The Halloween Children, a collaboration between Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss due out in June, boasts a pretty great structure, and for about 90% of its length, that structure and the unfolding dread of the book will keep you hooked. It’s the story of what happened one Halloween at a suburban apartment complex, with the tale told by two different narrators: a husband and wife duo, writing at two different times. The husband seems to be writing after all of this happened; meanwhile, the wife’s narration is as everything unfolds, in the form of monologues to a marriage counselor. To say the marriage is dysfunctional would be an understatement; there are power games between the two of them, distrust, and favorites between the children (split along gender lines). But through it all, Freeman and Prentiss keep the tension raising, leaving us wondering how these parents are unable to see how wrong and strange things are getting with their children – and in the complex as a whole. And all of it is intriguing and weird, playing like a horror variation on Gone Girl, where we’re not sure which, if either, of our narrators is reliable – that is, until the ending, when everything comes apart. Without getting into spoilers, The Halloween Children ends up throwing both of our narrators under the bus, leaving us unsure whether much of anything happened, before bluntly spelling out a ham-fisted moral and lecturing the reader. It’s a fizzle of an ending, which is a shame, because it’s an engaging, fast read up until that point. Rating: ***

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This novella was a quick read. The story centers around Harris, the handyman at the Stillbrook Apartments, his wife, Lynn, and their children. They are residents at Stillbrook, along with a few other strange characters. When Halloween is cancelled, things go awry, to say the least.

The book is told primarily from Harris and Lynn’s viewpoints, with some secondary viewpoints along the way. Harris and Lynn’s marriage and family problems take center place. Each of them overtly favor one child over the other. It makes it very hard for the reader to side with either as you can sometimes see both of them may be right. Then things start to get really strange with their children and with other Stillbrook residents. Unfortunately, the book then ends with a gory, grisly ending which I just didn’t care for. The writing is a collaboration of two authors, and I loved the writing style and the creepy disturbing tone of the book right up until the way-too-graphic-for-me ending.

Heavily atmospheric, this book manages to cover a lot of ground for a novella. The Stillbrook Apartments is a pretty average complex. One that has a semblance of community, that is until the Halloween party is cancelled that year. Then some pretty bad things happen. The book hooks you from the open lines which take place in the aftermath of the events at Stillbrook and then take you through them in detail. The story was very easy to get into and the characters were well developed and likable. I found myself liking Harris and empathizing with him along the way. Very well constructed and I feel the two authors blended the story seamlessly into a cohesive and finely constructed and horrifying story.

Stillbrook Apartments is a complex much like every other apartment complex in any major city. It has the usual mix of people....suburban working parents, teenagers who like to bully younger kids, elderly residents who complain all the time, families who break the no pet rules, loud upstairs neighbors, annoying leasing office staff. Harris and Lynn live in the complex with their two kids. Harris is the complex handyman and his wife works from home as a computer help desk tech. All is well (or at least relatively ok) with their little family.....until Halloween. When the Halloween Children come out to play.

This book is a quick, creepy read! It would be perfect for a chilly Halloween night's scare. The tension builds slowly to an ending that caught me by surprise. I was thoroughly creeped out. Awesome scary story! There were a few gross moments...so readers with queasy stomachs be forewarned. No chips and salsa snacking while reading this book. ha ha :) The gore is subtle...not overdone....and adds to the horror perfectly. What this story does in just 174 pages is beautifully horrific.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. So I'm always in favor of a good Halloween theme story. The Halloween Children did not disappoint. The story is told from the point of view of several of the characters. I don't usually like changing points of view, but for this story it worked. It kept the pace and tension building slowly and steadily until the very end. This would be a great quick read for any horror fan looking for an evening of creepy reading or while handing out Halloween candy to the neighborhood kiddos.

Both Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss have published many works of horror fiction. I'm definitely going to be checking out more of their writings!

**I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book from Random House via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.**

The Halloween Children
Brian James Freeman, Norman Prentiss

If this doesn't turn your hair white, nothing will. A totally horrifing story.

This is a well–crafted story full of suspense that will keep readers glued to their seats. Incredibly creepy, with building tension between Harris, his wife Lynn and their two children. It's so well written that sometimes you wonder if Harris is loosing it or if Lynn is becoming paranoid. When the Halloween party is cancelled by the Apartment manager things start to get really creepy. You can feel the darkness slowly encroaching on the apartments as Halloween night approaches.
Told from Harris's and Lynn's point of views, the reader follows the twisting plot and wonders which one of them is going nuts. Oh, and where are the darling little children during all this?
As the tension and horror build to a terrifying climax, you find out.
Trick or Treat.

This would have really upped the candy haul if it had come out in October.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Harris Naylor is the handyman for an apartment complex. He lives in the complex with his wife Lynn and his daughter Amber and son Mattie. Harris and Lynn's marriage is fraying. Lynn wonders what her husband does on those midnight emergency calls he gets. What does he really do? The children are freaking her out which makes her decide to spy on them through a remote camera. What she sees horrifies her but Harris defends their "privacy" after all they are just doing kid stuff. The annual Halloween party is cancelled as the manager is afraid that if something goes wrong the complex she works for could be sued. When the announcement of the party is given, things start to happen -- strange things.

This story is written so that you read diary entries both by Harris and Lynn. Freemen and Prentiss have done a fantastic job writing this novel.. it gave me the creeps. I even dreamed about it. I hardly ever dream about what I read. This is excellent horror. Don't miss reading it! I hope the authors will write another novel or two together again.

Reading THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN took me back 40 some odd years to reading Stephen King's CARRIE. No, this is not a remake of an old book, not at all. It recalls the creepy, the not quite skin crawling creepy, the earlier work evoked. There is also something in the construction of the tale that also harkens back to mid-70s resurgence of written horror.

I have had the pleasure of reading both Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss before. Their collaboration appears to be pretty seamless, although I will confess that the last chapter, the putting-it-all-together chapter, sounded like pure Prentiss to me. There is no doubt that both of these authors know how to raise those little hairs on the back of your neck with a word here and a word there. I would say save THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN for reading on that particular holiday, but that would deprive you of the unease of reading it now. Besides, it never hurts to rehearse for a night-long marathon read on a crisp night in October.

If you are looking for spoilers, you won't find them here. No. You must read THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN yourself to find out just what the story is, just who the characters are, and who the children themselves are. If Halloween is your favorite holiday (it IS mine), then this book belongs on your 'must read' list.

I wasn't too sure about this book at first as I find it difficult reading 1st person POV but surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can usually figure things out quickly and I did in this case but reading up to the finale was engrossing. I read this in one afternoon, couldn't put it down. I do wish I had more from the kids' perspective but hey that could be another story. Well worth the read for sure!

Slightly disturbing and gory this book was a page turner. If I was 15 years old this book would definitely have been a 5 star book. I definitely think the target audience is a younger age bracket--maybe 16 to 20 years old. However, even at my current age the story was able to creep me out. This is a perfect Halloween scare book. The ending is a little over the top but the suspense the authors built in to the book is perfect. My anxiety grew and grew until I just wanted it to be over with and find out what the heck happened that Halloween night.
Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book and give an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley, Brian James Freeman, and Norman Prentiss for the Advanced Reader's Copy! You can read my review at www.cedarhollowhorrorreviews.com.

The Halloween Children moves with the grace of a zombie crawl. Like a found-footage horror movie from the 70s the book is a slow, tiresome read of nothing more than enlightened transcripts where the big boo doesn’t shock ya until deep in the third act. And that shock? Well, nothing long-time genre aficionados would need to check on their blood pressure meds over.

Co-authors Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss set the stage in a prime place for a haunting: a high-turnover apartment complex. Yet aside from a few groans and whispers and things going bump in the night, the primary focus of the tale is on the fantastically bad relationship of hellbound-parents-of-the-year Harris and Lynn. The couple so incredibly dysfunctional they are presented as cliché caricatures, whose lives are boring, miserable, and uneventful – until the event that occurs within the apartment complex that is supposed to bring the family together and rise up against the demonic invaders in great Spielberg-ian fashion. Except that never happens. Perhaps to groove to a modern audience, the authors present the third-hand details of the account by way of interviews and (prepare for a shock) emails.

Terrifying. Even more disturbing? No Twitter feed.

Interestingly, there is almost no development with the titular characters – the children themselves.

Freeman and Prentiss truly attempt to make a creepy Halloween tale. The slow pace and an unsatisfying build up make this one all tricks and no treat.

Fun-sized chocolate bars a go-go to both NetGalley and Hydra for the ghoulish opportunity of the advance copy.

I've always thought children were evil little stink bugs, this novella just proved me right! Just kidding...kinda. This is my favorite story from Mr. Freeman, and I think I've got to call that the Prentiss effect. I'll be reading more from Mr. Prentiss. I enjoyed the way this story was written. Best of all was how grotesque the descriptions were. This was one of those books that I wish had been longer, because I wasn't ready for it to end. Yep, I'd recommend this one. This may be one of my favorite Halloween tales.

4.5 stars.

THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN, by Brian James Freeman and Norman Prentiss is a fantastic read anytime, but it really does evoke the perfect mood for those early Autumn evenings. As you can tell by the title, this book was the ideal read for a gloomy, Halloween night.

It all begins in the Stillbrook Apartments Complex. This collaborative novel starts out immediately with a stark, oppressive atmosphere, that continues to build dramatically throughout the course of the story. The tension was such that I couldn't put this book down--literally, I carried it with me from room to room whenever I had to move!

Aside from the beginning, ending, and some small interludes in-between, the novel is broken into three main points of view: Harris Naylor, his wife, Lynn, and email correspondence from a tenant, Jessica Shepard to an off-site friend.

Harris and Lynn are at obvious odds with their overt favoritism of their two children, Matt and Amber, respectively. Scenes are so artfully woven that you'll be wondering if something is wrong with Harris, if Lynn is going crazy, or if something is just plain wrong with these two well-behaved children. The entire novel is able to capture this tension and sustain it throughout the entire course. In Stillbrook Apartments, even the most innocent of occurrences will have that shiver of dread creeping down your spine.

Highly recommended!

3.5

Children in horror - you can't really go wrong there. There is nothing as creepy as a child in a horror story. Two? Even better (or worse, as the case may be).

Most of story is in the blurb itself, but the way it is told changes this from an okay story to a pretty good one. The Halloween Children starts from the end, from a digital transcription where an interviewer is talking to an unnamed victim. You know something horrible is going to happen, but you have to be patient and wait for it.
There's a lot of foreshadowing. Those separate cases weren't really necessary because the whole thing is based on it. From there the story is patched up from Harris's account (as a handyman at Stillbrook Apartments he has access to everything), his wife Lynn's diary entries and a couple of emails one of the residents sent to a friend. All these people are completely unreliable, but it only adds to the creepiness of the story.

There are quite a few chilling moments sprinkled throughout this book. The whole story has this quality of a bizzaro dream.

Uncorrected ARC received from Random House Publishing Group - Hydra via NetGalley

The Halloween Children is a pacy horror novella that looks back at the events leading up to a Halloween tragedy at the Stillbrook Apartments complex.
Originally published as a limited hardcover by Earthling Publications in 2014, and featuring the talents of Bram Stoker Award winner Norman Prentiss and Cemetery Dance Publications’ Brian James Freeman, the story is being re-released as mass market ebook through Random House’s Hydra imprint.
A fun, fast read that blends perfectly with the season that it's set — it’s a gripping story and the type that could easily be told around a campfire.
Freeman and Prentiss bring the story to life through differing points of view — chapters are split between a husband and wife involved in the events — adding extra levels of emotional depth as the mystery is slowly unravelled. Well worth a look.

THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN is a story that grabs the reader right from the creepy beginning pages and doesn’t let go until the mind-blowing conclusion.

Rather than giving away any details, I will instead point out that the authors, Freeman and Prentiss, gleefully mess with the reader’s mind as they draw you into the story with a spooky, often surreal atmosphere that steadily builds a sense of unease and impending dread. I am not ashamed to admit that this one really gave me the willies, at times!

THE HALLOWEEN CHILDREN is a top-notch horror tale, effective even out-of-season, but certainly a great book to immerse oneself in on a blustery autumn night.

A new October classic. (Yes, I am aware that it is March as I am writing this review.)

As Halloween looms, tensions are building between the members of the Naylor family. Relations are getting woefully strained. Fractured. Violent. To top it off the annual Stillbrook Apartment Halloween party has been cancelled. That was the last straw. The Halloween Children are not going to like that at all. Looks like the Naylor’s family woes are the least of their worries. There are much darker forces at work here. And they are about to make a grand appearance.

Damn, I wish I read this in October. It really was great, but I think it would have gotten a little extra juice had I read it during the Halloween season. Nevertheless, I enjoyed everything about this one. Solid 4+ stars and a perfect Halloween read.

"The Halloween Children are everywhere and they know our fears"

This was a hair raising tale perfect for a Halloween read or any time of year if you love horror like I do.

Lynn and Harris seem like a typical married couple, living with their 2 young children Matt and Amber in an apartment building where Harris is the on site handyman. Lynn is a combination stay at home mom and computer tech support operator for a company that enables her to work from home.

"When did you realize something wasn't right that Halloween night?"
"When I discovered that so many of my neighbors were dead."
Lynn has an obvious propensity to favor her daughter over her son. Harris has the opposite tendency.
The closer we get to Halloween the more strange things get at Stillbrook Apartments culminating in a party you won't want to attend!

The Halloween Children is that kind of exquisite little horror novel that stays with you long after you reach the end.

Interspersed with a very visceral tale of graphic horror, we witness the horror of a family falling apart. As you read a series of journal entries, emails, and interviews, you realize that our perfectly normal little family is rotting from within. And you wonder what exactly is real and what isn’t.

Note that this isn’t the type of story that wraps everything up neatly. Different readers may have different interpretations of what really happened…and who (or what) The Halloween Children really are.

But any reader should find this a very creepy tale that will have nerves on edge.

Extremely well done!

Unsettling and creepy are accurate for this short novel.