I do enjoy a good horror novel, so I was looking forward to reading All Hallows by Christopher Golden. This is the first of his books I've read, but he's a prolific writer! In the end, this was a quick and easy read, and I had some fun with this Halloween scare-fest.

It’s a horror that takes place on Halloween night 1984, and it did deliver on some of the 1980s aesthetic. I was picturing the Halloween scenes from E.T., which came out in 1982. No cell phones anywhere! And one teen dresses up as Siouxsie Sioux, which is cool. Then, weird kids show up dressed in old fashioned costumes for trick or treating, all asking for help to escape the evil they call the Cunning Man.

This is an ensemble piece. The characters are easy to get to know, and they grew on me. It took about half the novel for the horror to really start, but believe me, there were plenty of shenanigans afoot in this neighbourhood to keep me entertained. The adults in this subdivision all seemed to be more poorly behaved than their kids. One of the teens, Vanessa, is at a party thrown by her friend’s parents, and observes:

“Neighbours she had known all her life behaved like high school kids, and the high school kids observed them with the brand of horror usually reserved for girls overhearing the private conversations of boys for the first time…Seeing these people, in this state, felt like one long ongoing car accident.”

Yes, that made me chuckle.

It was fun and light (and a bit gory to be sure!), and the writing was seamless and skilled for the genre. Honestly, I have trouble rating books these days because different genres should really be compared to their “peers'' in class. I’d tend to rate All Hallows on the higher side because the plot took a direction that I didn’t see coming, and I really came to like some of the characters, which is always a huge plus for me. It kept me invested in the action as the book progressed.

I'd recommend All Hallows, but it does have an unseasonal January 2023 pub date. Maybe pick it up and keep it on your shelf for next Spooky Season!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own.

I was so excited to be approved for All Hallows mainly because everyone has been talking about it. The description didn't really reel me in, but because of the hype, I wanted to read it.

This was my first Christopher Golden read and I have to say that I will not be running out to grab more. This book was just a bit much. I'm not a huge fan of multiple POVs, but as long is it is not overboard, I am game. This was overboard. Way too many characters and trying to keep up with everything from everyone's POV.

This read more like a YA than an adult thriller. It was too all over the place, didn't have any great twists or reveals and was entirely forgettable.

Sadly, I will not be recommending this one.

Golden’s newest takes place on Halloween in a small New England town that embraces the day with haunted forest tours, parties, and trick or treating. However, among the trick or treaters this year, four spooky children appear out of nowhere to signal something worse is coming. I loved the premise but I felt that there were too many characters with the same backstories/sidelines that really didn’t contribute to the overall plot but just seemed more like gossipy filler. On more than one occasion I was confused on who was who, and to flip back through for clarification. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book!

I expected a lot more scares out of this read based on reading Road of Bones and it being one of the scariest horror books I've ever read. All Hallows is not that - - HOWEVER. While it's basically a completely different style aside from the genre, this was an interesting and captivating read that brought a folklore/mythology element into that I hadn't expected. CG is great at taking a folklore/historical element that not many people know about and is not written about much and turning it into a really good story.
This time it was the story of 4 children wandering around looking for shelter from The Cunning Man on Halloween 1984. They are terrified for their lives, so they are asking for help. What they don't know is that Parmenter Road, where they are lost, is falling apart. Multiple families' dramas are being aired, every secret coming to the surface.
There were A LOT of characters narrating which got very confusing but ultimately worked because of all the drama that was occurring amongst the neighbors. This also sort of helped the story because it's not your traditional novel and was more like a reality show in that everyone was freaking out about their own stuff and now there are little kids running around in terror that they will be caught by The Cunning Man.
Nothing is what it seems this Halloween on Parmenter Road.

Picture it. Coventry, Massachusetts. Halloween night, 1984. One family prepares it’s legendary Haunted Woods for the final time, and the children and teens of Coventry prepare for a night of trick or treating and creepy fun, but something’s off. Four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. But nothing is ever as it seems and the children are hiding something about themselves and about The Cunning Man, and the residents of Coventry will have to figure out the mystery before Halloween’s end.

I really enjoyed this one. There was a lot going on, and the story shifted between all of the characters on the block, which was great for building tension and getting me to read “just one more chapter,” when I thought I’d take a break. I enjoyed the twists and turns, and I read the majority of this one while my power was out, so it was a nice way to spend the time disconnected from all my normal distractions. Definitely a solid addition to my Spooktober reads.

This wasn't my favorite, but I am a picky reader. I think other readers will enjoy it, and this is an obvious addition to the collection.

I don’t really understand why this one will be published in January,, it would have so much more potential to be released closer to Halloween. It made me excited for fall… in 10 months. It’s great, just the timing to read it wasn’t.

☠️ 📖 BOOK REVIEW 📖☠️

ALL HALLOWS by Christopher Golden
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Coming out January 24, 2023

Disclaimer: I would like to thank @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

☠️☠️☠️

Wwwoooohh!! That was intense!

I must admit, I requestes this books weeks ago and remembered vaguely the synopsis. So, I went in maybe half-blindly. The first 2/3 of the book felt like ambiance horror. The setting is creepy, weird things are happening, strange characters appear, etc. You're not sure what it is but you get this overwhelming feeling that something is not right and will happen at the next turn of the page. Then, all of a sudden, the book turns into vivid horror and becomes nightmarish. Watch out for the body count! 😱

Told in multiple point of views, the story focuses on the Parmenter's street families. It's the night of Halloween but they are all going through some intense drama and trying to put on a mask to hide what's going on. They are dysfunctional and the neighbours are not all nice. It makes you think the neighbours could actually be the real monsters.

Gradually, we are introduced to strange kids tagging along and asking for help. They want to come in until midnight and seem afraid of The Cunning Man. It's not clear who they are, where they are from, what era they are from! But it's clear they are not from this street.

At the 70% mark, fastened your seat belt! The story increase speed and the book becomes unputdownable! It's full on horror. Nobody's safe. I almost screamed a huge "Wtf!" in the middle of my subway commute. 😂

I would have loved that part to come up a little earlier and to extend certain part of the story and explanations but it was overall an excellent novel! Even though it's an Halloween setting, the books comes out in January. So, mark your calendar and add it to your list!

Please check TW before reading!

#horrorbookrec #arcreview #bookreview #bookreviewer #allhallows #christophergolden #netgalley #stmartinspress

⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙢 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙-𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨...𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖, 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.

As soon as I saw this compared to Stranger Things, I knew I immediately wanted to read it. I have read one Christopher Golden book before, Road Of Bones, and I really enjoyed it. I’m so glad I read this one too because it was just as enjoyable as the other.

Halloween night - 1984 - we follow two unraveling families in Massachusetts. Mixed in with the other trick-or-treaters, four children are walking around terrified and begging others to keep them safe from The Cunning Man.

I don’t want to say too much because I really think this one is best to go into without knowing too much. It was super creepy and I’m glad I managed to read it in October. It is the perfect Halloween read!

I loved that the story alternated between kids, teens, and adults in the neighborhood. The atmosphere in this one was phenomenal - those woods were super creepy! Also, some terrifying children gave me absolute chills. I was super invested in this “killer on the loose” named The Cunning Man. And of course, I was a big fan of the Stranger Things vibes.

There was so much going on in this book that at times it was a bit confusing, however, everything added to the story. I also got major 80s nostalgia, which is one of my favorite eras. The only reason why it’s a four-star and not a five is because it had a super slow beginning. I struggled at first, but as soon as I began reading more - action started happening.

The diverse set of characters, 80s nostalgia, The Cunning Man, creepy children, Halloween night, and eerie setting - all added to the overall enjoyment of the story. I don’t hear many readers talk about this author, but I have enjoyed his books. They always have shocking twists and creepy settings. This one was so good and I definitely will be picking up more from Christopher Golden. I would highly recommend this book and this author!

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy - all thoughts are my own!

I really wanted to love this one, but I just couldn't. The idea was cool, but there were way too many characters introduced, and it became a little confusing. There were a lot of side plots that were only introduced for one chapter and then never touched upon again, and I felt like I needed a map to remind me how all the characters fit together.

A Halloween themed, set in the 80s horror book? Yes, please! Why in the world this on is slated for a January release is beyond me.

On Halloween night in Coventry, Massachusetts, two families are coming apart. Secrets are being exposed in an underlying family drama while mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man.

The folklore/horror vibe of this book was strong, and I could have done without the family drama as many of those details seemed to weight down the main storyline. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this early read. ALL HALLOWS publishes January 24, 2023.

Hearing that this was a horror book set on Halloween night, 1984 in Coventry Massachusetts… I was stoked when I was offered the ARC. Taking place in a single neighborhood. All the kids, and families are excited for the happenings going on in the neighborhood. A block party, trick-or-treating, and a haunted forest. On this particular Halloween night though…. outsiders join in. They are dressed up in vintage Halloween masks and telling the kids of this neighborhood that they need to hide from The Cunning Man who is on the hunt for these local children.

I liked the Halloween atmosphere in the neighborhood. It felt nostalgic for me…reminded me of the fun times I had during Halloween when I was a kid. I just can't say that this made me feel scared or was scary enough because there was so much going on. So many characters POV's, and it definitely distracted me from the story, trying to figure out who was who. At the end we get the slasher movie vibe. Lots of dead bodies and killing.

Overall, a pretty fun read if you like the slasher movies like Scream and Halloween.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own. Out Jan 24.

It’s Halloween in 1984 on Parmenter Road. Kids are getting ready for Halloween festivities as night falls. Strange children come to town trying to get away from Broghan, The Cunning Man. Secrets and lies come to light and terror and tragedy begin for the children of Parmenter Road.
This was a creepy read that kept me flipping through pages. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC!

I went into All Hallows expecting a lot. With a creepy cover that promised a true horror story and a setting I love--New England (this specifically takes place on one street in Massachusetts)--I was eagerly awaiting a smart, well written thriller to add to my recent favorites from authors such as Alex North and Alex Finlay.

Unfortunately, the cover and setting was all this book had going for it.

I know this isn't my book, so I really have no rights as to how it's written, but as the reader, this would have been better served as a short story that was held together by the folklore of the story: the Cunning Man, the witch, the children. This foundation, which was really neat, kind of got lost in an overly long family drama (if that's what it is--half reads as angry spouses spurned by infidelity and the other half reads like YA teen angst). It's not until well after the halfway point that any of this (and indeed any of the spooky stuff associated with it) gets off the ground. And by that point I just didn't care. Honestly, if this was a book I bought or borrowed, and not one I was invited to read though an influencer program, I would have marked it as a DNF around the 10% mark.

The characters are flat--as we're given about 20 POVs (I exaggerate, but still), no one really stands out and I spent more time trying to figure out whose head I was in (Is Rick the kid? The dad? The older brother? Etc.) at the start of each chapter.

Content: the creepiest (and not in a good way) part of this book was the barely veiled discussion of child abuse, which, sorry, did nothing to advance the plot. I've also had it with hyper sexualization of teen girls--we really don't need a discussion of "every male, no matter how young or old creepily ogles me." There's just so much extraneous stuff that bogged down the story. And what the heck is with the random gross slurs Steve's dad throws at Vanessa (someone she describes as being really kind to her previously)? It all seemed really forced to prove a point. Or maybe it was the witch making everyone crazy? Who knows; nothing is fleshed out.

And good grief--ending chapters with things like "And then he died."

I don't know--maybe this is just an ARC and the final copy is going to sparkle, but after this reading, I wouldn't recommend this title and I wouldn't seek out anything else by this author.

Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this as part of their influencers program in exchange for a review on NetGalley.

This book totally captures all of the feelings of Halloween night – magic, fear, excitement, mysterious neighbors everyone’s whispering about, the neighbors that always go above and beyond, creepy kids, and all the other facades associated with the holiday. The story takes place over the course of one single night and there is so much drama that unfolds in that short amount of time.

I loved the multiple perspectives, each with their own separate story, and seeing how they were all connected and came together. I struggled a bit keeping some of the character straight, like who was part of which family, but it got easier as the story went on. The book starts off as kind of a suburban family drama then takes a sharp turn halfway through to become straight horror.

I got a lot of Stranger Things vibes from this one so if you’re a fan of this show and dig Halloween, you should definitely add this one to your TBR for next year’s spooky season.

As soon as I saw that Christopher Golden had this coming out ,I was like yes please because he wrote one of my all time favorite series Ben Walker
series , and just like those books this didn't let me down, it was dark, and creepy , as well as a bit strange, and in a way remind me of a horror movie called trick r treat. Plus how it was a slow burning type story which help set up the atmosphere, and made it even more spooky then it already was .

Firstly, I wanted to specifically add a CW for child abuse—it isn’t graphic, but it is pretty heavily alluded to (in a plot that honestly provides almost nothing to the overall story). Other warnings for things like gore, homophobia (lesbophobia specifically), and slur usage also apply.

This was okay. It didn’t really feel cohesive to me, and I think that was partially the book falling victim to the too many POVs trap. There were way too many people I was supposed to keep track of and unfortunately not very many of them were engaging to me.

The plot also felt really silly but not in a fun way? Not to be too spoilery, but there was almost no explanation as to what the Cunning Man was until like 80% in and it felt like an incomplete story, like the lore was forgotten about up until the book’s deadline and then they had to rush to get it figured out. Also, the description makes a point to note that it takes place in the 80s but the setting feels so incredibly vague that it might as well have not been stated. The only thing that was relevant was the types of phones accessible to the characters? It just felt like a weird thing to distinctly point out and then do almost nothing with.

The teen characters were more interesting to me (the adults felt very one-dimensional and were just kind of boring despite there being a ton of drama surrounding them), so it’s possible that this might have worked better as a YA title.

I really enjoyed Golden’s earlier title Ararat, but this has been the second of his titles that’s missed the mark for me since then. It had some decently creepy moments and imagery, but overall I didn’t find it super memorable, which is a bummer.

This started out SO strong but then as it went on, I couldn't get into it. I think maybe if I read it before/on Halloween, I would have been much more in the mood for this horror read, but I was not really in the mood for it.

I really loved how spooky it was and the horror elements. I felt like I was actually in the 80's during Halloween and it gave me the heebie jeebies! And the diverse representation was everything!! I feel like we don't always see diverse rep in horror novels, so I really appreciated it here.

I think I got lost in this one a little too much because of the changing POVs. It didn't keep me as captivated because once something would be hinted at happening, it would take several chapters to uncover it. There was also some storylines and POVs I thought were unnecessary and took me out of the spooky mood. If these storylines were cut and I didn't have to skim through them, this would've been a 4 star I think!

I do think the story was well thought out though and I did NOT see the twist coming at all! Christopher Golden has a really creative mind and a way to trick the reader in the best way possible

Being a child of the 80"s this checked all my nostalgia boxes! It was a reminder of how great Halloween used to be.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

All Hallows, Christopher Golden's upcoming Horror release, is set in Coventry, Massachusetts. More specifically, all the events contained within this story surround Halloween Night, 1984, in the solitary neighborhood of Parmenter Road.

The energy in the neighborhood that day is electric, as everyone puts the last-minute touches on the night's events, decor and costumes. The Barbosa Family will be hosting their annual and this year, their final, Haunted Woods event. Tony and his daughter, Chloe, have been pouring their hearts and souls into this event for years; setting up just the right props and scares for neighbors and strangers alike to enjoy.

Also that evening will be the typical door-to-door trick-or-treating by neighborhood kids, as well as a block party hosted by the Koenig Family. There's a lot happening.

The Reader follows the unfolding events via multiple perspectives of individuals living in the neighborhood, including both children and adults. As the night begins to build, more and more drama is exposed on what one might suppose is a quiet little street. Parmenter Road, like many small town streets, contains a lot of people harboring a lot of secrets. A few of which are about to be brought to light in a big way.

On this night in particular, there are outsiders added to the mix as well. Children dressed in old-fashioned costumes, a Clown, a Scarecrow and a Raggedy Ann, begin to insert themselves into the activities, pleading with the local children for help. They need to hide, just until midnight, from The Cunning Man. Will anyone help them?

I had a lot of fun with this. I love neighborhood-focused stories and this one night on Parmenter Road gave me all the spectacle and intrigue that I could want in that regard. There was just the right amount of family drama, 80s-references, kills, gore and creepy imagery to keep me 100% invested all the way through.

There are a lot of perspectives, which I feel like not everyone will be crazy about, but for me it made perfect sense. Considering how the story plays out, I actually can't imagine it being told any other way.

I also loved the atmosphere. Golden brought me back to the Halloween Nights of my youth. Traipsing around with the other neighborhood kids under our claustrophobic masks, carrying plastic orange pumpkins, hitting up as many houses as we could, walking a little faster through the dark spaces between homes. The strange children and the idea of The Cunning Man definitely brought the chills as well. Nostalgic and scary, I definitely enjoyed the unsettling vibes.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me a copy to read and review. I always enjoy checking out Golden's new work, sure to be full of creativity and frightening imagery.