Book Review: The Pumpkin Man

Dorchester Publishing

This is the first John Everson novel I’ve had the privilege to read, folks.  I’m currently kicking my butt for waiting so damn long. With The Pumpkin Man, John Everson has created a new urban legend, one I really like. 

When the decapitated bodies of missing children start being found scattered throughout a little northern California town, all hell breaks loose. People have no idea what to do until someone notices something really odd. Carved into the pumpkins at a local man's roadside pumpkin stand are the missing children's face screaming in agony at the exact moment of death. The town's folk put two and two together and take matters into their own hands only to find out that maybe, just maybe they weren't as smart as they thought they were...

This is the perfect novel to read when you’re beginning to get the Halloween bug at the end of summer. The author’s love of the season shines through with Jack-o’lanterns, Ouija boards, witches, spooky houses with hidden passages and other assorted supernatural goodies. Mr. Everson’s style is easy to read and very personable. If you’re looking for a really good horror novel to read next, pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble or download on your e-reader. You won’t be sorry.

Rating: 7.5

Book Review: Those Across The River

Penguin Publishing 

Not since reading Andrew Davidson’s, The Gargoyle have I so thoroughly enjoyed a piece of speculative fiction as much as Those Across The River. This atmospheric, well-written book is sure to become a modern day horror classic to be ranked right up there with works by authors like Stephen King, Dean Koontz and John Saul. Christopher Buehlman is one of the few, recent authors that can do good, authentic southern dialogue without making the characters sound like mentally impaired hillbillies.

Down on his luck, WWI veteran, Frank Nichols leaves Chicago and travels to a small, rural town Georgia town in 1935 with his girlfriend, Eudora to take up residence in a house his deceased aunt just left him and to write a book about the family’s history. Frank soon mixes in with the quirky, superstitious characters that inhabit the town and begins to wonder why everyone in afraid to go past the river into the forest. People in the small town start dying gruesome, cannibalistic deaths leaving Frank no choice but to face those across the river. If you want a good, spooky book pick head out to your nearest bookstore or favorite ebook site to grab Those Across The River.

Rating: 9.0