Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

January 15, 2024 7:13 PM

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He's willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror―and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy. (blurb stolen shamelessly from Amazon)

Inspired by the movie post the other day.

posted by Literaryhero (1 comment total)

I picked this up based on the movie post the other day and, well, the best I can say is that it is short. It got really good reviews, which is surprising, because it is written like something from the seventies, and in my opinion isn't really that good. None of the characters are interesting, and basically nothing makes any sense. I am willing to suspend my belief in a scarecrow coming to life, but a rogue cop gunning down like half a dozen teenagers and no one blinking an eye because he is part of some unexplained Harvest Guild? Come on. Also, how can a small town sacrifice like a dozen teenagers a year to this dumb ritual and still manage to keep its population steady? Ugh.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:17 PM on January 15