This is a well written and fast paced book that kept me hooked right till the very end. If I didn’t have to sleep is the only way I would have finished this book faster. This book is fill out twist and turns that you wouldn’t expect to be coming, I found these twist and turn when I thought the book seemed over about a quarter of the way in but then I turned the page and a twist brought the book back to life. I believe this shows the talent of a great author.

The characters are well written and excellent description is used throughout. Peggy is a very strong character, whereas Roger seems to be a weaker character. However throughout the novel Roger seems to develop confidence and becomes a strong independent character.

I would recommend this novel to anyone that love a great suspense novel. This books has so many twist and turns that you will have a surprise almost every time you turn a page.

This review was first published on http://everybookhasasoul.wordpress.com ( )

The Ghost of a Flea by John Brinling is an intricate web of mystery, intertwined with even more deceit and lies. Just when the reader feels as though they have a solid lead in the right direction, more suspicion is added and the reader, along with the characters, are reverted back to square one. Roger is just your average man. He spends way to much time working at a boring job that he could care less about. All of the people in his life that are closest to him, people who he should be able to turn to for support, leave him with nothing but more unanswered questions. Just when Roger is starting to put some of the puzzle pieces in the correct order, new events occur and he must start over. But who can he trust when everyone keeps telling opposing stories? His wife Natalie is constantly having arguments with him and then claiming she doesn't know what he is talking about. His best friend Ted is filling his head with falsities and making Rogers sanity slip further with each word. Top it off with Roger being accused of murdering the musician Gideon, the mysteriously attractive Peggy, and everyone in the city chasing him for various reasons and the reader is left with a twisted roller coaster of intrigue and betrayal. If you enjoy puzzles and trying to piece together fact from fiction, then I suggest you give The Ghost of a Flea a whirl. ( )

The Ghost of Flea should have been written by Alfred Hitchcock. It seems as though it would have made a splendid movie with all of it's twists and turns of plot. The main character could have been Cary Grant. Roger Davis is a good, loyal workerbee. He is on time, stays late, is married to Natalie who may or may not have slept with half of his office prior to the wedding. Roger has a friend in Gideon whom he sees once a week. Gideon browbeats Roger mercilessly and, one night shows Roger his newest treasure. A painting by Blake entitled The Ghost of a Flea.
The painting is hideous but Gideon is much taken with it. After his show and tell he brings out the pipe and, this time for some reason; Roger smokes with him. And everything about Roger's life changes in that instant. He is lied to by his wife, his co-workers, Gideon and probably even the painting. He loves Natalie but she denies ever telling him she wants children. Then she lies about denying the denial. People are murdered right and left and the only thing they seem to have in common is their knowledge of Roger. Enought to make anyone paranoid!
The only person possibly not lying to Roger is a woman he met at Gideon's home - Peggy Curtis. But she told him her name was something else. He is taken with the idea he needs to find her but when he finds out she lives on Central Park West - and may be sleeping with his boss - that becomes suspect as well. A true tale of confusion, murder and love. But who loves whom and who is murdering the characters? Well worth taking the time to sit down and delve into Roger's mani world. ( )

Though initially unenthusiastic about what appeared to be a story of bitter men attempting to be philosophers, the The Ghost of A Flea quickly morphed into an intriguing tale of drug deals and the inability to know whom to trust. Red herrings abounded, and for the longest time, I was uncertain whether the main character, Roger, was hallucinating, confused, or caught up in some grandiose form of hypnosis. The manipulation around him was subtle and maintained that delicious sense of suspense that drives any good thriller.

The language in this book was as hard and driven as the plot, allowing for important details without belaboring the point by being overly descriptive. Necessary items were introduced with the same straightforwardness as ones that were later revealed to be unimportant, and through it all, that sense of dread and fascination was maintained. There were multiple instances where "passed" was used instead of "past," and more than one instance of the you're/your and who's/whose confusion. All three are generally unforgivable faux pas in my book, and had the rest of the novel not been written so well, the whole work may very well have been written off.

Characterizations here were absolutely flawless. Each person involved was distinctive, their traits consistent even with all of the acting and subterfuge woven in. Betrayals were believable, and revelations were informative without being excessively explanatory. Like any good villain, the "bad guys" had that self-defeating, hubris-driven tendency to monologue, which were like a lifeline when I, like Roger, was caught up in grasping at thin air for understanding. By far the most enigmatic character was Peggy, a woman whose loyalties were constantly called into question either to be bolstered or decimated by the contents of the following scene. The ending of the novel was satisfactory and tied up all loose ends without resorting to deus ex machina, for which I was quite thankful.

As intricate as it was enthralling, The Ghost of a Flea is one of the most surprising books that I've come across. Nothing was as expected, and I was frequently left hankering for the next great reveal. If suspense and mind games are your cup of tea, then imbibe with pleasure as you work your way through this well-written work. ( )

When I saw the first chapter was set in 1975, I thought it was going to be one of those novels that illustrates an important clue that happened in the past and then jump forward to present day for the remainder of the novel. Not so. When I realized the entire novel was going to be set in 1975, I was surprised, but pleasantly so. To have a novel published in 2010, but be entirely set in 1975 is a form of bravery in my opinion. The same bravery that was evident of authors who published novels in the early 20th century, but wrote about the future.

It was refreshing to read a novel without modern day electronic capabilities. To write in such a way, makes me believe the author actually thought about the details of the book: how a character would get out of a certain predicament, how a scene would play out without the use of cell phones, etc. The author was actually able to focus on and perfect the plot of the story rather than take the easy way out. It was wonderful.

The two main characters, Roger and Peggy, were a nice contradiction to each other. Roger was a little wimpy and naive, whereas Peggy was cunning and strong-willed. It took Roger a little longer than I liked to stop being so naive. I was grateful when he finally started acting with some authority and backbone.

There was a part of Peggy that reminded me of myself ... flitting from relationship to relationship until finally meeting that one nice guy that changes the way I see men. Despite Peggy's independence, there was an underlying vulnerability to her that I recognized and understood. I did wonder about her honesty for most of the book and was hoping that she wouldn't betray Roger in the end.

Overall, this novel was rather enjoyable. It was a classically written mystery without the overshadowing of modern conveniences. It kept you turning the page wanting to know more. It is definitely one that I will remember and enjoy reading again. ( )