I gave this a four out of five stars, I really enjoyed this story. I liked all of the different POVs. I got confused on the dads and who was who. I kept mixing them up.

I love reading books that take place around Halloween. This is a coming of age story that focuses on Halloween night in 1984, when a Massachusetts neighborhood comes together for its final All Hallows celebration. In the midst of the party of the year, children dressed in vintage costumes join in and ask for help hiding from The Cunning Man. This was a creepy-ish story with atmosphere, but not much character development. A slow-burning Halloween tale that never quite finds its full fire. Read this novel if you’re looking for Halloween vibes with not much scariness.

I have been trying to read this for months, but kept forgetting what happened the day before and would have to read pages over and over again to move on because it just isn’t memorable. I ended up DNFing around the 40% mark. I just could not get into this book at all. The characters were dull and the storyline was… not entertaining or interesting enough to continue. It seemed like it would be better suited for teens, maybe? I will not be reviewing this elsewhere since I did not finish it.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley and for the review copy.

The 80's nostalgia is excellent and a perfect setting for this Halloween horror fiction story. I would suggest reading this one in a quiet area to focus cause there is quiet a cast of characters to keep track of. If you're looking for a spooky read this may just be right up your alley. This one definitely if for reader's of the supernatural thriller genre.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784620-all-hallows#:~:text=This%20one%20started,an%20October%20read.

This is definitely a fun read if you are planning ahead for spooky season. It took me a bit to get into the story because it's a lot of characters to keep track of, but so worth it! A good horror with lots of creepy moments! ⭐⭐⭐

If you are looking for a retro, haunting read that gives off Stranger Things vibes that’s perfect for spooky season than add All Hallows to your tbr.

All Hallows takes place in the early 80s one Halloween night. The story is told in multiple POVs throughout the night giving you an all encompassing picture of the night. There’s a haunted woods attraction hosted at one family’s house, a backyard party hosted at another, and kids trick or treating throughout the night. But when four mysterious children appear during these events eerie things begin to happen and your typical Halloween night becomes anything but that.


I was somewhat invested in the story but I wasn’t surprised by how the story turned out- I guess it takes a lot to really shock me anymore and I knew what was coming. I did really like the multiple POVs throughout because it kept the story moving. I think if you are just starting to get into reading horror books this is a good place to start.


Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

All Hallows is one of those books that I was hoping would get better as I went along, but unfortunately this had a story line that meandered too much for my liking, destroying any tension that built up. Not only did it do this once, but several times throughout the story, leaving me a bit disappointed in the overall experience. It's not that it was boring and I definitely didn't dislike it by any means, but scary? No. Full of tension? No. Full of tingles and shivers? No.

First of all, the nostalgic feeling of the 80s was something I loved about this book. At first, I thought it was going to be one of the strengths of the book, that whole neighbourhood feeling when everyone got together to enjoy a night full of fun and escapades. The Barbosa's always put on an epic Haunted Woods and this was to be their last one so they wanted it to be a good one, while the Koenig's were getting ready to host their after-Halloween party. Fun, right? It was until the author decided to bring all this neighbourhood drama into the story about a philandering alcoholic husband who created chaos with a number of friendships; I am not usually opposed to this drama, but the focus on it took away from the unfolding drama that was supposed to be the highlight of the story, the return of the Cunning Man.

When the slasher stuff finally starts to happen, I was already starting to lose interest in the story, about two-thirds into the book. Children dressed in these vintage clothing, a clown, a Raggedy Ann, and a scarecrow, would not really have drawn that much attention in 1984 even though I remember Madonna and Michael Jackson being hugely popular costumes as well as Star Wars. There was always someone dressed as a clown. But I did appreciate all of the 80's references to remind people of the time line.

As a result of all this, the plot is the weakest point of the novel, with the Cunning Man and the creepy children sort of running in the background, and once in a while they show up to deal with some neighbourhood kid, but the whole story becomes disjointed because of all the other stuff going on. When the Cunning Man and the kids should have been absolutely terrifying, the author had already lost me with the other drama, enough hat I didn't really care about what was happening. And on a side note, I did have an issue with one of the relationships, although not the relationship itself, but the openness of it. This was 1984, and I do have an issue when modern sensibilities and thinking are put on the past for as teen growing up the 80s, exploring all forms of sexuality was not really acceptable. We are talking about the time of the AIDS epidemic when fear mongering was quite high, so teenagers were definitely not encouraged to openly explore their sexuality. And furthermore, a lot of people left their doors unlocked during this time period and would definitely not have been thinking someone is a pedophile the moment they saw someone, especially in a small neighbourhood like this, especially not kids. That is current-day thinking. Small things, but they were jarring nonetheless.

All Hallows had a lot of potential, but the over-focus on the neighbourhood drama which included everything from infidelity to alcoholism to job loss to abuse, affected the overall story and rendered the Cunning Man and his children to the background. Unfortunately, instead of the eerie and creepy, I got disjointed and...weird. I did really appreciate the nostalgia and the creepy forest and would love to have had a haunted forest like that while I was growing up, but it was not enough to save this book for me.

My Rating 3.5 stars
I do think I would have enjoyed this book more and been more spooked by it if I had read it in the fall. So definitely wait for more cool weather.

For me, this book had a lot of characters that it was following and I know why it did it and it did help move the story along and show what was happening all over the town of Coventry on Halloween night. But it got to be a little confusing for me sometimes with who was friends with whom and how everybody knew each other. By the end of the book I had it down but for at least the first half I was struggling.

Overall I did find myself enjoying this book because I need to know what exactly was going to happen on Halloween night and who in the world the Cunning man was and why all of these kids were afraid of him. I was not expecting it to be for the reason it ended up being and was thrown for a loop during the last quarter with all that went down and how action-packed it was. This book has a little bit of everything, kids enjoying Halloween and just having a good time; family drama from cheating, to divorce, sibling squabbles; and friendships that have ups and downs on Halloween night as everyone tries to figure out what is going and to survive till Halloween night is fully over.

This book is good for people just getting into thrillers as I didn't find it too terrifyingly spooky, just more so creepy and interesting.


The review will be posted sometime between August-October 2023 on my blog and Instagram.

It took awhile for this book to pick up speed. I considered DNFing it at around 100 pages. Then, I turned to read the last page and ended up reading the acknowledgements instead. It turns out, the author and I were both 17 in 1984. After that, I decided I'd finish it no matter what. What I thought would be 2.5-3 star read for me actually turned out to be a 4-star good, creepy story.

OHH!! I love me a little Christopher Golden! He creeps me out in all the right ways.

This book was great, creepy, and nostalgic. I read it in one sitting and could not put it down.
10/10 would absolutely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This combination of horror, intrigue and nostalgia really connected with me! Felt like it was tailor made for me and other fans of Stranger Things! Certainly a book I will be recommending (and displaying) at Halloween time and through out the year!

Description

New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Christopher Golden is best known for his supernatural thrillers set in deadly, distant locales...but in this suburban Halloween drama, Golden brings the horror home.

It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man.

There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?

All Hallows. The one night when everything is a mask...

All Hallows by Christopher Golden definitely kept me on the edge of my seat! "With the 80's nostalgia of Stranger Things, this horror drama from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden follows neighborhood families and a mysterious, lurking evil on one Halloween day." If you like spooky mixed in with a lot of neighborhood drama, pick up All Hallows but wait until October to read!

This started out promising. It's Halloween night in the 80s, a family is setting up their annual haunted woods, and there are strange children around. But the ending felt rushed after following too many characters around all night.

If you're looking for the perfect spooky Halloween book, this is a definite read. I had heard of Christopher Golden before but had never read any of this books. Now I'm very excited to start diving into his backlist of spooky books. As Halloween is my favorite holiday there was no doubt about me reading this. It was creepy, unsettling, and full of twists galore. I thought I would get confused by the multiple POVs but the characters were so perfectly fleshed out that I wasn't confused at all. The children in the creepy, old costumes were definitely the one aspect of this story that prevented me from reading this book at night, they truly scared me. I also enjoyed all of the crumbling family dynamics in this book, it was a nice break from all the brutal horror.

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for the gifted copy for my honest review.

Creepy and unsettling, this is the perfect spooky halloween read. I absolutely loved the 80's throwback. The fact that it took place in Ma and Portuguese names sealed the deal for me. ALL THE STARS!!

I love horror and, while this is a classical horror story and a perfect Halloween read, I was pulled more into the neighborhood drama and family relationships more than into the growing terror and supernatural threat in the woods. I don't know if this is good or bad - I will say it makes it a good choice for those who want to try horror or a spooky read but are really into fiction for the characters, their growth and drama. It has a Stephen King / Stanger Things vibe with multiple characters, ages, and story lines. It's easy to recommend to readers looking for that.

If you are obsessed with Halloween like I am, like think about it ALL yearlong like I do, then this is the read for you!

Vintage Halloween vibes are my vibe, always have been and always will be and this is the PERFECT read for that!

This is just one of those books that is meant to be in the hands of someone who looks forward to Halloween all year long. I just happen to be one of those people. This story is told during the afternoon and evening of Halloween. Although I have read this, it was not on Halloween, and so I fully intend to pick this up on Halloween and while greeting the trick or treaters, treat myself to this again. (see what I did there?) But honestly the nostalgia horror/creepy references is amazing. The overall dark and sinister feeling that the author achieved from basically page one with this book was amazing. Nearly immediately after starting it I got that creeptastic vibe that stayed with me throughout the whole book. My only criticism of the book was that in certain parts we needed more detail, more back story. I felt the story lacked a little bit in its bones, but overall for the lover of all things Halloween and creepy, this is a great read.

I wanted to like this book but it didn't really go anywhere for me. Too many characters and it dragged often. I was hoping for more scares that never really came.