Synopsis
A lonely gay teen bides his time with trips to strangers' funerals and Ouija board sessions, desperately searching for someone to love—and a reason to live following a suicide attempt.
Walking an empty stretch of highway on an autumn night, he meets a strange and beautiful boy who looks like he stepped out of a dream. But the vision becomes into a nightmare when the boy turns out to be the local urban legend, the ghost of a star athlete killed in 1957—a ghost with a deadly secret and a dangerous obsession. Vintage: A Ghost Story is an intense thriller that looks at the dark side of gay urban fantasy, where the dead can never rest and trapped spirits never find peace.
School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up An unnamed, gay Goth enthusiast and his friend Trace spend their time frequenting thrift shops, attending random funerals, and playing with ouija boards. On the way home from one of their jaunts, the protagonist finds himself haunted by a jock-ish ghost dressed in 1950s regalia. At first, he is charmed, intrigued, and turned on, but when the ghost, Josh, turns out to be a jealous maniac bent on keeping him forever, the teen discovers that he needs to ditch the demon-and fast-before it's too late. The action kicks off with a blast in this slim, densely packed volume and keeps chugging forward until the bitter end. Berman has created a creepy, kitschy, lusty atmosphere-particularly when the narrator's abilities to tap into a ghost's past are harnessed-that should appeal to mature horror fans. That said, the narrative is weakened by more telling than showing, especially when the more gripping sequences are stalled by explanation rather than rapid-fire action. All the same, gay teen readers who've been hankering for a horror story all their own will be thrilled with all of the creeps, crawls, chills, and eyeliner that Berman has to offer.-Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library