Book Review: Johnny Halloween – Author Norman Partridge

Johnny Halloween: Norman Partridge

“Norman Partridge’s Halloween novel, Dark Harvest, was chosen as one of Publishers Weekly’s 100 Best Books of 2006. A Bram Stoker Award winner and World Fantasy nominee, Partridge’s rapid-fire tale of a small town trapped by its own shadows welcomed a wholly original creation, the October Boy, earning the author comparisons to Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Shirley Jackson.

Halloween night awaits. Join a master storyteller as he explores the layers of darkness that separate all-too-human evil from the supernatural. Let Norman Partridge lead you on seven journeys through the most dangerous night of the year, where no one is safe…and everyone is suspect.”

Introduction – Dark Seasons Past
Johnny Halloween
Satan’s Army
The Man Who Killed Halloween
Black Leather Kites
Treats
Three Doors
The Jack ‘O’ Lantern: a Dark Harvest Tale

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Halloween than reading a collection of Halloween tales by Norman Partridge. His novel “Dark Harvest” was absolutely spectacular.

In “Johnny Halloween, Mr. Partridge explores the darker side of our favorite holiday, bringing new chills and frights to our beloved holiday.  From the opening introduction to the the last tale Mr. Partridge takes you an on a terrifying journey through a dark October night, where the moon is full, dead leaves whisper softly as the cold October winds carry them along and things that shouldn’t be prowl the shadows.

A sheriff fights a local legend and his own haunted past, religious fanatics at war with the evil Halloween, a mother terrified of her own son and his “friends”, a man with a magic black prosthetic hand, two old friends battle the forces of darkness on Halloween night and a “Dark Harvest” tale with a decadently delicious twist.

With prose and a narrative voice that evokes the haunting memories of Halloweens gone by, Mr. Partridge has put the fear back into Halloween.

“The Man Who Killed Halloween” was the highlight of the book for me. An essay on what it was like growing up in the town where the Zodiac started his reign of terror. This will get under your skin and remain there long after you put the book down. Mr. Partridge manages to convey what it was like in that small California town when fear slowly took hold. It is chilling.

Mr. Partidge has brought together a group of tales that will leave you wanting more, they are dark, terrifying and wonderful. Halloween just got a lot better with “Johnny Halloween”.

Click on the title link above and head over to our good friends at Cemetery Dance and put a little more terror into your Halloween celebration. “Johnny Halloween” will be a welcome addition to my list of annual Halloween traditions.