Allhallow's Eve [Paperback]

Richard Laymon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1994

Nothing unusual ever happens in Ashburg, until a local family are mutilated and left to die in their own home. Since then, the house has stood empty, but when mysterious invitations arrive announcing a party there, nobody thinks its a joke. After all, it is Allhallow's Eve.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747247838
• ISBN-13: 978-0747247838
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good. Very fast-paced., June 10, 2004

By 

David "Laymon Fan" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allhallow's Eve (Paperback)

There is no U.S. edition. This is a British edition. That's why it costs more. It's not Laymon's best book, but it is way better than most of the amazon reviewers say. Laymon is one of my favorite authors.

He won an award for outstanding novel in 2001 for the "The Traveling Vampire Show". He was nominated for the novels "Flesh" and "Funland", the collection "A Good, Secret Place," and a great book about writing fiction called "A Writer's Tale".

He was born in 1947 near Chicago. He lived most of his life in California. He's very popular in England.

This book is pretty short at about 250 pages. It's lean and fast-paced.

Read this book if you're already a fan of the author. Otherwise, try one of his other books first. I suggest "Body Rides" or "Island" or "The Stake".

Be careful not to buy the Fastbacks.

Richard Laymon's novels are listed at www.rlk.cjb.net (It's a fan site run by Steve Gerlach.)

All of Laymon's novels are available in the United Kingdom. You can order them from www.amazon.co.uk / Shipping is expensive though, and the free shipping offer is not valid outside of the United Kingdom. Also, the British Pound is more valuable than the US dollar.

American editions of Laymon's novels are available from Amazon.com and some of the British editions are available from Amazon-Canada at www.amazon.ca

On amazon.co.uk this book is listed as "Allhallow's Eve". "Allhallow's" is one word there and two words here. There are other reviews for the book there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wish I'd listened to the bad reviews..., June 5, 2011

By 

Kat "Reviewer @ Shivers Of Horror" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Allhallow's Eve (Paperback)

I've been wanting to read this one for awhile. But, I couldn't track it down at any local library. So my only option was to buy it from here. And of course it was kinda expensive for a paperback. $12ish. When I got it in the mail I couldn't believe how TINY it was! I figured for $12 it would be a long book (I didn't pay attention to the page number listed before buying)

Then I read the book and was even more angered that I paid $12 for such a crappy book. I really wish I had listened to the other reviewers here.

This book felt like it was written by an 13 year old, amateur writer. One with a dirty mind. Actually, if there weren't a few sexual references I'd say that it was a book written by a kid for kids. Mainly all the characters are kids, and the adults that are in the book act like children...adults swear at children and even kick them in the balls! Totally unrealistic.

The sexual stuff in the book was kinda disturbing to read through since it involves 14-16 year olds. I didn't want to read that sort of stuff, and it was disturbing that a grown man was even writing about it. Of course if you are a Richard Laymon fan then you know he has all this weird sex stuff in just about every novel. It does get old...

The plot of the book makes it sound like the whole book is going to take place at a haunted house during a party. Nope, it doesn't play out like that. In fact the party in this "haunted" house only takes place over the last few pages of the book.

There are a few parts that were cool to visualize. But overall I was really disappointed in the book. The book could have been so so so much better.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best!, March 18, 2009

By 

marky77 (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allhallow's Eve (Paperback)

This book is very fast-paced (I read it in one day) partially due to its short length of 246 pages and partly becauase of Laymons fluid writing style.
The storyline is that someone sends annonymous invitations to teenagers from the local high school inviting them to attend a halloween party at an abandoned house where the family who lived there were slaughtered 15 years previously.

Please do not be discouraged from this book by bad reviews, it is a fantastic novel and a great read which I recommed to all fans of Laymon. And if you have not yet read anything by Laymon (and trust me you are seriouly missing out if you havn't) this is as good a place to start as any.