All Hallows

I just finished All Hallows by Christopher Golden and here is my review

It's 1984 and Halloween night in massachusetts. The night begins like any other halloween until four kids appear out of thin air. They are all asking for help and they are all fleeing The cunning man.

While the lives of the people in the neighborhood are falling apart something else strange is happening. A clearing appears in the wood and a tree never seen before. Can the odd children that no one seems to know answer the questions being asked and can they keep the cunning man from getting what he so truly desires?

It's a bit on the slow side for me. This does tend to be the case when you have a lot of POVs to introduce and build around so I wasn't really surprised by this. I am not a massive fan of so many POVs but I do see why it needed to be done this way. Problem is you find yourself more drawn to certain characters than others and that makes reading the characters you don't much care for.... Annoying.

The neighborhood is a mixed bag of people with their own problems and I enjoyed how real and raw that came across. It gave the book so real depth, the kind of depth you don't usually find in a horror book. I did enjoy the underlying creep factor it had going for it but wasn't as horror driven as I would have liked. The characters were a little unrealistic in places but honestly, I can overlook that for a good storyline.

I liked the atmosphere that was created in the way of the haunted woods and the 80s tone was definitely a plus. I wanted a bit more though.

I get what the book was trying to achieve and the concept was marvelous but I was a little disappoint in it and wanted more.


3.5 stars rounded to 4

Definitely worth the read if you are a fan of horror that gives you more than just the frights

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my review copy! Out now!