It’s the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, and five 12-year-old boys are forming the bonds that a lifetime of changes will never erase. But then a dark cloud threatens the bright promise of summer vacation: on the last day of school, their classmate Tubby Cooke vanishes. Soon, the group discovers stories of other children who once disappeared from Elm Haven. There are other strange things happening in town: unexplained holes in the ground, a stranger dressed as a World War I soldier, and a rendering plant truck that seems to be following the five boys. The friends realize that there is a terrible evil lurking in Elm Haven…and they must be the ones to stop it.
Horror Book Review Blog: Summer of Night
The summertime invokes so many childhood memories of waiting for that final school bell to chime, signaling the end of the school year and the beginning of freedom that the summertime brings. Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night takes place in the summer of 1960 at the end of the school year and the end of Old Central School which is slated to be demolished. The boys and girls of Elm Haven, Illinois are in for quite the surprise as there is a terror unleashed in town hellbent on making sure the townsfolk have anything but a pleasant time off from school or work. No one in Elm Haven is safe.
Summer of Night reminded me of Stephen King’s works The Body and IT, not because there was a shape-shifting clown but because of the coming-of-age tale, the tone of the book, and the time in which it takes place. Yes, IT took place in the 1950s (at least the kid’s portion of it) and spanned for a twenty-seven-year period while Pennywise the dancing clown went dormant. No, Summer of Night was a different beast where we follow this ragtag bunch of kids in the summer of 1960 as they strive to survive something that lurks in the shadows and even in broad daylight. Inevitably, the kids go on the defense (like IT) and try to solve a mystery of an event that harbors over the town that occurred nearly a century ago. The events, in the “present” 1960 are triggered by the disappearance of one of the kids’ classmates, “Tubby” Cooke where Mike, Dale, Lawrence, Harlen, Kevin, Duane, and Cordie Cooke (Tubby’s sister) band together to unearth the towns secret and dispel the evil.
Simmons’ writing consumed my imagination immediately as it evoked a sense of nostalgia. Sure, I didn’t grow up in the 1960s but that doesn’t change the fact that Simmons was able to capture that tingly feeling when school was over for the year, the summer nights of hanging out with your close friends, telling stories, playing sports outside and just being a child. The feeling that Simmons was able to translate so well on paper immersed me into this world with these pre-teens as I felt for most of the characters and the trials and tribulations that one would encounter as a kid sans the evil thing perusing the streets. The writing made me understand the time and even though I didn’t come into existence until two decades later when the story takes place I was able to feel comfortable with the surroundings as described in the book. The attention to detail that Simmons provides us with can be a blessing but it can also be cumbersome at 538 pages long (paperback). Despite the book’s length, I felt that most, if not all, were integral to the story and development of the characters. His writing was easy to read and I was able to connect with it easily as it flowed fluently.
Were there instances that lost my attention? Not one. I wanted to keep reading and wanted to learn more about the town’s secrets, the kid’s adventures, and the horror that terrorized them. There are moments of terror for us as readers but some may deem the scares too far and between. For me, they were just right. To say I liked Summer of Night would be an understatement and, rest assured, Dan Simmons is certainly on my radar, and will be seeking more of his works.