Named one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, “Walking After Midnight: Tales for Halloween” is a collection of six short horror stories guaranteed to send chills up your spine. Read them by a bonfire on a chilly autumn night, or under a blanket by candle light.
Whatever you do, don’t look behind you.
Hayride
The Schultz family’s outing to an apple orchard goes terribly awry on the … goes terribly awry on the hayride from Hell.
Hat Man
Graduate student Bernice is plagued by night terrors. As they begin to invade her waking hours as well, she fights for her sanity…and her safety.
A Good Samaritan
Newlyweds Jake and Rita Wechsler take a journey down winding country roads in the Hudson River Valley, where danger lurks at every turn.
Into the Abyss
Four friends play with a Ouija board and discover that it might be more than just a board game.
Walking After Midnight
When childhood friends Teddy and Joseph decide to revisit one of their old childhood haunts, the pair must rely on each other to survive.
Trick & Treat
Halloween enthusiast Shelley decorates and buys candy for the big night, hoping for lots of Trick-or-Treaters, but quickly learns the meaning of the phrase “Be careful what you wish for.”
If you miss the days when Halloween was truly scary and shadows came to life at night, then this collection of stories is for you.
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I have never read this author before and will likely read more in the future because the stories got progressively better as I read the book. The rating of 4 stars given is rounded up from an average of 3.6 stars based on each story individually. None of the stories are really scary but they all have at least a feeling of menace or darkness to them that makes for a good Halloween read. There are 6 stories of varying length to give you an atmospheric night.
“Hat Man” gets a 2 from me because it never really seemed to fully jell. The story was rather generic, with nothing new as far as the subject. The characters are bland but serviceable, but only just. The ending was however very anticlimactic for me, I expected more.
Graduate student Bernice is plagued by night terrors. She is having horrible visions that begin to invade her waking hours and mean she must fight for her sanity and safety.
“Hayride” I gave 2.3 stars. This comes across as the typical family outing with a pre-teen. The characters are pretty good even though they have no major build-up. There is a very good twist ending that has been used before but is still effective for this particular story.
The Schultz family decides to take out to an apple orchard. While there they also decide to take a hayride which turns into a trip into hell.
“A Good Samaritan” garnered 4.4 stars even though it is one of the shortest stories. Even though the characters are a bit nebulous you still feel like you know who they are and what they are about. There is a nice sense of tension as the story builds particularly with the lighthearted banter that we meet them. The ending is unsurprising but that’s alright because I expected it.
Newlyweds Jake and Rita Wechsler take a journey down winding country roads in the Hudson River Valley, where danger lurks at every turn.
“Walking After Midnight” got 4.3 stars for giving me a surprise I did not even consider. You get a little build on the characters and who they are and were in the past. The story is a nice look into small-town life from both sides.
Childhood friends Teddy and Joseph decide to revisit one of their old childhood haunts, the old town cemetery, they stumble upon true evil and must rely on each other to survive.
“Into the Abyss” received 3.4 stars from me. The characters were lackluster and frankly not interesting, so I really didn’t care one way or the other what happened to them. No real surprise as to how it ended this time.
A group of young girls decide to play with an Ouija board and discover that it might be more than just a game.
“Trick & Treat” was the perfect ending and gets a big 5 stars. The characters are no more defined here than anywhere else but I still could feel apart of what was happening. The story hits to the heart of what the season can be when you really think about what it stands for.
Shelly is a major Halloween enthusiast and decorates and buys candy for the big night, hoping for lots of Trick-or-Treaters, but she quickly learns the meaning of the phrase “Be careful what you wish for.”
I enjoyed this book and could have read it much more quickly but decided to kind of savor each story over a couple of days. I think anyone would enjoy this book from kids to adults.