This is Halloween Review

I’ve been reading a short story a day for the entire month of October. Let’s review This is Halloween. This is going to be an informal review. I wrote my thoughts down for each story right after I finished it.

My Thoughts on Each Short Story

• The Dry Season- 3/5; It was middle of the road. Creepy but predictable. I did enjoy the Halloween imagery though.
• Harvest Moon- 5/5; Loved this one. I love a nearly perfect town with a dark secret.
• Hathburn Avenue- 5/5; Super creepy and very gory. This is a revenge story on steroids.
• Bone Harvest- 5/5; Loved the folk horror elements. The main character was a jerk though.
• Harvest Gods Revisited- 5/5; Ties into Bone Harvest. Had a great nostalgic Halloween feeling. A young child makes a bargain with a creepy man in the woods. What could go wrong?
• Patchwork- 2/5; I enjoyed parts of Patchwork. It ties into Bone Harvest and Harvest Gods Revisited. Too much going on for a short story though. Almost dnfed due to characters creepy thoughts toward children.
• Night Eyes- 4/5; Enjoyed this one. Everything happened super-fast though. The creature from previous stories made an appearance here as well.
• Blood Tide- 1/5; Sexual assault does not a Halloween story make. Getting really annoyed by this author.
• Shades of Grey- 2/5; The story itself was good, but it still had weird sexual undertones that weren’t necessary.
• The Walker Place- 4/5; Finally, a decent Halloween story. Ended book on a high note.

My Overall Thoughts on This is Halloween

Normally, I would just average my rating for each short story and call it a day, but we need to discuss this one. And honestly, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m dropping my rating. The first few stories were good. The author is talented. However, I can’t support or condone the unnecessary sexualization. Patchwork was set in the viewpoint of an actual child predator. THAT IS NOT HALLOWEEN. In Blood Tide the main gist of the story consisted of two guys planning to rape a call girl. THAT ALSO IS NOT HALLOWEEN. *spoiler* Sure the guys end up dying but it wasn’t a Halloween story to begin with. Predatory sexual behavior is horror. Every woman that has ever left home alone has a fear of that. Almost every woman I have met has had some unwanted sexual advance made toward them. This is not the horror I want to read for Halloween. And honestly, I’m frustrated and sadden that I’m even having to say this because this collection seemed promising. I would give this collection a zero if I could, but I can’t. Instead, I’ll give it a one.

My Rating: 1/5