No, you didn’t read that wrong. That’s not a misspelling on my part of “Halloween.” That is the name of the novel, and since I heard of it, I’ve wanted to read it. I mean, with a name like that, how could I not? And with the audio book just getting released recently, I decided to give it a listen and see if this would become a new classic for spooky season.
Taking place during the Halloween immediately following the September 11 attacks, several strange things are happening in the small town of Crook’s Corner, Massachusetts. A famous scream queen is kidnapped in town while filming a new horror film. A science teacher is putting together a machine that causes those near it to see strange shapes. A Goth teenager and her little sister use the latter’s psychic abilities to play pranks on their grandmother. All this and more herald the coming of something evil: a cosmic being who wishes to become a god over all humanity. And this Halloween, they may get their chance.
This book was so hard to put down (or should I say put on pause?). The first chapter, where the scream queen is kidnapped, is shocking enough, but then the novel jumps back several hours, showing what the main characters–a group of high schoolers filming a horror movie for a class–are up to. And with those opening chapters, you get several different plot threads and you wonder how they’re all going to wrap up into one neat little package.
Which, much to my delight, they did come together nicely, leading to a harrowing story with a strong atmosphere of dread and tension. In fact, that’s probably the book’s biggest strength: the atmosphere. Once the horror part really gets going in Helloween, it’s just nonstop threat to the characters. Even in the pauses to the horror, there’s so much tension, it’s hard to relax. Add in some of the events in the latter half of the book, and you start to wonder if the characters can even triumph over the great evil.
And that’s the book’s second biggest strength: it’s characters, particularly the antagonist Geth. Geth is an ancient entity who schemes to become a god, and when it–or they, I should say–gets the ball rolling on their plans, you better believe that shit will hit the fan! And the way Geth is written, this alien being who thinks differently than us but plans to become a god over us, just makes them fascinating to follow. Even as you fear their victory due to their overwhelming power and disregard for both human life and human autonomy.
The other characters are great, too. Ralston manages to make almost all of the supporting characters– from kooky science teacher Ernie Combs and the Catholic priest to would have been right at home during the Crusades, to scream queen Darla Knight and the annoying kid who annoys almost all the other characters–feel real and fleshed out. And yes, there are a lot of them, but at no point did I ever feel like I was overwhelmed with the number of characters I encountered in the book.
Of course, our six main characters were no exception. At first glance, they do feel like your typical high school stereotypes: Cody the jock; Britney the popular girl; Jay the computer geek; Walden the film buff; Cassandra the Goth and her sweet little sister Taylor. But early on, we see that they all have deep dimensions to them, and that only grows as we get deeper into the story. Before I knew it, I couldn’t help but root for and love these characters dearly.
All in all, Helloween by Duncan Ralston is scary AF and sure to become a Halloween classic in time. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m awarding it a 4.8. Consider picking up a copy and adding it to your reading list this spooky season. If you’re a horror fan, you won’t regret it.
Rami Ungar The Writer 