelligent. Again, how ever this is let down in the way she is written. We don’t really see Helen’s own experiences, only how Ginger sees her. Ginger recognises that she comes to see Helen differently from when they first met, so there is some sense of growth but Ginger is the one it’s grounded in. What does being the best in her field yet not truly accepted is not really explored.
The same is true of the Indian soldier who plays an important part later in the story. I thought it was important and welcome that the novel acknowledged the contribution of Commonwealth soldiers.. But again, the handling felt a little clunky. The character seemed to matter partly because he was overlooked and underestimated, and then because he became useful and was belatedly respected. He is not really seen for himself.
Overall, Ghost Talkers let me down, despite its fascinating premise. I still liked the book, and I would probably read another story set in the same universe because the idea of the Spirit Corps is so compelling but sticking with the idea and the Corp would make for a stronger tale.