The Graveyard Book

This reads like a classic fairy tale or a children's story but has a lot of very dark elements. The first page is set immediately after the grisly murder of (almost) an entire family. The majority of the story takes place in an old graveyard at the top of a hill and you meet its many inhabitants as well as a mysterious not-dead-nor-living man (he's obviously a vampire though the word, and description of his more unsavoury activities, is never mentioned in the book). I expected to be bored but knowing it was written by Gaiman, I should have known better. Each character, even those that barely appear [enter ghost pun here], are detailed in such a way that you feel like you've known them as long as Bod himself has. The last few pages even made me cry a bit for I felt strongly enough for each character.

If you're a fan of Gaiman, ghosts, and murder mysteries, I highly recommend.