Ghost Tamer

By Meredith R. Lyons
Review by James L’Etoile

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Ghost Tamer
Meredith Lyons

CamCat Books
$27.99
978-0744302790
September 19, 2023

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Imagine living your best life when everything you know turns upside down and inside out. That’s exactly what happens in Meredith Lyon’s Ghost Tamer. Raely survives of a horrendous commuter train crash , in fact she’s the only one who made it out alive. She’s guided out of the wreckage by a stranger—a stranger she soon learns no one else can see but her. He’s a ghost.

Her spirit, who Raely snarkily names Casper, has been following her for as long as he can remember. Raely only became aware of him after her injuries in the train accident and she’s not at all comfortable with a ghost watching her every move. She soon learns there is another shadow world where ghosts and spirits exist, and she shouldn’t be able to see and interact with them. She questions her sanity and what this new ability means for her. Raely comes to understand she’s actually interacting with ghosts, and some of them aren’t benevolent spirits.

Interacting with ghosts draws the wrong kind of attention from the demon world and now she finds herself on the run. It’s a battle for her life and her soul.

You wouldn’t guess this is Lyon’s debut novel. She has a gift for dialogue, and these characters are well-defined. You immediately care what happens to Raely as she wanders down this paranormal path. The story will keep you glued to the pages and the ending will surprise the reader.

Meredith has agreed to give us a little behind the scenes of Ghost Tamer:

• Why did you choose to write a story about a snarky protagonist who sees ghosts after her accident?

Honestly, I’m not sure the decision was that well thought out. I had nothing to write and had a nightmare about a train accident and decided to write the nightmare. As far as Raely, I wrote her to say all the things I wish I had the courage to say to people, whether they’re appropriate or not. And banter is fun to write! 

• Ghosts? You believe they exist?

I’m open to arguments either way, but I do believe I saw a ghost once. When I was very young, I would occasionally wake up to find a girl walking up and down by the foot of my bed talking. In my half sleep state, I never questioned this and just listened, but if I ever tried to comment on anything she said, she would turn, look at me, then vanish. I would go back to sleep. Never thought of it in the morning. Then one night I woke up and she was standing right at my bedside, not at the foot, right beside me. She was looking down at me with a huge smile on her face and she said, “Goodbye!” I asked, “Where ya going?” But she just kept smiling as she faded away. After that I remembered all the other times and never saw her again. Wherever she was off to, I could tell it was someplace she was really delighted about.

• As a debut novelist, what’s the biggest surprise you encountered in the process?

The rampant insecurity! You'd think that once you cross that milestone from being a writer to an author, you’d attain some new level of confidence, but I'm still floored when someone tells me they loved my book. Which, in a way, is a great feeling, to be genuinely surprised and thrilled every time. I still have to work past a fear of ‘bothering’other authors I know when I ask something, like for a blurb. I force myself to do it, because rationally I know it’s what you do, but it’s like fighting through a beaded curtain of anxiety every time. It’s a lot of fun too, don’t get me wrong, I love going to conferences and events as an actual author, but I still feel like I have a hill to climb. I mean, it’s just one book. I’m not sure when that goes away. Does it go away? 

• Raely is a fresh, new character with a balance of smarts and snark. What were the influences in creating her character?

First of all, thank you. Raely and I are both blushing. I basically looked at my younger self and made her cooler. And also, much more damaged. I used a lot of my experience in Chicago theatre to build her comedy background and my own experience with loss and crutch behavior to inform what Raely is going through and how she self-destructs. Then I just threw her into a place where she had a ghost following her around and watched what she did! She and Casper wrote themselves.  

• What’s next for you?

Anxiety spike! I don’t know! I release in September, which is exciting, and I’m trying to line things up for the release event and line events up after that. I’m also on submission with two different books. One to agents, one direct to publishers, which is what I did with Ghost Tamer. Don’t worry, I have spreadsheets for both. And I’m working on the sequel for Ghost Tamer, it’s going slow with everything else that’s happening, but I had so many early readers ask when the sequel was coming out, I was surprised. So, I thought I’d get started and see how it goes. 

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Meredith grew up in New Orleans, collecting two degrees from Louisiana State University before running away to Chicago to be an actor. Between plays, she got her black belt and taught martial arts and yoga. She fought in the Chicago Golden Gloves, ran the Chicago Marathon, and competed in the Savate World Championships in Paris. Although she did each of these things twice, she couldn’t stay warm and relocated to Nashville. She owns several swords, but saves all swashbuckling for the page, gardening, visiting coffee shops, and cuddling with her husband and panther-sized cats.

Meredith Lyons’ debut novel is paranormal joyride with well-developed characters you want to care about, and a story about family, heartbreak, and redemption.  You can’t help but wonder after reading Ghost Tamer—are we really alone? I hope we see that sequel soon as Lyons crafted a sizzling pager turner. Highly recommended! I’d give this one 5 Ghosts!

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