Book Review: The House by the Cemetery by John Everson

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for this eArc for an honest review. Release date for this title is 18th of October, 2018.

The House by the Cemetery by John Everson I expected to be your traditional haunted house book. It was only later I realized that the title is a nod to the movie of the same name by Lucio Fulci. This books horror name dropping has made me want to visit some old classics.

Blurb:

Rumor has it that the abandoned house by the cemetery is haunted by the ghost of a witch. But rumors won’t stop carpenter Mike Kostner from rehabbing the place as a haunted house attraction. Soon he’ll learn that fresh wood and nails can’t keep decades of rumors down. There are noises in the walls. Fresh blood on the floor. Secrets that would be better not to discover. Because behind the rumors is a real ghost who will do whatever it takes to ensure the house reopens. She needs people to fill her house on Halloween. There’s a dark, horrible ritual to fulfill. Because while the witch may have been dead…she doesn’t intend to stay that way.

The House by the Cemetery was not your average traditional haunted house story. It was a B-movie romp full of blood and gore. The author obviously adores horror movies referencing several throughout the haunted house attraction creation. I would watch this as a movie. It was a great book for the start of October on the run up to Halloween. While there may have been some obvious plot lines and may not hold many surprises it was great fun and well written. The characters were well developed. The ghost hunters were annoying though but maybe they were supposed to be. I finished this book in a couple of days but it hasn’t put me off visiting any Halloween haunted house attractions…not that we get much of that in the UK unfortunately. I’ll be lucky to find a pumpkin patch. I would certainly read more by John Everson. Great book just don’t take it too seriously. 4/5. B movie horror fun for Halloween. 

 

31 days of horror movies for October: 1st of October: Absentia 4/10.