All Hallows

Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts

Time for Trick or Treating, haunted houses and scares!

Told through the POV of various neighborhood members, All Hallows follows a neighborhood on fright night! Tony Barbosa has hosted the ““Haunted Woods” for years but this year will the last. Everyone looks forward to this, it’s a good scare and yearly tradition. But this year, there were extra children in the mix. Children who ask for help getting away from the “Cunning Man”.

I had high hopes for this book. I was hoping it would be creepy and scary. It did work in the creepy area with the children in their vintage costumes. There was great atmosphere in this book. I could visualize the children trick or treating with the chill in the air.

I liked the creepy trick or treaters that no one recognized or could place. Their old/vintage costumes had me reminiscing about the costumes I wore as a child. How did we breathe or see out of those masks? I trick or treated in the 70’s and 80’s so this one hit all the nostalgic vibes for me.

While this kept my attention, and I thought it was good, I wasn’t wowed by it. These was something missing that I can’t quite put my finger one. There is drama to go with the creepy vibe. While I enjoyed the drama, I wish there was less of it. I wanted more of: who are those kids? Who is the cunning man? Is this part of the haunted woods? Wtf is going on? and run for your lives! Basically, I wanted more creepiness and chills.

This is another book that I think would work well as a movie. It does have tension and atmosphere. It does have that something isn’t quite right element that I enjoy in books.

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