Using the cemetery’s history as inspiration, Everson transforms the haunted house into the scene of an epic Halloween night massacre in the final act.
The novel’s setting is Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, an actual location in Illinois rumored to be haunted. In fact, The House by the Cemetery is also the name of a 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. Several supporting characters are introduced, including a couple of paranormal investigators and a team of diehard horror fans tapped to prep the haunted house. Soon, his obsession with Katie is central to the plot and to the lives of the attendees walking through the haunted house. Mike gets distracted from his work by a pair of strange girls, including the young, attractive Katie. To pay the rent, Mike has to accept a job repairing an old haunted house in time to open as a new Halloween attraction in October. Divorced because his wife cheated on him, Kostner is an average, beer-guzzling, blue-collar guy who’s struggling with finances. One of the novel’s interesting aspects is the main character, Mike Kostner, who’s more loser than protagonist. Released in 2018 by Flame Tree Press, The House by the Cemetery is vintage Everson, with a plot fueled by sex and violence. With The House by the Cemetery, Bram Stoker Award-winning author John Everson delivers the perfect Halloween treat for fans of gore-splashed ’70s and ’80s horror. Strand drops in a dash of potential romance in Allison but you can barely taste it over the bold flavors of fast-paced intensity, suspense, and violence that propel yet another outstanding effort by the Atlanta author. For her part, Allison attempts to stay safely detached from society, but fate intervenes when a chance encounter with a low-level hitman and his pregnant wife sets a dangerous sequence of events in motion.
She’s like Stephen King’s Carrie if Carrie never went to the prom and decided to live a life of solitude with her secret under wraps. When Allison’s pulse races, she can unintentionally break bones and rip off limbs. I can tell you that Allison has an uncontrollable telekinetic ability sparked by emotion and stress. Why? Read the stunningly tragic prologue to find out for yourself. An introvert by necessity, Allison spends her life trying to keep a social distance from society while trying to keep her emotions in check. I don’t know many 45-year-old women who receive top billing in a horror novel. I personally liked that Allison is 45 years old. The 2020 novel Allison is one of Splatterpunk Award-winning author Jeff Strand’s best character creations. (Editor’s note: DOUBLE FEATURE is a column where I read at least two horror books per month in 2020 and review them for my website.)Īpril’s DOUBLE FEATURE: Allison by Jeff Strand and The House by the Cemetery by John Everson.
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