Customer Reviews

Dark Harvest

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Many years ago, I read a story called "Johnny Halloween" in Cemetery Dance magazine. It was a stark, hard boiled, noirish horror story set around Halloween. Look it up if you can find it. It cemented Partridge in my mind as one of the best horror writers out there. Ten years ago, his novel "Slippin' Into Darkness" hit another home run with its vivid descriptions of flawed characters that you might not have really liked but still cared for in a weird, voyeristic way. It was also pretty stark, and very well told. After that, I lost track of him. Now, I'll be looking up everything he's published between then and now, because "Dark Harvest" is one of the best Halloween books you'll read this year (or any other.)

Released in a signed limited edition as part of Cemetery Dance's 2006 Halloween line, "Dark Harvest" has been chosen by Publisher's Weekly as one of the year's best. How rare is it that a small press book gets this kind of recognition? Read it, and you'll find out why.

Partridge has created sympathetic characters that could very well be people you know. The story centers around a small town with secrets that has a Halloween ritual every year where the teenage boys are locked in their rooms without food for five days and unleashed in the town on Halloween night with the mission to find and kill the October Boy. The person who kills him will be given a free ride out of the city and his parents will be rewarded by the town. Every year this plays out, every year another winner. As the secrets of the town and the origin of the October Boy are revealed, it is appearant that nothing in this place is what it seems. A young boy and girl figure this out, and do what they can to escape.

The book is short, but Partridge tells you everything you need to know. He will shock you, leave you spellbound, leave you riveted to the page wanting to know what happens next. I read it in two sittings and wanted more when I finished even though I was fully satisfied by the ending. This would make a great horror movie... His style is sparse and fast paced, imagine Robert B. Parker writing horror. This book was released alongside Al Sarrantonio's great novella "The Baby." I would also recommend "The Pumpkin Boy" by Sarrantonio for another similar Halloween tale. As far as similar hard boiled horror styles go, I would recommend "Slob" by Rex Miller and "After the Paperman Comes" by Heywood Steele.

I have been anxious to read Norman Partridge for some time now, and DARK HARVEST was a great introduction to the author. This book takes no prisoners and will punch your ticket from the get-go.

As the reader, you get the impression from the book description that you're going to be set for a rather typical good vs. evil, boy vs. monster plot scenario. But what Partridge delivers is so much more and so much different than your average horror novel. This is the tale of the scarecrow creature known as the October Boy. Upon his resurrection each Halloween, the small town's teenage boys compete for the honor of being the first one to destroy old Sawtooth Jack. Because if a boy is crowned the winner of the "Run", it's his ticket out of town. In fact, it's the only way anyone ever escapes the cornfields and the never ending nothingness of this particular midwest 'burg. Pete McCormick is 16 years old, and he is determined to be this year's winner of the Run. He wants out of town, and the only way to get his wish is to stop the October Boy from making it to the town square church before midnight.

However, Partridge's trick along the way is a clever story twist to keep the reader guessing about who the victims really are and who the monsters really are. What is the history behind this macabre tradition that has the farm folk running rabid every Halloween night? Partridge does a wonderful job of setting you up for one type of story, then stopping you in your tracks, and finally putting his own unique spin on the plot flow to really keep you guessing. His pacing and prose are both switch-blade sharp and will take you for a ride like few other authors can.

When I read DARK HARVEST, it reminded me of another novel by Joe R. Lansdale called THE NIGHTRUNNERS, which is also measured by hard hitting action and violent characters. In addition, I see some parallels with Partridge and author Charlie Huston. Material by all of these writers is actually some of the best dark fantasy and pulp noir to be found anywhere today.

As for the title of this review, it's really a nod to another October Boy, the mysterious scarecrow character from the early 1970's TV movie, DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW. The networks used to run it every fall, but I haven't seen it listed for many years now. It is still one of the best horror films ever to be offered by TV producers. Like the original NIGHT STALKER, this movie is very much in the same vein as the projects of Dan Curtis. I'm still waiting for someone to release it on DVD. In the meantime, read DARK HARVEST for an original Halloween treat. Almost as good as a carmeled apple or a popcorn ball......

Norman Partridge shuns the modern world in Dark Harvest, instead choosing to focus on what many consider a more "innocent' time. Here's how the novella begins:

A Midwestern town. You know its name. You were born there.
It's Halloween, 1963 . . . and getting on towards dark.

Partridge follows these moody opening lines with a Bradburyesque description of the unnamed town (delivered by an omniscient narrator), evoking the likes of Sherwood Anderson and Thornton Wilder even as he veers off into edgier territory by introducing the Pumpkin Boy, a.k.a. Sawtooth Jack, a.k.a. Hacksaw Face. The Pumpkin Boy is a pumpkin-headed effigy (shades of Sleepy Hollow!) who stands guard over the town's crops; on Halloween, he comes to life to run a gauntlet of the town's young men, all out to destroy him. The gauntlet is an annual ritual, the result of an ancient pact between the town and a greater power, still honored even though most don't recall its original purpose. So far, the Pumpkin Boy has never successfully reached his goal, a church in the middle of town; he has always been stopped (read destroyed) by one of the town's young men, who win a one-way ticket out of the remote hamlet. The majority of the action is seen through the eyes of the Pumpkin Boy, and Pete McCormick, a young man desperate in his desire to escape the town's environs. Their adventures on this particular Halloween night reveal the horror beneath the calm, respectable façade of the unnamed town, uncovering secrets that threaten to destroy it.

It seems significant that Partridge set the novel in October 1963, only weeks before America was shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, in the process losing what was left of its innocence; Partridge's unnamed town undergoes a similar, albeit more intense and personal, loss of innocence, done in by the actions of those who believe they are acting in the best interests of the community. Quintessential Partridge, this violent and explosive novella vividly evokes the early Sixties, touching on the frivolous, like hot rods, rock and roll, and going to the movies, but also delving into the darker aspects of that era, like juvenile delinquency and child abuse. In absolute control throughout, Partridge structures the story as a violent life-and-death race against time, giving it a rare immediacy and power. Doing so, he provides another example of why the novella sometimes seems the perfect vehicle for a tale of horror--it is storytelling stripped to its essentials, a format that forces writers to make their points succinctly and forcefully. That is not to say that they can't be subtle, either, just that they have to be more efficient. Because Partridge does this so well, he's able to make a little go a long, long way.

This novel starts out quickly, and rarely slows down the pace, which is good. However, I would not say that this is an excellent book. as someone said earlier, it's way too short and I believe patridge could have developed the entire novel a bit better. It's hard to write a concise review on this story, to be honest. This really had me reminiscing on my days of a teenager, reading christopher pike books by my window. Now anyone familiar with christopher pike knows that all of his books are basically the same redundant, easy to figure out plot. This is how this book is. It wasn't life changing, nor was it awful. It's an average book...something you could buy used and tattered. Would I recommend this to someone? Eh, maybe. If I remembered it, that is.

Norman Partridge's Dark Harvest is one of those books that, as a fledgling writer, I wish I had penned.

The prose is lean, mean, and to the point. You strap yourself into this book, and it doesn't let up for the next 176 pages. Best described as dark fantasy rather than horror (I never had a sense of dread while reading), the book is witty, intelligent, adrenaline pumping. Publisher's Weekly called it "contemporary American writing at its finest".

So I give it 4/5 stars.

What?

Only 4/5, you say? What happened?

Yeah. I wish I would have written this book. I would love to write prose like this. Dark Harvest is a great read. In my humble opinion, however, 5/5 is reserved for classics. Books that really plumb the unknown depths. Books that I want to read again because I know there is more I haven't quite understood. Books that speak to something much bigger than the paper they are printed on...something eternal in the human condition. Books that make a reader say, "wow, that was sooooo much better than the movie". Dark Harvest read like a movie.

Dark Harvest was a great ride, but one that was over too quickly (or took too long depending on your point of view--frankly, it read like an inflated short story). Once the book is done, the reader is done. It didn't pierce that primal place in my brain that say, Some of Your Blood did recently or Till We Have Faces did for me ten years ago. I'll definitely pass this along to some of my students, but I doubt I'll read it again.

A 4/5 from this curmudgeon is a very fine rating. Fans of dark fantasy/light horror should read this book without hesitation.

This is one book that if you buy it for the cover, you won't be disappointed when you flip through page after page and find you can't put it down. I personally love all Autumn/October/Halloween type stories. I am collector of small-press horror and fantasy books and I found Dark Harvest as a limited edition from Cemetery Dance press - it's a nice little hardcover, signed and numbered, and smells just like a great book should.

Anyway, it's more of a novella I think, and that's the only downside to it - the characters are full and believable, but you can tell that if he had another 100 pages we could have something much richer and more satisfying. I think what he does with this form is great though, and the sheer number of interesting viewpoints he works through is amazing considering the book's length. It moves along very quickly, yet he still makes time for subtlety and small character traits to reveal themselves little-by-little.

This isn't a really 'scary' book per se, but it does belong in the dark fantasy/horror realm and it hits the spot. It reminds me of The Drive-In by Joe Lansdale in its pace, storytelling style, and characterization - in other words, it's a fun read. Check it out!

This is a good read and what you might expect from pumpkins and harvest time, don't expect here. This is definitely something different. Authors often pace the reader with their writing style to match the mood. This one starts out with the gas peddle to the floor and lets up at the last sentence.

Norman Partridge's Dark Harvest is, for many reasons, a must-read for anyone who enjoys horror. On the surface it's a familiar theme: a small town has a dark annual ritual, often on Halloween, that requires some member of the community being sacrificed. The best known example of this is Shirley Jackson's classic short story "The Lottery", but there have been numerous others over the years by many different authors. What sets Partridge's Dark Harvest apart form and, in my opinion, above the others is the atmosphere and style. The closest I can come to describing it would be if Stephen King had somehow collaborated with Jack Kerouac and James Joyce to produce a horrifying tale that not only leaves the reader unable to look away but also drags the reader into the story so that you are immersed in a stream of consciousness of everything that happens on this one dark night, right from the very first line:

"A Midwestern town. You know its name. You were born there."

Partridge's narrative style here is unusual and compelling, a mix of present-tense omniscient third-person with second-person that draws the reader in and inserts you into the story, which is fast paced and dripping with sensory detail. You really are quite literally taken along for the ride, as can be seen and felt in segments like this:

"Pete hops the back fence. His Chucks crunch over gravel as he runs up the alley. That gun feels solid in his hand, but it's not the .45 that's driving him. Pete's doing that job all by himself now. The way he sees it, tonight's his only chance at a fresh start, and he's going to grab it.
--You want to put a tiger in your tank, that'll do the job. Our buddy Pete's all gassed up and ready to go. You remember how that feels. It's been a long time for you, but you can't forget, not once you've made the Run on Halloween night. So you've got a pretty solid idea of the tracks Pete's laying down as we follow him up a dark street that heads out of Jerry Ricks's neighborhood. That boy's motoring, all right, but he can't keep our pace.
--Not now, not where we're going. Which is straight out of town, like a witch riding a broomstick. We leave our buddy Pete in the dust, whipsawing through the poor side of town and across the tracks, flying so low that the painted line on that black asphalt smears into a yellow streak that marks the whole town for a coard. We pass that movie theater with the Vincent Price double-bill. We blow by that old brick church in the town square. Like a wild stitch of midnight we weave through a crowd of teens prowling Main Street, and they look straight at us but don't see more than a ripple of shadow and the swirling twist of a dust devil it leaves behind.
--Autumn leaves and candy wrappers and wax paper Bazooka Joe comics churn in the night. And now the town is behind us, and we're racing down the licorice-whip road. By the time that dust devil stops swirling on Main Street, we're a mile away.
--Rows of dead cornstalks on each side of the road blur by like a crop of bones. There's something up ahead in the middle of the road, something that's pulling away even as we gear up the night's own tach and close on it.
--A pair of coal-red brake lights glow in the rusty ass-end of that thing.
--A pair of dead-white headlights glare up front, raking the blacktop like a Gorgon's stare.
--Yeah. Mitch Crenshaw's rattletrap streetrod is dead ahead, chewing a hole through the night. But that doesn't cut any slack with us. Pedal hits metal that isn't even there. In a flicker of moonlight, we're even with the Chrysler's rear bumper. Another second and we're eyeballing the driver's side window.
--The window's down. Inside, Crenshaw's got a fistful of steering wheel and a brain crawling with pissed-off spiders. He sucks the last drag from a cigarette and flicks it into the night...."

If a novel (or in this case, a novella) were rated for atmosphere alone, I'd definitely rate Dark Harvest a very solid five stars. My only problem is that Dark Harvest raises questions along the way that it fails to answer by the end, leaving the reader feeling somewhat incomplete, particularly as Partridge's style is so intimate that all along the way the reader has been made a part of everything that happens. This leads to a feeling that by the end the reader should understand everything that has happened, most particularly why this ritual was so important to the town, why it was so brutally enforced and why the men behind it were so fearful of what would happen if The October Boy ever won, but unfortunately this is never revealed. For that reason and that reason alone, I can only rate it four stars.

But still, I highly recommend Dark Harvest to anyone who enjoys the horror genre. It is a rich and unsettling roller coaster ride of an experience and should not be missed.

Rarely do I just pick up a book and fall absolutely in love with it. I will definitely look forward to finding other books by Norman Partridge

A breeze to read, "Dark Harvest" could very well be picked up on a stormy afternoon and concluded by nightfall--it took me about three hours to finish, and its length allows for full immersion from start to finish, like a good movie. Partridge has carved his novella clean of every extraneous bit of background and characterization that typically embellish more traditional horror stories, preferring instead to deliver a lean, mean narrative that covers about the same amount of time as you'll take to ingest it.

Without revealing any important plot information, suffice it to say that this unsettling little horror story delivers a pretty good punch, full of action and violence and dark secrets. Partridge doesn't let the reader get away with being a passive observer, either; he grabs the reader right from the beginning, telling us that this takes place in "a Midwestern town. You know its name. You were born there."

But this is no Peoria. Set in 1963, this little burb is like the underbelly of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town." JFK is still president, Elvis rules, and muscle cars and greasy hair still reign supreme. It's Halloween, a couple of hours before midnight, and what's unfolding is a black-hearted, murderous little tradition that that might remind some of Shirley Jackson's famous short story "The Lottery."

There's no trick or treating in this town--in fact, every male teenager 16 and older has been locked in their rooms for five days, starved into a murderous rage, and let loose with all manners of weapons to take part in an annual rite known as the Run. Their goal: to exterminate a vicious, bloodthirsty ghoul known as October Boy who will rise out of the fields any minute with the sole purpose of taking as many of them with him as he can before midnight.

Stripped to the core as it is, "Dark Harvest" still has a trick or two up its scarecrow's sleeves, and it chooses to limit its narrative to three main characters, each diametrically opposed at the story's start. Partridge does a very good job of using these three viewpoints to provide interior motivations to transform the characters and the town itself as the story progresses.

If there is anything to fault here, it's that there are times I felt that certain characters fell off the radar every so often, but that's pretty understandable given this author's "real-time" exposition style: if one character receives focus, another outside the scene cannot. But that's small potatoes; though I've never read any of Partridge's other works, I intend to now. Grab "Dark Harvest" if you'd like to spend a couple of enjoyable hours on a moonless, stormy evening curled up around a spine-tingling book.