Dark Harvest

It's Halloween 1963 in Small Town, U.S.A., and the local teenage boys are getting ready for the annual hunt for the October Boy, a pumpkin-headed being that runs the gauntlet each Halloween. The boy who brings him down before he makes it to the local church wins a ticket out of town and freedom from the ennui of small-town, no-ambition life. Pete McCormack is extremely determined this year, but a chance encounter with a female tomboy reveals the horrifying truth about the town tradition and turns his expectations upside-down.

Dark Harvest, despite being a short book, spins an entertaining yarn that anyone who grew up in a small town can relate to (well, except for the rampaging pumpkin-boy). Having grown up in a tiny little burg, I can sympathize with an overwhelming urge to get away from the tired, repetitive lifestyle. Fortunately, my town wasn't as poverty-stricken as this one seemed to be.

The plot itself is fairly straightforward and doesn't contain much in the way of surprises. The reader would probably do him- or herself a favor by going into this book expecting a horror-themed action story rather than spine-chilling prose of terror. That being said, the action scenes are extremely well done. Partridge does an excellent job of balancing the descriptions with the activity, giving you just enough to see what's happening without overwhelming you with the details.

Because it's a short book and the action flows quickly, someone should be able to read this in just a few sittings. While it may not have the character richness of a 400-page epic, it's not necessary to tell this particular story. I'd recommend this for both the serious and the casual reader.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Title: Dark Harvest
Author: Norman Partridge
Year: 2006
Pages: 169