Finished Ghoul, here are my thoughts:

*SPOILERS*

I really liked the book alot. The setup was quick and the characters were three demensional. It seemed though that the pop culture references were a little forced. There seemed to be one on every page, almost.

There were many heartbreaking moments in the book. When Timmy's father rips up his comic collection. The epilogue when you find out that Barry turned into his father anyway. Some disturbing things also. When they attack Catcher. When he describes the ghoul eating Doug (really disturbing).

All in all, I thought it was a good coming of age story, along the lines of Stephen King's The Body. A good read.