#john everson

[alwaysdarkangel]

Rozpacz to podstępne zwierzę, które cie zżera od środka i niepostrzeżenie przeradza się w desperację.

[litandlifequotes]

Human beings, those are the monsters that you’ve gotta fear

The House By The Cemetery by John Everson

[llpodcast]

GIALLO COMES TO THE MODERN AGE

John Everson delivers another exceptional horror novel that sits comfortably between Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Argento’s Profondo Russo with its nods towards the Giallo whilst giving the book a 1980’s horror stalk and slash vibe.  Everson masterfully combines his genres to give a great book with some exciting kills that fit well within his phrase to the Italian written giallos of the 60’s through to the 70’s.  

 The characters are well developed within the confines of the genre that they are in though Everson does do something different with his characters that are not normally found in Giallo, he gave his female characters strength, confidence in their sexuality and are more than murderous fodder for the killer.  I salute Everson to give this an update as it has been pointed out again and again that normally the females are victims of the male gaze. The characters are all very self-aware and have strong three-dimensional personalities which helps the reader identify with them and feel a bit of loss when the victims start passing off the mortal coil.

 The plot and narrative are very intriguing and keeps the reader reading until the final pages. The twists and turns are natural within the confines of the story and keeps the reader guessing on who the killer is and why.  Everon masterfully crafts this together with enough red herrings to keep you guessing and more importantly when the big reveal happens, it all makes sense because he peppered enough information to point in this direction and enough misdirection to keep the reader guessing.  This is not an easy feat and Everon does this expertly.

 This is a book written by a fan of Giallo and a writer who has the gift of writing to pull this off. Everson has shown time and time again that he is a new name of horror, and he delivers time and time again. Excellent novel, excellent nod to a genre that needs to be remembered and love the kills as it brings me back to the novels I used to read as a teenager such as Richard Laymon.  Loved the book and highly recommend this at all costs. Beware of the black gloves.  

[llpodcast]

John Everson’s new book is another treasure to read that fits within the universe of his other works but is slightly different from his horror output.  This does not make the book any less pleasurable but it does show the diversity in the amazing style of Everson’s work.

 The characters are very well constructed and interesting from the small cameo to the main characters. Lawrence Ribald, the main character, tells the story in the first person and he finds himself in the middle of an investigation that has horrifying aspects that starts our hero down a rabbit hole that may not bring him back to reality.  He has his faults and they work very well within the confines of the story and make him extremely human which is an asset to this detective thriller novel.

 The subsidiary characters are very well defined and helps the readers enter the voodoo world in New Orleans.  Some of them become victims and there is an emotional strength when this happens that it makes you yearn for Ribald to solve the crimes.  All characters play a part in the overall mystery and they do help push the plot forward.

 The plot is well constructed which makes this a real page turner with very little room for the reader to catch a breath.  The setting and pacing are above par and drives the reader to its ultimate conclusion. There are some very interesting voodoo rituals and I am not versed in voodoo rituals but these are quite the head turning.

 This is an exciting read and as a horror novel probably will not be for the hard-core but as a mystery thriller novel it does exceed.  Everson’s novel always turns the normal tropes on their heads to give the reader a very unique experience with the confines of each genre that he tackles. This is an exceptional novel and one that I thorough enjoyed and highly recommend.  

[rebel-horror]

The Devils Equinox - Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Devils Equinox – Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A cautionary tale of being careful what you wish for. Austin sure learns this lesson the hard way in this witchy satantic novel.

I have to say it too me a while with this one, wasn’t gripping form the outset and the characters fell a bit flat for me. It’s not awful though.

It’s a decent enough story, a tale of a man who off-handily wishes his wife dead one night and well of course he gets what…

View On WordPress

[llpodcast]

Everson’s tale of witchcraft and suburbia is an interesting tale that kept me absorbed in this world but unlike his previous novel, House by the Cemetery, did not hold a lot of surprises for me.  The book is good little page turner but left me a bit cold after reading.

 The characters are very well crafted but found it very difficult liking the hero of the piece as I found him to be largely lack of character. He is egotistical, self wallowing and worst of all, a moaner who never takes responsibility for any of his actions.  Austin is what Austin does basically.  On the other hand, we have Regina who is very much alive and she is what she is with no distractions or excuses.  She is the meat in the story and that keeps things interesting.  Her character and although she does despicable things, I personally was drawn more to her character and if it wasn’t for the child scenario that played out, I probably would be championing her more.

 The plot is very well put together and although there is a lot of debauchery and lack of morals being played out at Club Equinox, this is very fitting for the story.  The plot is somewhat predictable and through foreshadowing, you can pretty much guess where the story is going to go.  Saying this, it did keep me interested to the final page. The final scene was ok and though I understand the reasoning, I feel that a better ending could have been initiated that wasn’t so expected.  The final word on Club Equinox left me with a lot of questions and maybe hopefully we may be able to visit this world again to see what the final outcome was.

 Overall, this is an interesting and quite a well written book with twist and turns and a very readable factor.  This is the second novel that I have read by Everson and I liked it but did not love it but did find it very enjoyable.  I have downloaded a few of his other books.  Although, it did not hit the height that House by the Cemetery did for me, I would recommend this to people who like their sex and dark fiction dark. A worthwhile book overall.

[llpodcast]

Everson’s new novel is a well deserved treat for all horror fans.  Taking a premise that deals with making a haunted house attraction in an actual haunted house and mixing it with horror films extraordinaire would be a hard pill to swallow.  In the capable hands of Everson, we are rewarded with an excellent novel that doesn’t shy away from true horror with a depth of emotion thrown in to make a well rounded fully realised story.

 The story starts out with a legend of a house that is home of a witch who died.  From this starting point, we are given full fledged rounded characters that are fully realised.  We have a pair of paranormal investigators giving the prophesy of doom and a group of people who love horror and actually live it in their fandom lives. This is where Everson masterfully crafts a story that makes you care for all the characters involved.

 The only downfall to this expedition is the character of Mike and his weakness .  I found him weak and pathetic though he works very well in this world.  To contradict this point, he is well written but I found him frustrating but he does work and the story would suffer without him in it as you need this balancing point. The only other sour critique I can really give is that the female names are a bit too similar to each other and it was kind of difficult to get them straight in my mind.  These are very minor critiques in the overall play of the novel.

 The setting and legend are very well described and handled and Everson proves he is a worthy winner of the Bram Stoker Award.  He doesn’t write in pretentious prose but writes deep and interesting characters in a fantastic setting giving the novel something to relate to and care about.   He shows off by the way of showing his love of horror films which is cleverly woven within the narrative.  This is a very richly written book that never lulls nor does it ever fail to satisfy the reader.  

 In recent years, horror has always had its ups and downs especially in the horror market where we have a lot of imitations to the King throne with a lot of failed attempts. Due to self publishing saturating a market with a lot of questionable debut, it is important that true lovers of the genre find Everson’s work as they will realised that horror bypasses the millennium humdrums of King and Hill and that there is some excellent talent out there ready to take over the throne.

 House by the Cementary is an important piece of work for the modern horror fan.  He has taken the normal tropes of the genre and added and spiced them up to fit a world that is jaded within the horror community.  He is excelled in every way possible with a good read that is solid contender to the world of horror.  This is must for all dark fiction readers.

 Overall, this is a winner of a book and a fantastic ode to the genre fans with rich characters, fantastic plotting and an accessible writing style that yearns the reader to want more.  This is one of those books that I will be recommending to all our listeners on our podcast and will definitely be edging our subscribers to read in our next newsletter. This is love letter to the world of horror told in an original thought provoking story.  This is one of the must reads of 2018.  Highly recommended.  

[jmcombs]

The House by the Cemetery by John Everson - BLOGOWEEN BOOK REVIEW

The House by the Cemetery by John Everson - #BLOGOWEEN #BOOKREVIEW #TheHouseByTheCemeteryJohneversonFlametreepress #NetGalley

Title:  The House by the Cemetery Author: John Everson Publication Date & Publisher: October 18, 2018, Flame Tree Press Genre(s): Mystery & Thrillers Length:  256 pages ISBN: 13: 9781787580008 My Rating: 3.5/5.0 Description (from Goodreads):

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…

View On WordPress