Tag Archives: witchcraft

Early Review: The Pumpkin Man

New Release Reviews, , , , , ,
The Pumpkin Man by John Everson (pub date 10/15/11)
 

The Pumpkin Man
 
“The only true evil in this life is small-mindedness.  That evil thrives, unchecked.  If only it could be cut out, like eyes from a pumpkin.”
 
 
 
I don’t think I’ve been this hooked by a horror story since The Hellbound Heart.  The further I got into it, the harder it was to put it down.  This book is everything a horror story should be: original, suspenseful, and disturbing.  This should be THE book to read for this Halloween season.
 
In The Pumpkin Man, our heroine Jennica Murphy finds herself at a difficult time in her life.  Her father has been murdered, and soon after she is laid off from her job and evicted from her apartment.  Jenn later finds out that she has inherited a cabin in northern California, a home which has been in her father’s side of her family for many years.  Jenn and her best friend Kirstin decide to spend a few weeks in the cabin.  But while Jenn was hoping to use the free time to relax and come to terms with her grief, she ends up discovering an ancient evil hidden in her family’s cabin.  What she thought was a local legend is actually real.  And it is coming for her.
 
If you enjoy horror, The Pumpkin Man is a must.  Everson’s writing style pulls you right in from page one.  This book offers creepy settings, realistic characters, intense kills, and well-placed touches of humor.  The kill scenes are expertly laid out: graphic enough to scare you but leaving just enough to the imagination to really get under your skin.  Everson’s extensive knowledge of the occult clearly shows in his writing. 
 
I would say that this book would make a great movie if not for my fear that no screenwriter could do the story justice.  Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if this book was optioned for a screenplay in the next year or so, being as Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas for original horror films.  But I’m willing to bet that the book will scare the hell out of people more than a film adaptation will.   

Book Review: Witches of East End

New Release Reviews, , ,

Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz (pub date 6/21/11)
 
Witches of East End (The Beauchamp Family)
 
Melissa De La Cruz is the author of the YA vampire series Blue Bloods.  She is now venturing into adult fiction with Witches of East End, which is the first installment in a new saga surrounding the Beauchamp family. 
 
Joanna Beauchamp and her daughters Ingrid and Freya are immortal witches, who have been “reborn” numerous times over the centuries and lived different lives all over the world.  As a result of the innocent lives lost at the Salem Witch Trials, the Beauchamps have been forbidden by their Council to practice magic, for fear that if they are found out it will cause further suffering and destruction.  Now situated in the fictional hamlet of North Hampton, Long Island, Ingrid is working as a librarian and Freya is a bartender and is also engaged to a member of the richest family in town.  After centuries of living seemingly “normal” lives, the girls begin to feel tempted to use their magic again.  Using only white magic to help people in need, Ingrid and Freya feel happy and alive again.  Until a young woman goes missing and bad omens start appearing around them. 
 
I give De La Cruz credit for her foray into adult fiction, but unfortunately the only thing that’s “adult” about this book is the sex.  The supporting plotline features not one but two love triangles (a YA cliche), and the characters struck me as two-dimensional.  The story seems contradictory at times.  For 300 years the Beauchamps have been hiding the fact that they’re witches, then suddenly Ingrid invites people into the library so she can perform spells on them, and nobody seems bothered by this.  The ending is rushed and a little confusing, with some basic Norse mythology thrown in to try and give more validity to the story.
 
All in all Witches of East End isn’t bad; it’s cute, but that’s about it.  If you’re hoping for a mature story you’ll be disappointed.  The book will surely be a best-seller because of De La Cruz’s popularity, but it would be great if she would take more chances with this series and create deeper characters and a more adult story.  Maybe the series will improve with the second book, I’m just not sure right now if I’m going to read it.