I LOOOOOVE Halloween. Fall is my favorite season – always has been – and I love the lore of Halloween.

I also love horror movies – they scare me to death, but the adrenaline rush keeps me coming back. As are most movies, horror is very subjective. To some it’s all about the blood and gore – the more disgusting, the better (definitely not my idea of entertainment, but you do you, boo boo.) To others it’s psychological and to others – like myself – it’s the jump scares, tension and feelings of hopelessness that get them. A lot of what I just mentioned is created visually and audibly – the music, whispers, someone suddenly appearing from behind a tree, a crazy chase scene with too many close calls, or that stupid cat that always jumps through a window in the old 80s slashers.

The problem (for me) when reading a horror novel is, it’s difficult to scare me unless there is a really tense scene. For example, the vampire outside the window in Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”. I also read The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd, which is a retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau and it had some really tense scenes, and of course I can’t not mention Dean Koontz’s “Intensity”. The book was filled with it.

That said, while I really enjoyed the story of All Hallows, I didn’t find it particularly scary. It definitely has a creepy vibe and some really good scenes – and it’s a fun read with an interesting premise and nice little twist, but it didn’t pack the overall oomph that I was hoping for.

The book takes place in 1984 – which I loved – and focuses on several different families from a small Massachusetts town over one Halloween night. We have the Barbosa family who each year turn the woods behind their house into a haunted attraction that brings almost everyone in town. It’s the “must-do” thing of the season. The problem is, the Barbosa’s have fallen on financially difficult times, and this will be the final year for the haunted woods because the family must sell their home.

We also have the Sweeney family. Mr. Sweeney loves his alcohol and his women and Mrs. Sweeney is done managing the family while he philanders his way around town, and the younger couple – Zach And Ruth who are the talk of the town. It’s alleged that they were run out of their previous town for committing crimes against children.

As the kids trick ‘r treat and make their way to the haunted woods to end the night, several children in strange costumes randomly appear. These kids all seem a bit off. Their costumes seem from another era, and even the way they speak is off. One thing about the kids is they are all terrified of someone they call “The Cunning Man” – but who – or what – exactly is the cunning man? Is he a serial killer? Did some horrible crime happen in the town years before and for some reason it’s being played out again on this night? It’s said that Halloween is the one time out of the year when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest so has the Cunning Man chased the children through a rift in time? If they’re saved in this dimension will they be saved forever?

These were some questions I had while reading the book. As the night presses on, the Cunning Man makes himself known, some people are murdered, others possessed and the identity of the children and the Cunning Man are made known, and as I mentioned there was a nice little twist that surprised me.

The book alternates between several points of view. Often when this happens I get lost and lose interest, but surprisingly enough that didn’t happen in this case. The book was well written and it moves along at a decent pace. Overall, I liked the book, but didn’t love it. I wonder if I had actually read the book in October if my feelings would have changed. It’s definitely one I would recommend to anyone looking for a creepy, fall read.