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…
Horror Novel Book Review Blog: All Hallows
All Hallows was my second foray into the Christopher Golden catalog, the first being Ararat. I was impressed with Ararat so I was keen on reading another of his novels, especially, and so I went with All Hallows since it is centered around the Halloween season, my favorite time of year. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel that took place during the Halloween season that scared me or that I enjoyed. None that I can remember, at least.
I’ll say that All Hallows is an interesting read. There were elements that I really enjoyed and a lot that I did not. What I enjoyed is not what I thought I would like about this book and, transversely, what I wanted to enjoy I did not. Specifically, the horror. One might think when reading a horror book with a sinister antagonist with candles for eyes, flames lighting its way, adorning the book’s cover that one would be in for a terrifying ride. No, the horror, scary, and frightening aspects of this book were not what engaged me initially. Instead, it was the drama that unfolded amongst the wide assortment of characters. And I do mean a wide assortment in that I sometimes needed to remind myself of who was who. Eventually, this “interruption” of trying to remember each character became daunting, a chore. But, the drama kept reeling me back in and I was on board until the “creepy” stuff took reigns of the controls and completely threw me out of the novel. The drama in the story is basic stuff with neighbors, husbands and wives, and teenagers that you would see in everyday life. I wanted to see what happened with all this drama as opposed to the supernatural occurrences.
The characters were, for the most part, likable, and being that the entirety of the story takes place in one day, Golden does a good job at making you feel for some of these people. Of course, you’re going to need a stray bird or two to add contrast and you do, but this felt forced. The story for a pair of characters went in a completely different direction that I did not expect but, in the end, it served no purpose except to position some characters into a particular scenario, all of which could have been accomplished without all the hoopla they had to go through to get there.
Speaking of unexpected things, All Hallows has its fair share of surprises, some were good that took me aback and others inducing the dreaded “eye-roll.” I went back and forth with being on the verge of kind of liking it to being disappointed with this one. Eventually, after finally turning the last page, it became official and I did not enjoy All Hallows.