All Hallows by Christopher Golden
Melissa B. (dragoneyes)
This wasn’t one of my favorite books by Golden but it was good. Set in the 80’s around Halloween, it had all the vibes that I was looking for. Small town, great characters and a spooky forest. The story line started of great but about halfway through, it lost its momentum. Still, the twist in the plot helped make up for that.
In this story we have many characters, which at times was hard to follow, that are all getting ready for Halloween in their own way. There is the yearly haunted forest that many love to go to for a creepy good time, there are trick-or-treaters putting finishing touches on their costumes, and families doing last minute decorations and getting supper ready. Everything seems perfect until it isn’t. We see the flaws and the struggles that the families run into. Not every family is perfect and this is the day that it all comes out.
Once it gets to Halloween night, our characters, in their own groups, start running into kids that are in costume that they don’t recognize. It doesn’t take long to figure out something is going on. As the night goes by, the newly arrived kids beg to be protected until midnight from the Cunning Man. Things build from there and then a whole lot of crazy starts happening.
What takes away from a really good story is the characters and their lives. At first this seems to be the cherry on top but as the story progresses, we learn about this girl’s crush, Then they bring it up… again and again and again. Or we keep hearing about the spouse’s infidelity… again and again and again.. This really wears on you. Every time something happens with that character group, the story stalls in back tracking on their issues then goes back to the action.
Still, even struggling with that and wanting to scream “I KNOW” so many times, I still enjoyed the book. I thought the Cunning Man was creepy and the kids creepier. Loving the 80’s and Halloween just made me right at home.
Tags: Book Reviews, Book Suggestions
