Monday, March 22, 2010

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

It’s the middle of the night, and everyone in the house is sound asleep. Everyone that is, except for the man, Jack.

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife."

Jack murders the entire family, except for the baby boy. He makes a swift escape by crawling over his crib railing. He totters down the stairs, out the front door, and down the street to the nearby graveyard.

Citizens of the graveyard hold an emergency meeting to decide what to do with the child. Two of the cemetery’s dead inhabitants, Mr. and Mrs. Owens agree to adopt the orphaned toddler. They name him Nobody Owens, or Bod, for short.

Nobody is raised by ghosts, and tutored by wise and knowledgeable local residents. He’s given special privileges, normally reserved for the deceased, including haunting, dreamwalking and becoming invisible.

But Nobody’s childhood in a graveyard has its own challenges. Especially when the man who murdered his family is still on the loose, and out to finish the job.

This is a creepy, spine-tingling tale, filled with haunted crypts and menacing ghouls.