“Rolfe is the real deal, folks, and anything he writes is well worth checking out.” – Gord Rollo, author of The Jigsaw Man and The Crucifixion ExperimentsWhen fifteen year old Rocky Zukas meets a mysterious dark-haired girl named November, his world is forever changed. The young couple falls under the spell of summer love, but not everyone approves. November’s brother, Gabriel, is the keeper of … Gabriel, is the keeper of the family’s secret, and big brother is always watching, growing more sinister as his bloodlust gets the best of him. Directing his attention to Rocky’s family, Gabriel aims to make sure little sister knows who is in charge.
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UNTIL SUMMER COMES AROUND, by Glenn Rolfe, is a horror novel that mixes vampires with coming-of-age, in an 80’s setting. Personally, I loved the fact that this takes place in the not-so-distant past, as it brings back memories that I can clearly envision while reading.
Rocky is a fifteen year old boy on summer vacation. With his cousin–and best friend–Axel set to leave on a trip to Europe with his parents, he is wondering what to do with his time. Enter this mysterious summer tourist, November–a girl vacationing in his town over summer break. Right from the start, you know that there is something different about November, and more importantly, her big brother, Gabriel.
Rolfe opens up without holding back on what they are. There is no mystery to that, which admittedly, had me a little confused at first. No guesswork involved, only the “facts”. However, I soon got over this, as the characterization took over. The relationships–not only between Rocky and November–but also among each of their families/friends, was a main focus of this novel.
In a sense, this is one of the “lighter” horror novels I’ve read from Rolfe. Despite the fact that the body count is high, and the horror well defined, I felt that had more of a psychological/emotional pull to it that many others. Fans of BOYS’ LIFE, and other coming-of-age novels will find a lot to love in this one!
A strong, emotional story that incorporates elements of “everyday life”, family, society, and small town horror all in one, this is not a book you want to pass up!
Recommended.
Part coming of age story, part love story, all horror. Glenn Rolfe dips into the vampire genre with gusto in the story set in a seaside town in summertime Maine. Great characters (especially the vampire family) give the story heart. Fast-paced and at points graphically violent, the book is engaging from start to finish. Make this your vacation read this year, unless you are visiting Maine.
This book is everything. The 80s, rock music, teenagers, beaches and piers oh and vampires. Proper vampires. USCA is the book that allowed me to discover the man who would become my all-time favourite author. It ticks every single box for me. The writing is beautiful without being pretentious. The characters are realistic and you fall in love with them. The setting is atmospheric and description is pure page turning entertainment. USCA is one of the best books I have read and I am so thankful to have discovered this amazing writer.
This 80’s throwback coming-of-age story will certainly satisfy your thirst for a grisly vampire tale. I think this is only the beginning for Glenn Rolfe and although he has become a fan favourite in the horror community because of his earlier novels The Window and Blood and Rain. I feel this book is just a taste of what is to come and I cannot wait to see where he takes readers next!
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Wow! This was almost like a sentimental journey back to the 80’s but with more of a twist!
A little backstory:
Rocky Zukas is a 15 year old boy living in a tourist town off the coast of Maine. Summer is here and he was looking forward to it till he finds out that his cousin Axel that he hangs out with all the time will not be around for the summer as he will be going away with his parents. The summer is starting to look like it might be boring until Rocky meets a beautiful girl named November.
The summer is much brighter now and the two of them start hanging out together. Summer love blooms, but what Rocky doesn’t know is that November’s family is anything but normal as November’s brother Gabriel has an insatiable appetite for blood and when the tourist town starts losing people as they go missing it turns the town upside down.
I don’t want to give away too much with the story as you will just have to read the book, but this story just flows along and with it all being set in the 1980’s was really cool as the different things that the author, Glenn Rolfe weaved into this story from that era just whisks you back to that time.
I am always impressed with the books by this author as his writing style just grabs you from the beginning and keeps you grounded in the book till the last page. There wasn’t an excessive amount of gore, but there was quite a bit of blood flowing throughout the storyline. Giving this book five stars for creativity and nostalgia!
From books to film and TV, nostalgic horror has been all the rage of late, and Until Summer Comes Around [Flame Tree Press, May 2020] by Glenn Rolfe is comfortably at home in the genre. In fact, if Lost Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the Kristy Swanson flick), and Stranger Things had a fangy baby and put on paper, it might be this book—and that’s some high praise.
Set in the summer of 1986 in the Maine beach town of Old Orchard Beach during its annual tourist wave, Until Summer Comes Around is a tale as old as time: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy discovers girl is a vampire and her bloodthirsty and slightly batshit (vampire pun!) older brother is sucking the town’s population dry. Unbeknownst to anyone, a refreshingly dysfunctional family of vampires have come to OOB alongside the flock of faceless summer tourists, and one of them is just a little, er, hungrier than the others. He’s also very not cool to see his younger sister getting cozy on the beach with a boy.
Okay, so maybe it’s not actually a tale as old as time, but there are enough classic summer-love elements—and on-point references to an 80s timeline—in Rolfe’s When Summer Comes Around to give the novel the sort of swoony, surreal realism that makes a well-written flashback setting so immersive. The voices of the characters ring true, as do their emotions when what should be fun summer days devolve into a real-time nightmare sequence of disappearances, murders, and a whole lot of heartache for everyone involved. And, though the main protagonists in Summer are fifteen-year-old teenagers, Rolfe pulls no punches with the gore, balancing out all that sappy summertime passion with enough blood spatter, decaying corpses, and maggots—yes, maggots!—to successfully swerve right out of the possibility of Summer being anything less than a true horror story.
While Rolfe’s ability to convincingly pen a teenage summer romance of a decade bygone is sufficient enough to drape that familiar old feeling of shoulder-padded nostalgia atop your shoulders, it’s his take on classic vampire tropes that sets Summer apart. Despite the romantic element of the story, there’s no sun-sparkling teenage angst or smooth, Transylvanian seduction here (though there is the much more accurate, slightly bumbling approach to first love, because we’ve all been there). Likewise, there’s no garlic-fearing, crucifix-welding dependency on tried-and-tried vampire tropes, and the only references to coffins, black wardrobes, and poetic monologuing range from tongue-in-cheek to outright sardonic and are never to be taken seriously. Rolfe’s vampires are much more human, and much more…relatable…which only serves to up the ante in his coming-of-age-vampire-horror.
If you’re looking to go back in time to fall in love with a monster…Until Summer Comes Around is your next read.
I freaking LOVED this book. From the very first page I knew this book was going to be special. I was pulled in immediately by the writing and characters. For me the story invokes feelings of teenage love and hopefulness. Longings for that innocence and times past, something lost you can never hold again. Again, i absolutely loved this book. There was nothing in here I didn’t like.
Rocky is a teen growing up in a summer tourist town. One day he meets November and he falls for her. Only November isn’t like other girls. About this time, people start disappearing into thin air. No witnesses, no leads. Something or someone is stalking the town and you find out pretty early on who it is. Although you know who it is and why, this book is hard to put down. The characters are so likable, you have to keep reading to see what happens to them.
This is a vampire book and there is gore (it didn’t bother me, I didn’t find it excessive or extreme). I think all fans of vampires need to read this book. Way to go Glenn! This is fantastic.