Everson never really hits the mark with this horror novel about a group who do up a real haunted house for a Halloween attraction only to unleash the curse of real witches.
It’s an interesting concept with some darker moments but is bogged down by unmemorable characters and bland dialogue. More of a slog that it should be.

I received a copy of this e-book from Flame Tree Press via NetGalley, and although it was provided at no cost to me, I am under no obligation to provide a positive review.

The premise of this book is that Mike Kostner, a down-on-his-luck carpenter, who also happens to be recently divorced due to his ex-wife's tendencies to sleep with her neighbors, is asked by his buddy Perry to help repair and restore an old house so it can be used as a haunted house. The house sits next to a cemetery, thus the title, and although Mike is hesitant to even work on it, suspecting it to be a dead-end and worthless project, he accepts as a favor to his friend and, more importantly, because he really needs the money.

As Mike begins work on the house, he notices oddities in and around the house: unexplained noises, an old but empty casket dug up in the basement, slaughtered small animals found in the basement, etc. Although he brings these issues up to Perry, he's cajoled into continuing his work on the house.

Soon, Mike encounters Katie and her sidekick Emery, both of whom seem to appear and disappear without notice. As Katie hangs around more, Mike falls for her despite her and Emery's odd behavior.

Eventually the house repairs are completed, and the haunted house begins its run, and when the final night arrives, even more bizarre and brutal events start happening. Will Mike do what needs to be done to stop everything? Will the others involved with the house discover the secrets hidden there and put an end to the evil?

Overall, I liked the book. Everson is obviously a fan of horror movies, especially Italian ones, as the references throughout the book show, especially in the design of the rooms in the haunted house. That certainly added a nice touch to the story. The story was well-crafted and progressed at a reasonable pace.

Parts of this novel are absolutely splatterpunk, so if that's something that isn't to your liking, I would avoid this book. However, if you're fine with that, then this could be right up your alley. Personally, I don't mind it a bit, although I'm not much of a fan of splatter films.

I do have some questions as to why Mike continued working when the oddities of the house started rearing their ugly heads, as I would presume the average person would have decided the money just wouldn't be worth it. I'm also not convinced someone would have stayed around for Katie, even after falling for her, since their behavior was so bizarre. I mean, he may be desperate and lonely after his divorce, but not that much. I guess, as Limp Bizkit said, he did it all for the nookie.

This is the first book I've read for Everson, and I enjoyed it, despite the questions I had regarding the plot direction. I will definitely look for other works of his.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Mike Kostner is having a rough time. His wife left him, he's lonely and going into the slow season for construction work. An offer from a friend for a construction job couldn't come at a better time. Perry wants him to strengthen the floors and stairs in the old Bremen House at Bachelor's Grove....an old house with many local legends told about murder, ritual sacrifice, witchcraft, satanism, ghosts..... What a perfect place to construct a gruesome haunted house! Perry promises if the county makes money from the venture, then Mike's construction company will in turn get more work and more money. It seems a win-win situation... Until Mike starts working on the house. Then it seems..... evil.

I love reading horror novels in the fall! This lovely, demented tale by John Everson is a perfect October release! The old Bremen House is creepy, evil and scary! I enjoyed this story! The suspense builds up nicely and it has just the right mix of creepy, scary, demented and just icky emotions. Nicely done! The ending is unusual....but completely fits with the story.

There is a bit of sex and gruesomeness in this book that leads me to say it probably shouldn't be read by teens younger than 14. Bit adult in places. Nothing too graphic, but not for kids.

All in all, an entertaining, very creepy read. I found myself having discussions with Mike in my head while I was reading. Kinda like when I catch myself yelling at the TVduring cheesy horror movies: "No! Don't go in the basement to check the fuses!'' I kept wanting to lecture ol' Mike about his choices in girlfriends, and his dedication to a job that he should have walked away from when the creepy stuff started. It reminded me of that old Eddie Murphy routine about white guys and haunted houses. When the house screams "get out!'' white guys move in with their kids, their elderly parents, etc. Anybody else sees S like that and they run back to their car and drive away, never looking back. Mike....dude.....you shoulda run while you had the chance.

Too Late.

Anybody who loves horror, haunted house, witchy or devilish tales will enjoy this book!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Flame Tree Press. All opinions expressed are completely my own.**

The House by the Cemetery has one of the coolest premises I've come across and, frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't been done more often - set up a Halloween haunted house attraction at an actual honest-to-goodness haunted house. As far as premises go, this is beautifully simplistic but also pretty damn smart.

Mike, a carpenter, knows all about the rumors of the house by the cemetery, but he grudgingly accepts the job offer to rehab the rundown domicile and get it ready for Halloween. In no time flat, Mike is finding out all sorts of weird things about the house. Unexplained noises, old occult symbols painted on the walls, recently murdered animals, and lots and lots of bones. Mike is also divorced and prone to thinking with his little head instead of his big head, so what else is he to do but say yes when the young and super attractive Katie shows up at the house's doorstep offering to help with the rehab and to share his cooler of beer?

Despite the great premise, John Everson doesn't exactly break any new ground with The House by the Cemetery, but he does keep things pretty consistently enjoyable and page-turn worthy. Horror fans who have read their share of occult and haunted house stories will find all their predictions about this book's big reveals proved accurate. The plot twists aren't all that surprising, and large chunks of the story feel repetitive, particularly the first half of the book surrounding Mike's labors at building a new porch and putting in new flooring.

Everson still manages to keep the story moving along in entertaining fashion, particularly as the team of house haunters prepare for their time in the spotlight by decorating rooms in homage to their favorite horror flicks. There are rooms devoted to A Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, giallo slashers, J-horror, zombies, and so on. It's a fun bit of teasing for what readers can expect once the blood starts spilling, but having the story stretched out across a summer to Halloween time-span means Everson has to save all the really good gory stuff for the book's final third. There's a fair amount of waiting around in anticipation for the story to kick into high gear during Cemetery's climax, but once that final section rolls around...hot damn! Everson paints the house in so much read that it almost makes Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead look milquetoast in comparison.

The House by the Cemetery might have been a seriously killer novella, but it feels a bit too padded as a full-length novel. That said, this is still a solid read and it skates by on its sheer fun factor, as well as its exhibition of appreciation and love for the horror genre as a whole. Once Everson gets his groove on, though, things take a turn for the weird and it's pretty freaking wild and wicked.

[Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this title from the publisher, Flame Tree Press.]

The House By The Cemetary
By John Everson
2018 due 10-8-2018
Flame Tree Press

In the small town of Bachelors Grove, Illinois, Perry has purchased the old Bremen home, rumored to be haunted by the spirit of a witch. Perry decides to renovate the house into a Haunted House for Halloween, hiring his friend Mike for the job. There are more than secrets in the walls, more than noises in the walls. Something spookier than bloody floors.
There is a ritual to continue and fulfill and this house will do anything to make sure it opens by Halloween. The witches spirit does not intend to remain at rest.
Dark, fast paced horror that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I loved the horror movie references.
Perfect for Halloween!!
Thank you to #NetGalley for the advance copy for review.
#TheHouseByTheCemetaryJohneversonFlametreepress #NetGalley

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, by John Everson reminded me of a B-movie towards the ending. In the town of Bachelor's Grove, there's an abandoned cemetery near a house with a reputation for being haunted by a witch that once lived there. So what's a town to do with such a place? Turn it into a Halloween Haunted Attraction that people PAY to get into, of course!

It was somewhat hidden. And largely abandoned. A sad place. And thus...ripe for abuse . . . "

Our lead male character is Mike, who--against his own weak protests at the beginning--has the job of renovating the old house so that it will be structurally sound come time for the Halloween festivities. There's another set of characters that will be doing the props, makeup, etc. (Actually, a LOT of "extra characters" that I felt we really didn't "need" to learn so much about in the story).

". . . I'm not afraid of ghosts, but I don't want to be working around a bunch of dead bodies. . . "

Enter a strangely attractive woman named Katie, and her tag-along friend, that seem to want nothing more than to help Mike out....in more ways than one.

At this point, I don't want to say anything more that might spoil events for others. My personal opinion was that the first two-thirds or so of the book were either of scenes longer than they needed to be to get the point across (I really don't need to read the details of bracing a cellar ceiling, in depth), and exasperation at the absolute "cluelessness" of some of the characters. Regardless, we go on in this vein, and meet many more characters. In some instances, I felt that the "page time" of most of these individuals really wasn't necessary, and just ended up feeling like too much filler in a book where it was very easy to discern where the ending was headed.

". . . Human beings, those are the monsters that you've gotta fear . . . "

Overall, the first two-thirds felt tedious to me at times, but the ending made up for it with plenty of stomach churning gore, and horror to satisfy any fan of the genre. While it was predictable where this story was destined to go, the final third was a LOT of fun, and would have made a great "B-movie". I think that if Everson had spent less time on characters that we really didn't need to know about in such depth, and had added some more horrific touches during the entire journey, this would have been a more satisfying read all throughout.

I would definitely pick up another read by this author in the future, though--once he got to the real horror, there was no going back.

October 31st is still ways away. Is it too early to start getting into the spirit of things? Well, it looks like fall outside and this was supposed to be a throwback sort of a guilty pleasure. My previous experience with the author led me to expect something more…erotic, but this was well within the boundaries of nonerotic, some sex present, but nowhere near tons. The book follows a basic scary story standard of a haunted variety. It’s actually based on a real place near where the author lived, which is pretty neat. The question is why would you trick out an already haunted property? And yet that’s precisely what takes place in a story and the attraction actually sounds pretty awesome, but then the place is already haunted by a witch who’s been desperate to return to life and all she needed were some sacrifices and now there are dozens, so let the madness begin. It sounds like fun and it sort of was, but something about this book just leaves you wanting. It just lacks that special oomph. Plus the characters are just so…well, so not the sort of characters you’d care about. Firstly there’s Mike, the carpenter, the book’s main male lead, strong, able and a complete dummie. In fact the man is so stupid he doesn’t believe what’s right in front of him, what’s being told to him, he’s just happy to drink cheap beer and get laid. Let’s say Mike isn’t thinking with his upstairs brain. At all. Mike meets Katie, Mike’s into Katie, but…Katie has a deadly secret. Also what sort of a witch name is Katie? Real name’s Katarina, but she goes by Katie. What. But if that wasn’t enough there’s also the triumvirate of Jeannie, June and Jillie, it’s so silly and confusing and to top it off the love triangle at the haunted attraction between Bong, Jeannie and June. Yeah, Bong. Very entertaining, albeit inadvertently. So anyway, the book consists comprises three acts first one is building, second is decorating and third one is massacre. Building is much too long, almost like a carpentry manual. Decorating’s a fun one, particularly for the genre fiends. The massacre is too over the top. Yes, genre demands it’s gore and guts, but in the story those are all manmade props until about the last quarter and then it’s just straight up carnage and butchery. So yeah, there’s something for everyone, but it just isn’t enough to be taken seriously or to be frightened seriously. It’s more of a cheesy B movie wham bam resurrect you m’am , ain’t that witch a b*tch, watch her perform a bait and switch, average at best but will do in a pinch sort of a book. But hey, gave a chance to rap, so can’t be all crap. And also it read weirdly slowly for the page count. Granted I was sleepy, but it might have been a certain lack of excitement too. So decent read, nothing special. If you do decide to read it, do so on or right before October 31st, it’s perfectly set up for that. This was my second book by the new Flaming Tree Press, very nicely edited copy with great cover, so well done in that respect. Otherwise, mildly entertaining, fairly underwhelming experience. Thanks Netgalley.

You probably would not choose to read a horror story if it wasn't a genre that you liked. I do enjoy a good, scary story and the premise of a haunted house Halloween attraction set in an actual haunted house had me thinking, ticket, please. I've been to some very good haunted houses, but so far none have advertised as having roots in a haunted location.
What's not to love about setting to work to make an old abandoned house structurally sound for a Halloween attraction? Well, maybe the fact that when Mike starts renovations, he is alone in a place that is giving off strange vibes and two people, Katie and Emery seem to just appear from nowhere and vanish at will. Or maybe it is what Julie and Ted say to Mike about the history of the house and how no one should be inside. As the story progressed, there was little doubt in my mind that I wouldn't actually want to go to this particular attraction as things move from weird and creepy to bloody horror.
If you like being scared and aren't put off by gore, The House by the Cemetery was to me an enjoyable pre-Halloween tale that had me hearing strange noises in my house and checking that I was indeed alone, more than once. My first John Everson book and not my last.
I received an e-ARC from Flame Tree Press through NetGalley.

What a creepy ride! This book had my attention from the start, through the middle and right up until the end. Mike's decision (to want to be in a relationship) upon learning about Katie's situation made me wonder just how lonely he was. I enjoyed reading this scary haunted house book.

I usually prefer cozy books but sometimes I like to read some good horror one.
This was good, really good. And I was really frightened, nearly slept with the light on.
At same time it was a lot of fun and very enjoyable, a great book for giving yourself some literary thrill.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for this ARC

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is a fast-paced and fun shocker, perfect reading for Halloween or any dark and spooky night.

The abandoned house at Bachelor's Grove is the source of gruesome legends, but nonetheless, Mike Kostner agrees to renovate the place so his friend can transform it into a Halloween tourist attraction. When a beautiful young woman named Katie suddenly shows up offering to help him, lonely Mike agrees to allow her and her friend Emery to lend a hand. But, the offer of assistance is merely a disguise for darker motives, and soon, the girl of his dreams will plunge Mike into a blood-drenched nightmare.

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is an in-your-face splatterfest, definitely not for the squeamish. But, if you're in the mood for an unrelentingly twisted tale of terror, John Everson has cooked up something that just might whet your appetite in THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY.

Many, many years ago, I worked management for one of the big Halloween maze events out here. I was there during the planning, the creation, and finally the nights of the haunt. I knew where every scaracter was and knew who they were outside of makeup and costume. And, still, it creeped me out.

In The House by the Cemetery, John Everson brings a dose of bloody reality to those haunted house/maze attractions, and it is epic!

Everson doesn’t start us out slowly. We know from the beginning EXACTLY what we’re in for – every bloody bit of it. Expect chilling scares and gruesome nightmares with this one! And this Halloween, if you visit the local haunted house attraction, you just might find yourself wondering…what if it’s all real?

This is simply the perfect Halloween Read!

*ARC provided via Net Galley.

Sick, Scary Fun

This is not a book for the squeamish. But, if you're a real horror fan, this is the perfect read, especially for the weeks leading up to Halloween. You'll never feel safe in a Haunted House attraction again.

I loved all the references to the more obscure horror movies. I now know what films to look for to fill in the gaps in my horror movie education! The movie references also seemed to play a part in how easily I could visualize the action.

The author vividly brought the different characters to life. None of them were very deep people, but I felt empathy enough to care about them and each played a pivotal role in moving the story to its conclusion.

The House by the Cemetery could easily make a creepy, gory, bloody addition to the world's repertoire of horror films. In the meantime those of us with active imaginations have the book!

John Everson has written another great Halloween novel! The House by The Cemetery is a perfect Halloween story. If you're looking for a great mood setter for the upcoming season this is the best horror novel you will find.

This was my first time reading this author. It did read like a Young Adult novel to me, with a slasher horror theme mixed with blood and guts. So if that bothers you look elsewhere. Overall I really liked this book, especially the second half. I would recommend this book, & definitely will be reading other books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

I won't get into plot here as the book's description page and other reviewers have explained a fair bit of it, but my thoughts on it are that it was predictable, and not particularly creative plot-wise. Sometimes you go into these things with that sort of expectation, so if you want a quick horror/mystery read, it's the book for you.

It seems to be an early start to fall here in Michigan this year, and I was excited to spend one of those chilly, windy days cozy on my couch reading this book. (with doughnuts from the nearby cider mill). This book seemed to have a very slow start, and the first part ended JUST as it got interesting. (I think the book was broke down into three parts). The imagery throughout the book was fantastic. It really did help create the full picture for me in my head. A downside is there are some very unnecessary viewpoints from different characters who really don't play much of role, and the story could honestly do without. In a book that already seemed to move along slowly, I probably would have enjoyed it more without that "filler." I won't say I disliked this book, because it was ok. But there wasn't really any suspense, the main plot twists were very predictable and aside from a high body count and some gruesome details near the end, I wouldn't really say it had much horror either. All in all, I think the writer did a great job describing the setting and the actions of the characters. I just wish there had been more intensity throughout the book.

This story follows the paths of a few different sets of characters, which all converge as the story progresses. It opens with a group of girls going through a haunted house where one of them disappears, it quickly switches to two friends in a bar, Perry and Mike. Perry has decided that he's going to use an old derelict building out by Bachelor's Grove cemetery for a haunted house project for the month of October, and wants Mike to take on the job of fixing it up enough so that it won't fall down around the crew and patrons. We get a small insight into Mike at this point, we know that he's divorced and down and out on his luck with no concrete ongoing jobs. Reluctantly he accepts the job and we're thrown into the first half of the book which is based largely around Mike's construction on this house. We meet Katie and Emery who 'miraculously' show up and disappear, which is where I worked out the go with these characters rather quickly. We also follow Jeanie and Bong who are a couple, Jeanie is a SFX makeup artist, and is hoping to be put on staff when the house opens, with Bong being dragged along for the ride as a model. And also we are introduced to Jillie and Ted, who are paranormal investigators who have explored the house many times previously, Jillie is incredibly unhappy about the construction and soon to be attraction that the house will be turned into, she is dead set against it, and convinced that it will stir up more trouble than anyone knows what to do with.

The first half of the story, as stated above, is based mostly around Mike and the house construction, to me it was pretty obvious what Katie was about, even if I didn't know the EXACT details, however, it didn't take away from the story and there was still questions that I needed answered. I did find it a little bit on the nose with how desperate Mike became with Katie, I understand that he was down in the dump divorcee who hadn't felt the touch of a woman in god knows how long, but I still found it a bit strange, that he would become completely enamored with a strange girl who appears and disappears generally without a word. Was this alluding to the "power" that women supposedly have over men because of their 'womanly wiles'? Or was Mike just THAT desperate and starved for attention?

The story itself moved at a fairly decent pace, I found myself wanting to know when the other shoe would drop and dare I say, when the shit would hit the fan, because come on, we all knew it was coming. I got a very distinct B-grade horror flick feel in this book that was a mix of Supernatural/Paranormal goings on and Slasher/Gore-Fest explosion, that latter part becomes more prevalent in the last third of the book, so let me say now, if you are NOT a fan of incredibly gory descriptions and goings on, maybe avoid this book as I feel like you will not enjoy what happens. The author definitely showed his appreciation for the horror movie genre well, with references to cult classics such as Hellraiser and the Exorcist, as well as references to obscure movies that most wouldn't know about such as Rubber, the movie about a tire that goes on a murderous rampage. You could tell he enjoyed inputting his love of this into the story and sharing it among a few of the characters, such as Argento and Lucio, two of the set designers and monster in the haunted house.

The switching of POVs, didn't interrupt the story-line at all, which I found to be pleasant. There is even a couple of instances when the POV changes and picks up JUST before the last scene ends, so as you get a feel for what was happening from two different perspectives, which I enjoyed a lot.

The creep factor was definitely there in parts, but some things I felt were just thrown in to add a little bit of shock value. Like the bed of nails that Emery sleeps on. Yes I understand the premise surrounding this character, but I feel like the bed was just thrown in as something extra that's a little screwed up, I think there could have been a better way to include this tidbit where it would have felt more imperative to the story-line and not just a "oh look how creepy this is, she sleeps on a bed of nails" creep factor. I'm also wondering if the sex scene between two of the characters was really needed. I'm not adverse to sex in books, it doesn't bother me, I'm just not sure whether this added anything to the story, yes it made it seem like she was a drug that he needed, but once again, it's pointing to the 'womanly wiles' power over men thing for me.

I didn't really care much for the characters, however, I must admit that I was rooting for Jeanie in the end, I don't know why, I just really wanted her to make it out. The rest of them, I couldn't really care less about, especially Mike, he came across as a bit of a desperate idiot who was making poor life choices all around.

It may sound like I didn't enjoy this book very much, that is not true, I did enjoy it. I loved the whole aspect of the witch that's been haunting Bachelor's Grove and walking the turnpike for ages, and the idea that she's trying to resurrect herself. I'm always partial to a witch story, evil or otherwise, I just really felt like this definitely B-Grade horror, as mentioned above. The slasher section of the book, was incredibly descriptive and very gory, it made me think of the Hostel movies and how the amount of gore wasn't exactly imperative to the story-line, and felt more included for a bit of shock factor. I'm not sure why the witch and her familiar had to massacre people in such a gruesome way, it's never alluded to whether this impacts the ritual or not. It might impact it, but there's not really anything to point towards WHY they were so violent. I've always been a fan of the horror genre in general, but for me, everything has to have a point. There has to be a reason for the gratuitous gore, for the sex, for any other number of things we find in this genre, otherwise it just falls short for me.

If you're into horror, gore, with a splash of supernatural/paranormal thrown in, give it a go, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

In a crowded haunted house genre “The House by the Cemetery” just does not have enough going on to raise itself from the pack, instead it reeks of familiarity. It may have a gruesome climax with an impressive body count, but it lacks scares, atmosphere, and ultimately fails because everything about it from page one to the final sequence is totally predictable and telegraphed. I do not think the novel had one single twist or major unexpected turn and that’s a significant problem in a supernatural novel. The horror element lacks no ‘drip, drip’ effect and everything was just so clunkily obvious it became tiresome very quickly. Flame Tree Press have impressed me with the quality of their releases thus far, but this cliché-ridden bore-fest falls well short of the high standards they have set themselves.

A down on his luck carpenter, Mike Kostner, gets a job renovating an old house which is supposed to be haunted by a witch. The house is built beside an old cemetery and has been empty for many years with everything going to wrack and ruin. The new lease holder (Leo) does not intend to live in the house, instead he turns it into a themed haunted house, which will open a month before Halloween. Hopefully with bags of cash in the bank, the big closing night will be 31st October itself. Once Mike has fixed all the safety and structural problems in the house then Leo’s team turn all the rooms into themed horror rooms based around famous films and books. We get all the usual stuff, a ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ room, ‘Hellraiser’, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘Ringu’ and so on.

Whilst Mike is working alone on the house a young woman appears, Katie, and here lies the first major problem with the book. A five-year-old could figure out that Katie was the witch, it was that predictable and obvious and everything goes down-hill from there. As the main ‘evil’ in the house she was an exceptionally weak character and would struggle to scare a kinder-garden child. After Katie’s arrival, the novel meanders towards opening night, then Halloween and a predictable final girl scenario. Sure, there was a very large body count, but it was too little too late for a novel that took an age for anything to happen and for much of the time I felt I had read this before.

I usually enjoy picking up on horror references, but everything in this novel was so basic and heavy-handily thrown at the reader it grated. Too many pages were wasted with Mike mooning around after Katie with his hammer, his beer and his sexual frustrations. Even more pages were then squandered with all the paying customers fooling around in the haunted house. This blow by blow account was tedious to read with the occasional paying customer biting the dust. Big deal.

It was not helped by the fact that all the characters were very one dimensional. Mike is lonely, horny and desperate to have sex with Katie and that’s about it. The guy who builds the themed horror rooms is only known as ‘Argento’ because of his favourite film director, and apart from that we know nothing about him. Likewise, for his friend ‘Lucio’ and no prizes for knowing who he is named after. When all the reader knows about characters is what horror films they dig I just do not think that is enough for the reader to give too hoots about whether they live or die.

A couple of the other characters were fleshed out slightly better, there was Jillie, who was the first to suspect something was wrong and was well aware of the dangers connected with the house. Also, Jeanie who gets hired to work on the monster make-up for the duration of the project and strong-arms her boyfriend Bong to get involved who ultimately works in the ‘Ringu’ room. But apart from these two the novel was riddled with weak characterisation and seemed like it was written on autopilot.

If you’re after a light-weight and very undemanding read then “The House by the Cemetery” might hold your interest, otherwise look elsewhere for something for a bit more whack, scares or atmosphere.

I've always said a pat on the back is only a few vertabrae removed from a kick in the ass, but miles ahead in results, so first I want to pat John Everson on the back.
The House by the Cemetery is a thoroughly enjoyable read, quickly paced with great writing, an interesting plot, some obscure references that were a lot of fun, a completely unforgettable climax, and good story resolution.
I tend to rate books on their merit, not on whether I personally liked every aspect or not. It seems fairer to me. In the case of The House by the Cemetery, I'm not a big fan of gore and at about the 75% mark, that's where the book takes you right up to the end. I have nothing against splatterpunk and I'm not going to rail against it like it's the end of times, I just don't like it as much as straight-up horror. Still, even with that prejudice, I was totally immersed and very impressed with the book. When the gore started, I was still impressed--just wanted it to be over.
In splatterpunk, there always seems to be a defining moment.
For instance, remember when Richard Laymon was really on? Before publishers found those eye-bleeding manuscripts and decided they'd make a buck printing them?
You'd be reading along and he'd have you--you'd be hanging on every word, deep into the plot, the characters, the story. Then he'd throw a monkey wrench into the mix and you'd go, "Now, dammit, people don't act that way."
That's what happened to me and The House by the Cemetery. Sure, I saw it coming--most folks will--but when "it" happened, the reaction of the opposing character was a "people don't act that way" moment and it rattled my cage enough to take me right out of the book. Up to that point, the prose and the characters were excellent and I was buying it all.
But there's a point in the suspension of disbelief where you have to go (and this isn't in the book--it's an example), "She finds out her boyfriend is actually a sewer rat who can shape-shift and the sex is so good that she's okay with that? Oh, bullshit."
And except for that one little ham-handed paragraph that cloyed at me (and that's a reflection on me, not the book), this is a first-rate horror novel; everything else about it is rock solid.
If gore, blood, and guts are your thing, you'll be very pleased. If not, you'll still find it enjoyable.
So that's it.
Pat on the back, little kick in the ass, and another pat on the back.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2520126244?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1