All Hallows
A Novel
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4.0 • 39 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Christopher Golden is best known for his supernatural thrillers set in deadly, distant locales...but in this suburban Halloween drama, Golden brings the horror home.
It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man.
There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?
All Hallows. The one night when everything is a mask...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Golden (Road of Bones) disappoints with this derivative and decidedly unscary outing set in 1984 Coventry, Mass., on Halloween Eve. The holiday is a big occasion in the small town, headlined by the Haunted Woods, an elaborate display complete with special effects and cosplayers, staged by local Tony Barbosa as a charity fund-raiser. This year, however, will see the last such event, due to the Barbosas' strained finances. Instead of a glorious finale, however, the Barbosas and their neighbors are subjected to supernatural manifestations, including a mysterious and scared young girl dressed as Raggedy Ann who claims she's being pursued by the Cunning Man. The predictable terror that ensues afflicts the entire community, as a killer with small flames in place of eyes attacks, eviscerating young and old alike. Meanwhile, domestic secrets—including marital infidelities, sexual orientation, and criminality—are revealed. Hopping between the perspectives of various one-dimensional characters does nothing to make the night's horrors feel any more surprising or suspenseful. If this bit of '80s nostalgia is intended to capitalize on the success of Stranger Things, it falls far short.
