Customer Reviews

The Halloween Man

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is my third Douglas Clegg book. I've also read his short story collection, The Nightmare Chronicles, and his novel, You Come When I Call You. I read all three books back-to-back this summer, and just wasn't able to put any of them down.

The Halloween Man is the story of Stony Crawford, a boy on the verge of manhood who, in the autumn of his fifteenth year, learns some troubling things about his birth, and must decide how to move forward in the light of this knowledge. There are many similarities between this novel and You Come When I Call You. They both feature main characters on the cusp of adulthood who must battle demonic forces in a small town (in both cases the town is ultimately wiped out Roanoke Colony-style by the evil force in question).

Clegg probably does a better job in You Come When I Call You of building a strong propelling narrative that leaves the reader with no other choice than to keep turning pages. The Halloween Man is still very reader-friendly, but it's a little bit smaller and quieter of a novel (a little bit, anyway). The focus here is more on atmosphere and history. Clegg brings out more of the local color of the small seacoast New England town than he did for the desert town of You Come When I Call You. There's something very Lovecraftian about the briny surroundings that doesn't bode well for the local inhabitants.

In both novels, Clegg is concerned with religion and in teasing out what he believes, and what his characters believe about the origins of Biblical stories. I found this very fascinating, especially in The Halloween Man, in which Clegg does a more complete job of teasing out those beliefs.

If you've read and enjoyed any of Clegg's other writing, you should certainly pick up The Halloween Man. If you haven't read anything by Clegg and are thinking about it, I would either start with his short story collection, The Nightmare Chronicles, or this novel. You Come When I Call You is more of a powerhouse, but The Halloween Man displays more range and more of Clegg's facets as a writer.

I had never heard of Douglas Clegg until Halloween Man and Nightmare Chronicles. I started these books for fun but found them to be moving, serious, funny in parts, but over all pretty great books to read.

Now my big problem is tracking down his books Goat Dance, Never Land and Childrens Hour.

Halloween Man is one of those novels where you can't recommend it to people who like slasher stories, even though there's a little slashing. You can't recommend it to people who like serious fiction because they all seem to believe that horror stories can't be serious.

So who do I recommend this to? People who like Straub, Koontz, King, Little, and maybe Barker. This is a fascinating story, but not for people who don't demand a lot from their horror fiction. Yet it's also very entertaining.

I can't wait to read Clegg's upcoming magnum opus, You Come When I Call You. I have no idea what it's about, but if it's anything like Halloween Man, it will be amazing reading.

I've been reading horror novels since the age of seven. I'm now 30, and the only author that I've enjoyed more than Clegg is Stephen King. HALLOWEEN MAN is a definite must have for every horror fan's bookshelf.

I loved Halloween Man. From the opening to the very end, the suspense was great. I read three other Clegg books, but this is the best so far. A guy takes a boy who may or may not be some sort of monster child back to the coastal town where he grew up to possibly kill him. But the story grows into this entire history of the town and just how dark the kid's nature may be. the horror just built and built and built, and then it explodes so that the last 100 pages flew by. You bet this story has heart, which makes it great. It's not just scares and shocks, although its full of those too. Halloween Man is about finding out how to be human in the midst of horror and fear. I look forward to the authors next novel, You Come When I Call.

This one should be a movie

I recently finally got around to reading Halloween Man. I bought it here about six months ago maybe a year. Im glad I did. Halloween Man is one page turner and from the opening through the story about Stonehaven and all the wild things that go on there, this is a gripping story.

The way the story goes is there's a guy who is kidnapping this kid, but it may be that the kid has a dark power. Then we get the guy's life. He was brought up in this quiet town that had kind of a seamy underbelly. Then when he finds out that he and his girlfriend need to get out of town as teenagers, all hell breaks loose. There are thing about his own birth he never knew and now he's finding out just who he is and what his place in this town means.

Im not good at describing it. Halloween Man is really great. Its definitely a read you have to stick with because it all builds up to this one really shocking part. But the story about what lives ina cave in Europe is really interesting, too. There's a wild character in here called Fairclough who may just be the most diabolicly interesting villain I've ever read.

I recommend this as one of the best horror books of the year

The Halloween Man is a real experience as a horror novel.

I was constantly surprised and enthralled by the storytelling, and the stories within the main story. From the kidnapping at the opening, to the way it opens up into the New England village and all its secrets, and the rich Crown family with their opulent decadance. This one had me going.

When the mystery of the village is revealed, and the true story of Stony and Lourdes comes through, I could not stop turning the pages.

What probably got to me the most was how the story of the Halloween Man is a horror novel about grace and redemption in the face of absolute terror. I don't see htis that often in horror fiction.

I am all ready to go get Clegg's You Come When I Call You next. No wonder he won a Bram Stoker award.

I don't know why Clegg's not a household name. After reading The Halloween Man, he should be. The novel's riveting. The story's quite complex and the characters are complex as well. It begins with a child being kidnapped from cultists. Most of the book is a flashback explaining why the child was kidnapped. That story takes place in the ancient town of Stonehaven. On the surface, its a pretty New England fishing village but right underneath... Well, amongst other things,it has a blind storyteller, angry teenagers, a plethora of creepy old legends, a twisted rich family, and a thing in a box. Clegg keeps the pace taught without gratuitous violence or over-the-top gore. I'll be reading more from Douglas Clegg.

I really enjoyed reading Halloween Man, although I am pretty harsh about the horror novels I read. My favorites are Bentley Little, King, Koontz, and now Clegg, and that's because Halloween Man had deeper things going on than just creaking boards and ghosts. It's the story of a boy named Stony from childhood through adulthood as he begins to discover mysteries about his own existence and his place in the world. It also has a great love story within it, star crossed love if there ever *was* any.

But the best thing about Halloween Man is the prose is crisp and strong and the images it puts in your head are vivid. When the horror happens, it seems completely real inside this story, and its a real story of sin and redemption in a way that doesn't read like a rehash of older books.

My favorite character was probably Nora Chance, and her life was as complex as the hero's, from her own childhood on up (even though she's somewhat over 70 when the book begins.) I also liked Diana, who like her namesake goddess, is a brutal hunter and unforgettable beauty.

I have triedto get copies of Goat Dance, Breeder, and The Childrens Hour but I guess they are hard to come by. Halloween Man is worth the time. My only problem with book was that it ended too quickly for me but I guess thats less a criticism than just me wanting it to keep going on and on.

Submitted by:

Jackie Patterson

The Halloween Man by Douglas Clegg is one of the most complex and riveting novels of horror I've ever read. From its opening as a man kidnaps a boy and take the kid to a small New England town -- to the back-story of the man's childhood in the town of Stonehaven, with all its dark secrets -- The Halloween Man had me enthralled.

Both a powerful story of the redemptive spirit of love as well as a truly nightmarish excursion to the heart of darkness, The Halloween Man ranks as one of the best horror novels of the '90s.

Other favorites: The House by Bentley Little, Bag of Bones by Stephen King, Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce, Sineater by Elizabeth Massie

I can't wait for the new Clegg book, Nightmare Chronicles.

Halloween Man is a fantastic horror novel. It is well paced, has many truly horrific moments, and keeps the supernatural suspense at a razors edge. It also is a very heartfelt, emotional book (you can't help feel sorry for the main character as his life becomes unwound). As always Douglas Clegg's writing is great.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I felt the ending was a bit anticlimatic.