Steve Gonsalves has been investigating the paranormal for over two decades. He is best known as a member of the TAPS team which has been featured on the television shows Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, and Ghost Nation. He has worked with several of the pioneers in paranormal research including Ed and Lorraine Warren and Dr. William Roll. In this book, Gonsalves retells stories from sixteen of his favorite investigations and how they have impacted his life and work in the paranormal field. Each chapter starts out with a bit of history leading into a retelling of Gonsalves’ experience. There are many stories that were not shown on television and readers get to see a bit more of what it is like to travel the world investigating the unknown. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes, anyone who enjoys ghost hunting stories will like this book. In addition, investigators researching places to visit and the stories behind the haunt may want to add this to their stack of resources. 

Pros: The book is often entertaining and light hearted. Gonsalves is easy to like and often comes off as an average guy that somehow ended up with this really cool job. He talks about his fear of flying that leads to long hours on the road, his fear of heights and a fun experience at the St. Augustine Lighthouse, and a few strange experiences that are pretty unbelievable. 

Cons: This is a book of stories so it is light on research insights, methods, and analysis so don’t expect any groundbreaking new ideas. That isn’t bad but readers should know this going into the book. 

Overall thoughts: This is a fun book with some interesting stories. Longtime viewers of all things Ghost Hunters will recognize many of the locations and remember the episodes. This book goes deeper into Gonsalves’ personal experiences at each location and gives you a peak at what happens when the cameras are not rolling. A few of the stories are so crazy that you don’t want to believe them. I don’t know Gonsalves’ personally but he doesn’t appear to be full of shit and the world is full of some really weird things so maybe he did have a Shining ballroom experience that would freak out just about any hard core investigator in the field today.  

You can get your own copy here.