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The October Boys Paperback – August 1, 2019
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Adam Millard
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Print length254 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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Publication dateAugust 1, 2019
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Dimensions5 x 0.64 x 8 inches
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ISBN-101947522027
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ISBN-13978-1947522022
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Product details
- Publisher : Bloodshot Books (August 1, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 254 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1947522027
- ISBN-13 : 978-1947522022
- Item Weight : 9.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.64 x 8 inches
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Best Sellers Rank:
#334,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,149 in Occult Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Adam Millard is the author of twenty-six novels, thirteen novellas, and more than two hundred short stories, which can be found in various collections, magazine, and anthologies. Probably best known for his post-apocalyptic fiction, Adam also writes fantasy/horror for children and Bizarro fiction for several publishers. His work has recently been translated for the German market.
www.adammillard.co.uk
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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The October Boys belongs in the discussion with It and Summer of Night. The characters are well drawn and believable, the story is fast-paced, and the segments involving the kids are steeped with nostalgia. Above all, the ice-cream truck is scary as hell.
One of the four was never seen again.
". . . None of them voiced it, but each of them felt it."
The remainder of the novel occurs years later when they are 30. Each friend has taken a different path in life, yet they all find themselves besieged with nightmares of that long ago Halloween.
"I'm coming back . . . "
The characters--some a little more than others--were easy to connect with and feel for. The mystery looming over them is palpable at all at all times; a horror that increases in each of their minds as Halloween approaches.
"The Ice Cream man was real."
This novel was a great blend of horror, mystery, and the bond four--later, three--boys shared that would forever link them.
My only complaint was that a lot of time was spent on the current situation of each character, and by the time the end game came it felt a little too rushed. Personally, I would have preferred more of the three men working together, and a more involved confrontation, than their individual family issues.
". . . There are a few things in this world that we are unable to comprehend . . ."
Overall, a great idea that--in my opinion--could have benefitted from a longer, more involved ending. Still, a fantastic concept that hit some high marks for originality.
Recommended.
Minor Spoilers
“He’s coming back and he’s going to make you pay.”
After their friend Ryan is kidnapped on Halloween in 1988 and never heard from again, Marcus, Luke, and Tom eventually accept the unusual fate of their coddled friend. He was captured by a dark figure in a ice cream truck, which could pass as another childhood abduction. Fast forward to 2016 and strange things start to happen; the ice cream man that first wreaked havoc materializes once again and terrorizes the remaining survivors, or the October Boys.
This particular horror offering was obviously reminiscent of King’s IT, but I found OB to be more striking. Millard paints a bleak, harsh, and cold London with certain atmospheric writings bordering the silent horror approach. I wasn’t at all disappointed with some of hallucinations scattered throughout the book, but some of them weren’t as startling as I might have expected. There’s also some ancient Babylonian folklore dealing with the netherworld that I will never complain about.
Top reviews from other countries
In many ways it's reminiscent of IT - a devourer of children, returning periodically, confronting childhood terrors as adults, but it's a formula that works for the novel. Millard handles his characters well as they are revisited by the terror and come together. It's the moments when the boys are together, both in 1988, and reunited as adults that the novel is at its strongest as the camaraderie between them really works. We also see the trauma their early encounter had on the boys and how this has affected them in their adult lives.
The mythology of the Ice-Cream Man is largely worked into the novel well, but I wanted more from the finale. It was over a little too quickly. I shan't say more to avoid spoilers.
A highly entertaining read.













