History Literature / GhostRadio

!!Ghost Radio contains examples of

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: [[spoiler: Gabriel]] is ''pissed'' that Joaquin survived near-lethal accidents that he and both their parents didn't, and [[DoomMagnet still causes trouble to whomever else he's around]].

* CreepyDoll: Taken UpToEleven in one of Ghost Radio's call-in stories, involving a CreepyChild who constructed dolls for her dollhouse using ''living, frightened, realistic body parts.''

* WeirdWeather: At the climax of the story, [[spoiler: a thunderstorm storm with blood-red lightning constantly warps time and space around the city where J. Cortez' temple is, with people, signs and other details changing every second.]]

* SinisterMinister: J. Cortez, a Christian-Toltec priest who owns a temple in Houston that's no more than a dingy one-room apartment. Subverted in that, while not outright evil, he did attack Joaquin out of the blue in a sudden outburst.

* WeirdWeather: At the climax of the story, a thunderstorm storm with blood-red lightning constantly warps time and space around the city where J. Cortez' temple is, with people, signs and other details changing every second.

* OutOfTheGhetto: Discussed in-universe; the ''Newsweek'' reporter applauds Joaquin for attracting non-Mexican listeners, referring to ''Ghost Radio'' as the ''Series/UglyBetty'' of radio shows. Joaquin naturally takes offense at comparing them just because [[MinorityShowGhetto they both have Hispanic stars]], though he resists the urge to call the comparison "idiotic and borderline racist".

* BreakingOutOfTheGhetto: Discussed in-universe; the ''Newsweek'' reporter applauds Joaquin for attracting non-Mexican listeners, referring to ''Ghost Radio'' as the ''Series/UglyBetty'' of radio shows. Joaquin naturally takes offense at comparing them just because [[MinorityShowGhetto they both have Hispanic stars]], though he resists the urge to call the comparison "idiotic and borderline racist".

* GenreSavvy: Joaquin attempts a couple of tricks to be sure that [[spoiler: his brief walk through the afterlife is a lucid dream. He quickly confirms that the lights don't turn off when he flips a light switch...then they do, to which [[spoiler: Gabriel]] points out that dreams are also in flux.]]

Creator/PedroPascal recorded an AudioAdaptation of this book in 2009.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: Joaquin dies at the end of the book, sacrificing himself to save Alondra's life. And the afterlife puts him in an AlternateDimension where he can see people but not interact with them.]]

* GenreSavvy: Joaquin attempts a couple of tricks to be sure that his brief walk through the afterlife is a lucid dream. He quickly confirms that the lights don't turn off when he flips a light switch...then they do, to which [[spoiler: Gabriel]] points out that dreams are also in flux.

* EvilPhone: [[spoiler: Gabriel]] breaks onto the air through one of the station's phone lines to talk to Joaquin, and later uses someone else's phone number to reach his home phone. Barry even hears whispering voices instead of a dial tone on the latter when trying to dial 911.