The Pumpkin Man- Review

Title: The Pumpkin Man
Author: John Everson
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads Summary:

After her father’s gruesome murder, Jenn needed a place to get away from it all with some friends, to take her mind off her grief. The empty seaside cottage she inherited seemed perfect. Jenn didn’t know that the cottage held arcane secrets, mysteries long hidden and best left alone. She didn’t realize until it was too late that the old books and Ouija board she finds there really do hold great power. And it was only after her friend’s headless body was discovered that she knew the legend of the local bogeyman was no mere legend at all.

An evil has been unleashed, a terrifying figure previously only spoken of in whispers. But now the whispers will become screams. Beware…THE PUMPKIN MAN.

My thoughts:

This book started off so scary, it gave me the creeps!! I was reading it at night before bed, and I was sure someone was going to pop out of my closet at any moment and get me.  Unfortunately however, the excitement reached a crescendo and then died down. 

Jenn inherits her aunt's house in California after her father is murdered and decapitated.  Strangely and ironically, not long after this happens, Jenn and her roommate Kirsten both lose their jobs on the same day ( and they both work at the same school), and then upon going home, find out that they have to move out of the condo.  How very conveinent.  This actually bothered me- it was too tidy and implausible that this would happen.  I was able to suspend belief for the whole book, including the ghostly killer, but for some reason this really bothered me.

Once Jenn is in California, it gets super creepy! You find out all sorts of nasty secrets about Jenn's aunt and uncle, and his family before him.  And then the things they find in the house, not to mention everything that was written in Jenn's aunt's journal! There are many gruesome murders, some surprising, and then one that was not really explained that well.  As the end of the book nears, the tension starts to slowly build...and then flatlines.  The end itself was predictible and boring.

I was disappointed in the ending of this book, but I thought that everything leading up to it was pretty good and worth the read.  This book won't change the world, but it will keep you entertained for few hours.