Creepy, uneasy and even a bit gory are a few ways to describe this book. Given that it is Halloween themed -- it was perfect. Didn't help me that after I finished my hallway light was out (and it's a really dark hallway). I was almost wondering if the Halloween children had decided to visit me, too! Seriously, this was a really creepy book and a quick read. I highly recommend it and, if you can, try to hold off and read it in October. I just think a first time reading during that time will be even more effective. At least read it late at night.

The Halloween Children left me going “What happened that night” after I read it. I am not one to spook when reading horror books unless they are about zombies and then forget it, but this one had me jumping at the house settling, BK snoring and my cats being kitty brats. The book is told from Harris and Lynn’s point of view with some chapters being told from the investigator’s and honestly, that is what made the creepiness factor go way up.

I was genuinely creeped out from the first chapter when the investigator was speaking to Harris about what exactly happened that night. There is plenty of foreshadowing but it isn’t until the very last chapters when it is revealed who did what. Now, I know that the kids were involved but I really wasn’t expecting….well you need to read the book.

I really can’t get into the story, as much as I want to, because if I do I will unintentionally give away some of the plot. Let’s just say that everything that you read up until the end of the book is not what you think. Because I was very surprised when certain facts were revealed. And honestly, it made the creepiness factor of the book go up.

Now I know that this is a short review but like I said in the previous paragraph, I can’t really write about what happened. You really need to go read the book!!

How many stars will I give The Halloween Children: 4

Why: Creepy book that kept me up at night. There is a twist in the plot that I didn’t see coming at the end and it made the book even creepier.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I couldn't figure out what exactly was going on in this book, and that's it's charm. Is the central character, an apartment handyman, really seeing the things he believes he is? Does the unnamed therapist who has his wife keeping a journal of her feelings really exist? Have his small children really kidnapped a neighbor's parrot, dressed it in a pirate costume and then left it alive to roast in their oven? Are these things really happening outside of the handyman's mind? Or are they the workings of 'the Halloween children'? When you find yourself saying 'Just one more chapter', and then another, and then another, you'll know you're hooked. It's a crazy ride.

A great read for the fall and Halloween season. If you like horror, give this a go. Be warned, the ending is pretty gruesome and graphic. This is a horror book after all and the authors do a great job.

The story, follows the Naylor family, Harris, Lynn, Matt, and Amber and their life in Stillbrook Apartments. Harris is the apartment handyman, and Lynn works from home as a help desk technician for a computer firm. Harris and Lynn have their share of marital woes each thinking the other has annoying behaviors, but their main issue is Harris feels Lynn favors Amber while Lynn feels Harris favors Matt. This theme is ever present through the story and is a major problem in their relationship. Amber and Matt seem like two normal kids, and to the outsider looking in, their parents seem to be doing the best they can. Then some strange things start to happen just before Halloween, even more so as the apartment manager cancels the annual Halloween party. The book is mainly told from Lynn and Harris's perspective's but periodically we get a few emails from another resident, Jessica, but they always have a bit of weirdness to them. Things that make you think that something sinister is happening at Stillbrook. Bad things have happened at Stillbrook before, and they are definitely happening again.

OMG! It has been a long time since a book has scared me like this did! I'm still creeped out!!!

This is the story about a seemingly normal family: Harris, Lynn and their 2 young children, Mattie and Amber. They live at the Stillbrook Apartments, where Harris is a part time handyman. Lynn works from home as Computer Tech person, she logs on remotely to customer's computers and solves their problems. Unfortunately, as a lot of parents do, they play favorites and Lynn caters to Amber and Harris looks out for Mattie. This understandably causes a lot of drama in the household.

As Halloween approaches, strange things begin happening, bazaar noises are heard and stories begin going round. Something occurs that they are certain the children must have been responsible for, as much as they hate to admit it. Punishment for the deed is the cancelling of Halloween. The Apartment Manager has already cancelled the community party, but Lynn even keeps the children home from school that day so they won't even get the school party.

This story kept me guessing and I'm still reeling from the ending. So good, so creepy!

The Halloween Children does a great job of building tension as we slowly work our way towards the inevitable horrific end. I like how Prentiss and Freeman alternated between Harris's and Lynn's point of views. The differing standpoints add a nice element of realism, showing the trials and tribulations of marriage and parenting. And as for the end - any horror lover will be enthralled.

I'm halfway through and it's a brilliant read. Great, realistic characters, and a story that keeps you turning the pages. I love Halloween, and this is the perfect horror story for it.

The ending was bad,did not tie the story together...still dont know what happened and who did it

Alright, so normally, I write pretty lengthy reviews for the books that I read in exchange for reviews, which was the case with this particular book.

However, there is no way for me to do that with this particular book. I could not really describe this book to you even if I had a gun to my head and had to choose between quick and bloody death or describing this book to someone. That is not to say that the book was not good.

It WAS. I quite enjoyed it.

It was well-written, for the most part, with very few errors -- typographical, grammatical, or otherwise -- and it was a fast, easy read. Furthermore, it was extremely creepy, and as a horror book, that is exactly what it is supposed to be -- super creepy. Success!

It did not exactly scare me, but then again, I read Stephen King like most people breathe air, so I am kind of numb to being scared by books any more. Ha. But it WAS incredibly creepy, and if I am going to be completely honest, there were a few times while reading when I had to look up from the book and make sure I was in the room alone. Ha.

As I said, this book is very hard to describe, but at its most basic, broken down into lego building blocks form, this is what the book was:

A spine-tinglingly chilly tale told from 4 perspectives: 1. The husband, Harris. 2. The wife, Lynn. 3. Emails between a young girl going to college and a guy back home. 3. A series of interview tapes.

These perspectives often shift in time to tell the story, but it is well done and does not annoy in the way that some books can when they try to jump from past to present.

The setting? An apartment complex at Halloween time.

The main conflict? Mom AND apartment super "cancel" Halloween, and the kids -- or something older and more sinister, maybe? -- don't like that. Then ensues mayhem, blood, guts, and general yuckiness. But in a GOOD way. Haha. Good for the story, I mean.

As I said, the story was quite good.

I also liked Harris as a character. His chapters were quite fun and interesting to read.

I absolutely HATED Lynn, the wife.

She was terrible. Truly terrible. I could not identify with or appreciate or have sympathy for her AT ALL. She was a horrible person, and a HORRIBLE mother.

All in all, this was a solid three star story. I recommend it to people who are into the creep and gore factors. Not bad at all.

I will probably check out more of Brian James Freeman's work in the future.

The Halloween Children has an interesting format. Right from the beginning, you're aware that something horrible has happened, but you don't know exactly what. You learn that via a short digital transcription. And instead of the normal methods of relaying the information, you have to listen to the parents tell their (very separate) views of the time leading up to the event. The mother's side is mostly told via her entries into a text file on the computer, as it happens whereas the father's is told as he looking back.

Lynn and Harris, the parents, are a couple in a relationship on the verge of ending. They have two children, and though they both love their children, it's no secret that each one has a favorite. Their dialogue and their instinctive defense of their chosen child rings true in The Halloween Children. It also causes even more friction on an already strained marriage as tension builds. As for the children themselves, Mattie and Amber aren't really fleshed out. You see them solely through the lens of their parent's eyes. You never get a chance to know them. It's someone frustrating, but really effective in keeping you from figuring out if the two were actually terrors or not.

This is not a tale to read if you need an immediate payoff. Freeman and Prentiss force you to wait as they spin things out at their own pace. Normally, this slow burn would have irritated me, but the way the story was told it kept me on edge. I can't say that I think this particular format would work well for many stories, but in this case it did.

The one main problem I had with The Halloween Children is that we never get the payoff of seeing the action happen. We get the leadup, and we get the fall-out, but not the action itself. It's not exactly the satisfying climax you'd expect, given the sheer amount of drawn-out lead-up involved. It works in the context of the story, and I can see why the authors chose to do it the way they did it, I just don't particularly like it.
Overall, The Halloween Children was definitely a creepy, different read. It's not the slightest bit scary, but it will keep you interested in how everything is going to play out. It took me a while to read this one, as I read it in snatches between other books, but I never had problems following what was happening. I'd recommend giving it a read.

Can't quite put my finger on what it was I didn't like.. The characters, the husband and wife, maybe the way the story was back and forth from one POV to the other. I just didn't like them enough to care about the story. I stopped reading at about 40%. Someone else might dig it more. I won't post a review on Amazon or Goodreads since I didn't finish it.

A very atmospheric and eerie novel that was original in the fact that it was told by a few different viewpoints, mainly Lynn and Harris the two main characters.
It was set in an apartment block and the children's behaviour was genuinely creepy, in fact the whole 'goings on' was odd and spooky, with some good descriptions and a sense of foreboding throughout.
Unfortunately I didn't seem to warm to the characters though, they appeared cold and 2D rather then larger than life, which I would have preferred and would have fit with the story better and the reasoning behind the Halloween children didn't sit well with me either, it left too many questions unanswered.
A good effort however, to be read around Halloween.

Very Good book really enjoyed it well worth a read xxx

Review for Monster Librarian forthcoming. This is was a great read!

3.5 Stars. (For Me).......not exactly scary, but certainly Creepy. Creepy apartment building with a history, Creepy-weird family, and an absolutely spooktacular 5 Star Creepy book cover!

What really happened the night Halloween was cancelled? Well....you'll have to use your imagination and sort out the clues while you read this Creepy tale of things that go bump in the night (and thump thump thump in the day) to find out.

While a few screeching cries....whispers of "Help Me"....and an few extra servings of Halloween gore make the time go by, it's a sinister little Halloween story within the story that set my sparks a flying.

Remember....."The Halloween children are everywhere."

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Hydra for the ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

The Halloween Children by Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss was received direct from the publisher. This story takes place in an apartment complex that has seen its better days. If you read my reviews, you may notice books where nothing happens for a long time are not my "cup of tea." This one is slow at in the real old school Stephen King type of way, however, good writing kept me reading and not skimming. By the way, "What is Lynns problem?" I kept thinking until the end at which point I dont know who had the problem. With these authors, a person cannot go wrong, but for some reason this book seemed to long for me. Maybe iI had read it nearer Halloween I would have been in a Halloween mood for it.

4 stars

The Halloween Children is an interesting book and works on many levels. The set up and layout of the novel is an interesting construct with a nod to Stephen King’s Carrie with different points of view dictating each chapter giving the piece an engaging story that slowly reveals itself. Although this is successful on many levels, the story could have done with a slight different writing style between the husband and wife’s chapters to give it more identity between the different personalities. This doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the whole piece but more of a slight constructive criticism.
The characters are vividly drawn and Prentiss and Freeman have given the secondary characters a nice characterised spun given to each of the tenants their own personality. The family dynamics between the central characters are extremely well done and a lot of thought was given drawing these to the page. Overall, the characters drive the piece forward and help make this a compelling read.
The intriguing plot is well handled though at times during the third and conclusive final act, some of the action gets slightly muddled but this may be more due to myself, as I was totally immersed in the general horror and drama of the piece. The ending had a two prong effect on myself as I felt that there wasn’t really the answers I was looking for but on the other hand, it left its mark on my subconscious as I turned the proceedings around in my brain and came to my own conclusions which proves that this novel is a winner.

The only minor criticism that I could really turn towards this manuscript would be the lack of building of folklore when coming with the title characters. We are given glimpses and some information about the Halloween traditions and where they come from but not when concerning the legend of the actual Halloween Children. There were casual nods from an e-mail from a tenant residing within the apartment complex. I would have also liked some added effect of newspaper articles to give a little bit more information on what happened on that fateful night. This is all based on personal taste and has no general effect on the overall novel.

This is an excellent and well-conceived novel which should please the horror and dark fiction crowd. The writers are very well accomplished and it shows within the pages of this Cemetery Dance release. The plot moves at a jaunty pace and jumping from the present to the past is very well done. The general mechanics within the manuscript are very well handled and it is an overall good read.

Prentiss and Freeman have really done an excellent job taking a folklore tradition of a classic Halloween and being able to put their own spin creating their own legend within the confines of a modern setting. The novel works on many levels and it is very engaging and fantastically conceived. The action sequences are well constructed though this does work extremely well as a psychological thriller and this where it really excels.

If you are looking for a dark and deeply twisted psychological thriller with horror elements, then you cannot go wrong with The Halloween Children. This is a definite winner.

Shame on me! While the beautiful print edition was sitting on my shelf for ages, I never managed to actually read it. Thankfully, I was able to get my hands on this ebook edition, and that did the trick...

The story caught me completely by surprise, it was much less Halloween-ish, or better said: different in its angle, than expected. Also, Halloween is not the mayor subject here, but a nice playground for the story to unfold upon.
The story is told from different POVs, which made me immediately take Harris' side and dislike Lynn, though ironically sometimes she uttered exactly what I would have thought in a similar family situation...

While the beginning caught me off guard and made me wonder where this would all lead too, there was a sense of unease right from the start. With Halloween just a few days away (in the story), it was easy to foresee when the culminating horror would reach its boiling point and spill its ugly innards in every direction. Though the end could have answered one more question or even two, it was disturbing as hell and still keeps on haunting me. Far from your typical Halloween tale, this story is sure to cause some sleepless nights - one way or the other.

For the safety of the residents, the annual Halloween party at the Stillbrook apartment complex has been cancelled. The manager is worried about what could happen, about injuries and accidents and liability claims, but she has no idea how bad things could get. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book when the maintenance man and his wife were watching a horror movie, comparing the sounds that frighten the characters to the sounds of their daily life. (Like them, I'd never hear a ghost over the rest of the everyday racket.) Their relationship is strained and the problems growing between them seem more believable than the disagreements I usually see in books. When the real horror did begin, I found it kind of disappointing. The characters were unique, but what happened to them and their neighbors wasn't.