Review: All Hallows by Christopher Golden

  Halloween night, 1984—all over Parmenter Road, anticipation hangs in the air. Kids prep their costumes for an evening of trick-or-treating, teenagers plan a night of drunken debauchery in the woods, and their parents set up a neighborhood party to let loose. And Tony Barbosa is setting up his town famous Haunted Woods to scare and thrill his neighbors for one last time before moving away.

While the adults are drinking and gossiping about their neighbors, the kids and teenagers are roaming the streets trick-or-treating—and they are not alone. Four unknown trick-or-treaters dressed in odd vintage costumes have joined the groups of kids of Parmenter Road, putting them ill-at-ease. When the neighborhood kids confront the interlopers, the strange children beg them for help and protection from an entity known as The Cunning Man. With the adults distracted by scandalous revelations that rock their neighborhood, it is up to the Parmenter Road kids to protect these strange kids from The Cunning Man.

Strengths- I liked that the book is told in multiple perspectives. In a story like this, it is the only way it could be told effectively, one character could not have achieved it. The time period chosen was perfect—1980s was the last time period where kids could roam free without parents hovering over them. If the book were set in modern day, how scary would it be in the era of cell phones, the internet, and Tik Tok videos?

Weakness- I would have liked a little less of the family drama.

I feel the publisher really missed a big opportunity not releasing All Hallows during the fall, capitalizing on the “spooky” season. This book gave me big Stranger Things meets Trick-or-Treat vibes. I could see this becoming a movie in the future, but only if Golden is involved with the screenplay.

 

4/5 Stars

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions of this work are my own.