You can say what you want about Neil Gaiman, but he certainly knows how to write engaging stories. 
 The Graveyard Book introduces us to Nobody Owens, nicknamed Bod, who survives as a toddler while his family is murdered in a gruesome act of violence. Bod escapes to a nearby graveyard and is taken in by the ghosts who are condemned to remain forever at the place their bodies were buried. The weird plot requires some time getting used to, which the author doesn't really allow us because the story soon sees Bod growing into a curious boy and later into an adventurous teenager. 
 Neil Gaiman's success partly rests on his very own niche in the fantasy genre he managed to create, a fusion of classic fantasy stories, Kafkaesque plot details and coming-of-age tales. It is easy to discover Gaiman's personal style inside his books; some of his ideas are so grotesque that hardly any author person would be able to come up with something like this ... and turn it into a captivating tale enthralling thousands of readers. In The Graveyard Book, Gaiman soon develops a rather dark atmosphere even more memorable than it was in Coraline or The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but it is difficult to connect with any of the characters in the beginning. Some parts dragged on and became boring, before the end ultimately made up for everything and allowed the book to conclude in a breathtaking, spectacular finale. 
 Gaiman himself pointed out in the afterword that his novel is basically a retelling of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book mixed with darker elements, the most significant difference being that the protagonist was raised by ghosts rather than a pack of wolves. The book was structured in such a way that it allowed us to focus on one specific period or moment in Bod's life with every chapter, which resulted in a huge diversity of topics the novel deals with because Gaiman never remained at one specific subject for more time than he should have. We get to know Bod on his way through life as he finds a new family in the graveyard, experiences friendships and enmities, as he is taught supernatural abilities by the ghosts and learns about major significances between death and life. 
 In the end, this book not only keeps its reader on the edge of the seat, it also explores a meta level by dealing with some more significant topics like losing beloved people and learning to care for others. The writing was not as beautiful as I remembered it from The Ocean at the End of the Lane (which I can forgive because while that book was very well-written, the plot lacked just about everything for me - and an author's writing style should change and improve over the time, just like every person grows with his or her experiences). In addition, the book was not without flaws, but those were not significant enough to embody a major influence in my enjoyment of the novel.