John Everson won the HWA Bram Stoker award for his first novel, Covenant. The Pumpkin Man is his fifth novel. I originally snapped up an advance reader’s copy of The Pumpkin Man because it looked so appropriate for Halloween. I’m not a huge horror fan so I was kind of dreading reading it. This is definitely an over 18 book, because of the nature of some of the rituals involved. That said, I really liked the main character and her friends as well as John Everson’s writing style. It ended up being a novel I couldn’t put down!
Jenn’s father was recently murdered in his Chicago apartment in a gruesome yet mysterious manner. The police don’t want to tell her too much about it, just that it was a ritualistic murder and they have few clues about who did it. Given that her father had no known enemies, the whole thing seems so senseless to her. When she goes to his apartment to box things up and see if there are any mementos she wants to keep, Jenn kinds a small triangle of dried up pumpkin under a table. Odd, but she figures it’s just left over from last Halloween.
“A week ago her dad had been living here, within these walls, doing whatever he did when she wasn’t visiting. Then someone had come and sliced him up, leaving his insides on the out…Was it right to see the shadow of your dad’s blood on the floor? Was it right to see anyone’s life as a stain?”
Jennica (Jenn) lives in a Chicago apartment with Kirsten, a college friend. They’re both new teachers at a catholic high school in Chicago. When they’re suddenly laid off at midterm because of a reduction in the number of students registered for the next term, they arrive home to find a letter saying their apartment building is being converted to condos, so they have 60 days to get out. Talk about adding insult to injury! Like a lot of us, they’ve been living from paycheck to paycheck. Faced with no savings, no job, and no more apartment, they’re terrified of becoming homeless.
Kirsten talks Jenn into using this as an opportunity to check out the house Jenn just inherited from her father. His sister, Meredith, had left him her house in the Russian River area north of San Francisco and now it belongs to Jenn. Going there, where they can live rent free, will give her time to grieve for him and will give both girls time to decide what they’re going to do next.
“’C’mon,’ Kirsten continued. ‘We’ve got no jobs, and in a month we’ve got no place to live. You just got handed the deed to an empty house near the ocean. We should at least go check it out. It’s not like we have anything better to do! You just don’t get opportunities like this very often…We have nothing to lose. We are two hot chicks with the key to a house on the beach. Let’s go to California!’”
When they arrive, Jenn and Kirsten discover the Russian River area is really remote but the house is a beautiful cottage from the outside. Inside is another story. Although it’s nice inside, it has some odd décor, things like a snake sculpture above the fireplace, a large library of old leather-bound dark sorcery books, and a real witch’s Ouija board hidden under a loose brick. Jenn always thought of her aunt as a free-spirited hippie who dabbled in herbal remedies and things like that but she never thought of her as a witch. The contents they find in the house seem to indicate her aunt or someone in the family was probably practicing some serious witchcraft.
When the girls talk to local townspeople, they learn Jenn’s uncle was known as the Pumpkin Man, and that he was hung about 10 years ago by angry parents who believed he had tortured and murdered their children. How the children were killed closely mirrors what Jenn knows about how her dad was killed. Could the Pumpkin Man be back?
The Pumpkin Man is one scary story but the main characters are so likeable and relate-able that I had to find out how they survived, or didn’t. If you’re into witchcraft, urban legends/myths, and/or scary stories with lots of twists and turns then this one is perfect for Halloween reading! Of course, you may never look at another jack o’lantern the same way again…
The Pumpkin Man was released in the U.S. on October 15, 2011, so it should be available from the booksellers below.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I seriously need to stop reading your reviews. My TBR stack is HUGE! My TBR wishlist is growing larger by the day, and almost every review you post causes another book to go on the wishlist. This one looks awesome and totally right up my alley! Thanks for posting.
*cue the evil laugh* I know what you mean. I have the same problem when I’m looking at publishers’ blurbs about upcoming novels. I want to read them ALL and I get so frustrated because it’s not humanly possible. Sigh. Where’s a cloning machine when you need one?
this looks good