Moonwalker [Paperback]

Rick Hautala (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1989

In the potato fields of Dyer, Maine, lumbering, expressionless figures toil in the hot sun. They are relentless in the pursuit of their task, working without pause. As though mindless, they never slow, never stop...and never breathe. The potatoes must be picked. The small-town people of Dyer, happy with the way things are, never question the existence of the tireless workforce. They never discuss the horrid screams that rip through the night or the odd disappearances around town. Nor have they considered why the lights in the funeral parlor blaze like a beacon throughout each night. They simply look the other way. But for Dale Harmon, looking the other way is not an option. As a visitor to Dyer, the freakish events that plague the town are impossible to ignore...and he begins asking questions. Harmon and four others soon come face to face with a gruesome, unstoppable evil sent to consume them all. For the dead are living...and the harvest has begun.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Zebra; First Edition edition (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082172598X
• ISBN-13: 978-0821725986
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,671,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weird Potato Farming Zombies., October 26, 2008

By 

SpacegrassMan (Insane Land of Words & Music) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Moonwalker - A Novel (Paperback)

Well, first off, you have to remember this book was written back in 1989 when the whole zombie revolution of Horror fiction wasn't even close to where it is now. And I think Hautala wanted to do a little experimenting with the idea of writing a long novel about weird, potato farming zombies.

If this book had been 150 pages less, I think a lot more people would have warmed up to it. The first half of the book is character development and a prime example of a writer wanting the setting and situation to simmer in the reader's mind before letting all hell break loose the last hundred pages, or so.

I thought Hautala's writing was nice and smooth, and this being my first intro to him, I decided to not make it my last, picking up Winter Wake to read next.

There's creepy moments here and by the last couple hundred pages, whether you liked this book a lot, or not, Hautala's writing still keeps you stuck reading to find out what happens.

I would say if you're starting out with Hautala like I was, to not start here, though; from reviews, it seems books like Winter Wake and Little Brothers are regarded as his finer works.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The most boring zombie book I've ever read., March 4, 2009

By 

K. Newton "K. Dobercollie" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Moonwalker - A Novel (Paperback)

I honestly had to force myself to read this entire book. I have never struggled with a book so much. I was ready to burn it by page 15. However, I was determined to read it in it's entirety just in case it redeemed it's self. Unfortunately, it did not. I didn't actually enjoy the book at all until about the last 50 pages. Even then the experience was fleeting.

The author tries far too hard to make you identify with the characters; to the point that I loathed most of them and didn't care what ultimately happened to them. He injects excessive amounts of needless imagery, as though readers don't have the imagination to make up the boring rural landscapes that this book revolves around.
It follows those ever common late eighties persona's that we've seen and read all too many times. These include the stereotypical images of: the scorned beautiful woman, the sensitive widower with the young daughter, the rebellious female runaway, the psychotic redneck, the obese but dedicated cop, and the tall creepy villain. Even the zombies themselves were boring! For the whole 5 pages they appear in out of the whole book. Sadly this book didn't even make up for the action and zombies that it lacked by examining the human condition like other books have such as Autumn and Dying to Live. I'm a huge fan of the zombie genre. I've read tons of books from Day by Day Armageddon to World War Z and everything in between. I bought this book in the hopes that perhaps it would redeem it's self from the varying reviews. It didn't. In fact, this book was so discouraging that it's put me off from reading the genre for a little bit.

At the beginning of the book the author speaks about how he wanted to change some things in the story around, but he thought it would be best to leave it as it was originally. I really wish he would have made those amendments.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zombie Fiction at its Finest!, October 12, 2007

By 

BookLooker "The Cyborg Reader" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moonwalker - A Novel (Paperback)

Zombie novels, and zombie movies, for the most part involve this scenario: diseas --> zombie outbreak --> zombies bite people who then become zombies --> run for your life --> the end. Moonwalker on the other hand, totally disreagards this formula and gives us something fresh and quite creepy. I think the previous reviews were for an old version perhaps, but this book is brand new and sporting a cover as devilish as the story. Just picture this... you're driving by a potato farm in Maine. You look out the window, toward the potato field and see a workforce picking potatos, lumbering along, never stopping--ever. That's because they're all dead! Just that image, of zombies picking potatos makes me smile every time. It's so sureal and awful--just like a good zombie story should. This book is endlessly fun and would make an awesome movie to boot, especially where zombie films have truely become formula. Two thumbs up, five stars, A+!