A new October classic. (Yes, I am aware that it is March as I am writing this review.)

As Halloween looms, tensions are building between the members of the Naylor family. Relations are getting woefully strained. Fractured. Violent. To top it off the annual Stillbrook Apartment Halloween party has been cancelled. That was the last straw. The Halloween Children are not going to like that at all. Looks like the Naylor’s family woes are the least of their worries. There are much darker forces at work here. And they are about to make a grand appearance.

Damn, I wish I read this in October. It really was great, but I think it would have gotten a little extra juice had I read it during the Halloween season. Nevertheless, I enjoyed everything about this one. Solid 4+ stars and a perfect Halloween read.

"The Halloween Children are everywhere and they know our fears"

This was a hair raising tale perfect for a Halloween read or any time of year if you love horror like I do.

Lynn and Harris seem like a typical married couple, living with their 2 young children Matt and Amber in an apartment building where Harris is the on site handyman. Lynn is a combination stay at home mom and computer tech support operator for a company that enables her to work from home.

"When did you realize something wasn't right that Halloween night?"
"When I discovered that so many of my neighbors were dead."
Lynn has an obvious propensity to favor her daughter over her son. Harris has the opposite tendency.
The closer we get to Halloween the more strange things get at Stillbrook Apartments culminating in a party you won't want to attend!

The Halloween Children is that kind of exquisite little horror novel that stays with you long after you reach the end.

Interspersed with a very visceral tale of graphic horror, we witness the horror of a family falling apart. As you read a series of journal entries, emails, and interviews, you realize that our perfectly normal little family is rotting from within. And you wonder what exactly is real and what isn’t.

Note that this isn’t the type of story that wraps everything up neatly. Different readers may have different interpretations of what really happened…and who (or what) The Halloween Children really are.

But any reader should find this a very creepy tale that will have nerves on edge.

Extremely well done!

Unsettling and creepy are accurate for this short novel.

A good scary & creepy story but was really disappointed & confused with the ending. Started with the flair of Stephen King bust slid downhill at the end.

If you like horror. If you like gore. If you like suspense.
Then this is the short book for you. Recommend it to all.

Great book! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

This was an interesting book, great for halloween, or anyone looking for a good thrill! Personally for me my heart beat a little faster! It scared me to the point i had to stop reading at one point ! Throughout the book you learn about the family, and the neighbors in the community. Weird things begin to happen and you can't help but wonder is this community really haunted? When i got toward the ending, when the real suspense began and the madness of Halloween fun begins, i was shocked by what i was reading yet i couldn't put it down! The ending though i found to be a bit confusing, a community of people killed, children missing presumed dead, and a father in an asylum. His comment at the end had me thinking... did he plan this since his childhood? Did he do this to his parents, because their is no mention of his parents throughout the book, so the comment threw me at the end. I think i understand what happened but wish it was a little more clear about why he did this or why the children? Overall though i did enjoy the book and would like to read it again once published in June.

Norman Prentiss and Brian James Freeman wrote what may be my favorite Halloween story ever. I first read it in 2015 when Norm agreed to his first interview for this blog. When I saw that Hydra was going to release it on kindle, I found I needed to help spread the word!

What’s going on inside the gated community apartments? Nothing, if management has its way. No parties, no decorations and certainly no trick or treating. The annual potluck is canceled. It’s to be just another night.

But at the apartment belonging to handyman Harris and his family something strange is happening. Harris’ wife is keeping a journal for a marriage counselor that only she is seeing. And that’s just the beginning…

Prentiss and Freeman write flawlessly attesting to their skill and professionalism. They weave their words together as if they had always written together and this reader hopes they will continue to publish stories together. What a treat THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN was. Originally published in October 2014 by Earthling Publications in a limited run of 500 signed copies, available on kindle from Hydra in June 2017.

Buy it from Amazon.com!

Review of THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN
by Brian James Freeman Norman Prentiss

THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN is a terrifying horror story which I couldn't set aside till I finished (and then couldn't get out of my imagination). Set in a quiet Maryland apartment complex, not far from a University campus, the focus of the story is a small family: Harris, Lynn, and their two children Amber and Matthew. Harris is the complex maintenance supervisor, with little to do because most of the work is contracted out to professionals. Lynn is a telecommuter, working in computer customer service from home. The “face” of the complex is a “little Napoleon” named Shawna, who rules rigidly and indiscriminately. Some of the residents are real terrors, in the human sense, and there are multiple layers of “reality” involved as well. Overarching this plot line of marital conflict, overprecocious offspring who might be both too imaginative and lacking in moral code, and Harris' own perceptions (which may or may not be “reality) is the approaching Halloween holiday. In conjunction is the theme of “the Halloween children,” as we come to find out, distinctly something (or someones) to be avoided.

Lots of violence and gore abound, but I'd be hard put to discern which is scarier: the “monsters” (if they exist) or the human evil. Unforgettable novel.

Quick read, some scary moments. Makes you look at Halloween at apartment complexes in a different light. Different twist on Halloween from an adult point of view. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.