Neil Gaiman: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Hi everyone

This is the review for my second time reading Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 
I have this gorgeous pocket that I reread.

"It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.
His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang."

I really don't understand why this has earned an average of 4 stars of Goodreads.
The story starts out well enough. The writing is easy to follow, the story unfolds nicely, the setting is interesting, I liked the initial characters and the book has a good pace.
But. But. The characters are completely good or bad. The book is too scary for YA and too young for an adult story. The story itself is just stupid. What the hell is going on? As usual, Neil Gaiman has amazing ideas but he can't execute them, he can't work them into an interesting, coherent story.
That's my opinion naturally. 

What's your experience with Neil Gaiman's books and his writing?

Happy reading!
Helena