It’s Halloween night in a small town and many of its residents are gearing up for fun and revelry. One family is running a haunted trail through the woods, another is hosting a block party and lots of teens and kids are getting ready to trick or treat. But, no one will make it through this night unscathed. An evil force is lurking and there will be a high body count by midnight.
This one was a bit too all over the place for me. There were way too many characters introduced early on in alternating chapters. The stories weaved together to form one big one, but there were lots of individual characters it took me a second to care about. That said, the two main families whose lives are a complete mess are less horror than humiliation. I’m not sure who the target readers are here, people who like domestic dramas or people who like horror. It’s got a bit of both. It gave me a Pandora’s box vibe, once the evil is released havok is being released in so many ways. I would have prefered a little less of the domestic drama in the first half and a dive right into the horror. There is a ton of action in the second half and the evil is creepy and entertaining but you gotta slog though the first half to get there.
This reminds me of Imaginary Friend meets Big Little Lies. Just because that mix didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, so give it a try. It’s worth buying just for that amazing cover!
Thanks to St Martin’s Press for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.
Do you read horror all year round or just at spooky season?
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