Hallows Eve

Worse than mediocre "Halloween" novel about the end of the world. The characters are so two dimensional and the dialog so wooden we never end up caring about anyone and consequently never invested in their outcome. The action however is totally berserk from the first page with monsters, murderous possessed persons, venomous insect swarms, and poltergeists making appearances at regular and frequent intervals. Somehow Sarrantonio manages the brilliant feat of making none of it the least bit creepy or even that gruesome. By the time it should become a page turner the whole attitude is lets get this over with. It can't even manage the feat of being so bad it is a humorous self-parody of the genre.

This time last year, I picked up Al Sarrantonio’s Horrorween. The book was pretty so-so, but strongly evoked the feeling of Halloween. I thought I’d give him a second chance with the second book in his Halloween-themed Orangefield trilogy, Hallows Eve.

For the most part, Hallows Eve is too average. Not a book I would recommend. The story is interesting enough, but not terribly creative. The characters are pretty flat and two dimensional. The scares aren’t particularly scary and the town of Orangefield is missing those photorealistic details that would bring it to life.

But… If you can call a horror novel charming, Hallows Eve certainly is. For all its faults, the book strongly captures the picture-perfect Halloween in a small show more Northeast town. The one we always wanted as kids. The atmosphere is so strong, it practically leaps off the pages.

For about eleven months and two weeks out of the year, I would say Hallows Eve is a book you can safely pass by. But for the couple of weeks surrounding Halloween, when we all wish we lived in a rural community where the leaves change color and the air turns chilly, the book is perfect. Al Sarrantonio has managed to capture that feeling and package it. It might be a one-trick pony, but the book is breezy and quick enough that the one trick doesn’t grow old. show less

Corrie Phaeder had finally escaped the nightmare of Orangefield, a spooky town known for it's pumpkin festival and odd happenings. His life was finally normal, until he felt the unfortunate pull of the town of his upbringing and found himself irresistibly barreling back in its direction, and it just so happens to be during the Halloween season.

I read Horrorween a couple years ago, so thought it was a perfect book to read during the week of Halloween. I thought a full-length novel would be the same, but unfortunately it doesn't evoke the spirit of the holiday as well as its predecessor, even though the stories in the previous book play a major role in this one. It has its moments, the pumpkin-headed scarecrow and the vine-things were show more perfectly halloweenish, but it the atmosphere is dispelled by dipping too deeply into surrealism, especially towards the end.

Hallows Eve and Horrorween are still decent books to pick up during the month of October. It's probably pointless to read them any other time and they would probably feel a bit hokey if you tried, but if you are like most people and enjoy all the tackiness associated with the holidays we celebrate, you'll probably not mind these either. show less

All Hallow's Eve isn't anything new -- it's a twist on an old theme, concentrating too much on the practices of Halloween (which has been beaten to death already), while showing all it's cards up front. The villians are introduced way too fast, there's not enough mystery remaining, the characters aren't really latched on to, and the ending wasn't anything overly powerful. Still, All Hallow's Eve isn't too bad...it kept me reading, and that's saying something. If a novel is genuinely bad, I usually won't finish it. I finished this one, because it DID have some saving grace. One being the well written detective, another being morbid curiosity for the show down (although my expectations weren't that high), and another being that while the show more plot was disorganized and jumbled, it wasn't exactly dull. show less

Started this one on Halloween night and a decent read. Quick read. I wouldn’t necessariliy consider this horror, but more of a dark fantasy. Got a little strange and was sometimes hard to follow. Moved forward quickly, almost to the point that I felt I missed something. Events were often described “matter of factly” without much use of emotion or atmosphere. Not a bad read, mostly because it went so quickly, but not sure I would want to revisit. Might give Al another go, but my initial impression was that is just so-so. Great cover though illustration. It had more atmosphere than the book did, great artwork.

A hauntingly beautiful second chapter to the Orangfield series. A little on the morbid side, but so what.