Retro Horror - Vol. 9

So Stormi and I have been kind of striking out with this project and I'm sad to say this month wasn't much better either of us.  So looked for a revamped version coming up soon.  I promise it will still be horror related and hopefully it will work better for both of us.  I don't think I've had over a 3-paw rating for any choice this year - how depressing.  So read on for my review of this month's choice and the hop over to Stormi's  at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! to see how she did with her Bentley Little read.

TITLE: Allhallow's Eve

AUTHOR: Richard Laymon

PUBLISHER: Headline

PUBLISHING DATE: 1985

PAGES: 246

SOURCE: Own Library

FROM GOODREADS: 

The Sherwood house has been deserted since the horrific killing of a local family in the sleepy town of Ashburg. When invitations to a mysterious party to be held there are sent out, nobody is particularly surprised - after all, everyone wants to party in a house of death on Allhallow's Eve.

MY THOUGHTS: So the book starts out in a small little town at the scene of a horrific murder which happened years before.  Right off the bat bodies start piling up so I had high promise for this book.  However, as the book goes on we have a temperamental teenager who grated my last nerve and a local cop who I really loved right up until he proposed to his girlfriend and swore he'd never leave her at the same time he's fantasizing about the motel clerk he just met.  And don't even get me started about the very end.  Apparently not everyone who needed to die did.

This book read really fast and thank heavens it was short.  I loved the premise and felt that the creepy Halloween party in the scary old house really had potential.  But see that awesome look creepy house on the cover?  Well the one in the book was described more like the Brady Bunch house.  In fact, the whole book had me saying "Richard, Richard, Richard."  Also, I know older horror was filled with problematic content and I really expect a lot of descriptions, many degrading, about the female body.  I can usually look past it and take it for what it is but in this book, it became so redundant and unnecessary.

I'm sure I'll eventually try something else by this author as I know so many love him but unfortunately, this wasn't the one for me.

RATING: 2 PAWS