Customer Reviews

Hallows Eve

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If there's one positive thing I can muster about Al Sarrantonio's "Hallows Eve," it's that he conjurs atmosphere beautifully. Like other reviewers have noted, Sarrantonio truly knows how to capture the essence of our darkest and most rustic holiday. The spirit of Halloween is readily apparent in this book; it practically clings to every page as Sarrantonio sketches a refreshingly macabre, yet strangely picturesque, portrait of smalltown Americana amidst the cold Autumn chill of Samhain. Reading this book I could practically *smell* the candy corn and hear the rustling of the cornstalks as they emanated from the page. So, based on that aspect alone, I would recommend this book.

Unfortunately, the novel is saddled with a dull, contrived supernatural plotline that Sarrantonio must have dug up from a cobweb-covered box of CLICHES. Of course there's the emotionally scarred hero, returning to his hometown of Orangefield for the first time since something really bad happened to him as a youngster. There's the good-hearted but skeptical cop who gets caught up in the action, and the innocent little girl who holds the key to the mystery. And then there's a helpful wraith, disguised as a scarecrow, who pops up at random intervals to provide needless exposition for the audience.

Now, overused plot I could've dealt with, but the main problem with "Hallows Eve" is the simple fact that Sarrantonio doesn't have the talent to bring even this story justice. He may be great at writing atmosphere, but when it comes to characterization he's at a total loss. The heroes are one-dimensional and uninteresting, and the villains are just as bad. Samhain, the Grim Reaper-like spirit that serves as the book's Darth Vader to Corrie Phaeder's Luke Skywalker, is about as menacing as a seventy-year old substitute with a hearing aid and liver spots. And the book is littered with utterly bland dialogue: In one scene, as the cop is hiding in the attic from a swarm of undead spectres, Sarrantonio cheekily writes " . . . he sat in an attic gaurding [Corrie and Regina] from an army of evil pumpkin men and the Lord of Death because someone who claimed to be dead made out of corn stalks with a smiling pumpkin for a head told him to." Yuck. Another howler is when Corrie, wondering in some alternate dimension ruled over by the evil one, thinks to himself that "If this was the Kingdom that Samhain ruled, Corrie felt almost sorry for him." Bland, bland, bland!

But still, it's an entertaining read if you're in the right mood. The right atmospherics would certainly do it justice; reading this on your front porch in the middle of Fall, amidst the blowing leaves, a nice hot cup of cider in your hand, you could very well fall under the spell of this quirky little book. It's by no means a great novel, and I wouldn't really claim that Al Sarrantonio is the "...very talented writer" that the Washington Post claims him to be, but it's worth a look nonetheless.

I have always had a soft spot for Halloween in my heart, and even though I haven't read the prequel, Orangefield, I still enjoyed this story. Sarrantonio sucked me into his tale of the whimsical town that is known for its pumpkins. Halloween is the main event and celebration; everyone seems to prepare it all year round. This year however series of unexpected events reoccurs more often, and as we learn what caused them the tale grows chillier by each page. I loved the description of the festive mood, the corn husks under the shoes, warm winds, crisp harvested apples, pumpkin patches and town full of folklore.

Corrie Phaeder is back home because suddenly his life fell apart back in California and he is mysteriously drawn back to the place where his mother died. He didn't want to be back in Orangefield, but power beyond him have directed him back home. Right of the bat, we meet John, a mysterious creature that seems to know everything Corrie dreams about and who foretells him about horrible things happening, while Halloween is two weeks away. He and a little girl, Reggie with the help of a local cop, Grant, try to solve the unnatural happenings while battling mythological evil that has spawned stories about Orangefield. The trouble is that the stories start to look more like truth and when everyone who tries to help Corrie seems to have a fatal "accident" he has nowhere to turn but John, but can he fully trust a strange creature that comes from another dimension?

Sarrantonio did a great job writing phenomenal descriptions of matter that is not of this world, the shapes, colors, sounds, inflated bubbles, geometric forests, Technicolor waiting stations, ghouls, walking pumpkin men and dark clouds of destruction were really vividly pained and filled my head with images. I read this book in a very short amount of time, and it sure made me miss Halloween!

I must say I enjoyed the ending! The story filled me in on what I missed in the first book, and if anything, it made it even more haunting and mysterious as the puzzles of mystifying deaths in the town were answered before my eyes. The ending itself reminded me of The Matrix. Life and death are all contained in this intangible nothingness that is yet full of color. I cannot do the writer justice as this is a good story, and it was a fun ride that a book reader should hop on.

Al Sarrantonio writes the best halloween books of this generation. His Orangefield stories are a refreshing take on what could be a boring, seen it before tale in the horror genre. Sarrantonio never fails to entertain, and Hallows Eve is another winner. If you enjoy stories about people trying to go home again, which we all know you can't do, and if you like stories about mysteries surrounding Halloween, this is the book for you!

"Hallows Eve" is Al Sarrantonio's second novel in the Orangefield series (although I don't know why Leisure decided to release the second book first). The story starts off stronger than the predictable finish, but I found it solid nonetheless. As a writer, Sarrantonio has flavors reminiscent of T.M. Wright and Tom Piccirilli. The book is a very quick read, but I wanted Sarrantonio to push the envelope a little more.

This book to me was a fast and fun read. The way this guy describes The halloween season is fantastic. It's a also a great story and cool concept. A must for fans who want a good read for Halloween.

Corrie is returning to his home town of Orangefield, the Pumpkin Capital of the World. He always thought he would never return but for some reason he feels he must.

Life is not normal for Corrie. He only experiences the normal world through dreams. When he is awake, reality can twist and turn. This has almost driven him mad but he has held on to his sanity. Even before he arrives in the town, he spots a pumpkin-headed scarecrow that gestures to him.

Samhain, the Lord of the Dead, is making incursions into Orangefield. But Samhain is actually working for a more terrifying power. One that would like to see all life destroyed. Corrie and his abilities will be needed in some sort of battle to save the world come Halloween.

Nicely plotted with interesting imagery and intelligent twists on Halloween and its symbols. A good read even if it isn't Halloween.

After reading some of the reviews but mostly the 1 star reviews I had to jump in. I realize this book is out of print and was published 6 years ago but I still have to put my two cents in.

Nobody in their reviews (especially the one star reviews) said anything about how poorly this book is written. Some have even said it was well written. I take issue with that. For example the protagonists are a twenty something year old man and a 7 year old child. So at one point in the story why does Al refer to them as children? At another time a police officer is firing his pistol and it goes from a revolver to an automatic and back again. In fact he reloads his revolver by shoving a loaded magazine into it!?!

Ugh, this author is the worst and I have no desire to read anything else by him. I've only hung on to the paperback because I love the cover.

Sarrantonio's best work channels the nasty lyricism of early Ray Bradbury (that is, Bradbury of the 1940's, before he got too mushy inside) into new and unexpected directions. It's an approach that seems to work better in short stories than in novels (which was also true of Bradbury's output), though this novel contains a lot of fascinating scenes and setpieces, along with one of the more idiosyncratic views of the Afterlife ever put on paper.

A young man returns to Orangefield (the pumpkin capital of America), the small town he grew up in, ten years after he left. Orangefield is deeply weird, as in supernatural occurences every ten minutes weird -- it's like Stephen King's Castle Rock after several bong hits. The Celtic god of death and the harvest (what a job title!), Samhain, is working to let a much greater evil god into our universe. Our protagonist and a plucky little girl can stop this. Maybe. Weirdness ensues.

The first half of the novel is weird and gripping; the second half seems a bit rushed and sketchy. Nonetheless, Sarrantonio takes chances with both plot twists and characterization here (not to mention the overall weirdness of the supernatural in this novel), giving us something other than the standard humanity vs. supernatural evil tropes that dominate horror fiction. This is part of a much larger story-and-novel cycle, though it stands pretty well on its own.

I genuinely like the idea of making Samhein into a "real figure." Quite original in the premise and very interesting version of limbo. :) Sarrantino does a fine job developing characters and making you care for them or not. Good read.

While I enjoyed this book, I wouldn't go so far to call it anything like Ray Bradbury. I mean, come on, that's the guy who wrote timeless masterpieces that will never die.

This is more a dark fantasy set in Sarrantonio's town of Orangefield, a kind of Halloween spookland where very weird things take place.

Al Sarrantonio creats a dark Halloween world of death that is ruled by Samhain. Things from his world cross over into the present and make for an atmospheric tale of ghostly pumpkin men, strange murders, and another strange world you go to when you die.

Sarrantonio did a good job including all the cool Halloween spooks and autumn wanderings, while still keeping with the main tale of Corrie Phaeder's decent into near madness at the hands of John, a supernatural being in the form of a scarecrow with the head of a pumpkin.

I enjoyed this enough to read the other Orangfield books by Sarrantonio. And I would defintely recommend this to Halloween fans. I'm sure this could be read any time of the year, but I would suggest only reading it come autumn, or even better, on Halloween night in one sitting.

Horrordude.