This book was an amazing Halloween read. It has a few small flaws, but I loved it anyway.

„It is 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

The characters won me over quickly. Pete McCormick is easy to root for, a boy desperate to escape a dead-end town and a drunken father. Kelly Haines makes a great partner for him. And somehow you just have to love the October Boy too. Getting chapters from the monster’s point of view felt refreshing. It’s not the first book to do this, but here it adds a unique angle and turns the hunted into someone you understand.

Partridge’s writing is smooth and easy to read while keeping up a constant atmosphere of dread, fear and horror. The occasional direct address to the reader pulls you right into the town, and you constantly feel the urge to look over your shoulder. The hunt itself and everything that follows is exciting and fast-paced, with hardly a moment to catch your breath.

The book also has moments of reflection from characters on all sides of the Run. They add depth to a story that could easily have been pure action. Sometimes, though, especially in the middle and toward the end, these passages get a bit too wordy and slow the plot down when I wanted it to keep moving.

All in all, I loved “Dark Harvest” and recommend it wholeheartedly for Halloween, which is obviously the perfect time to read it. Short, atmospheric and full of dread, it belongs on every Halloween reading list.

4 stars from me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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