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A review by dnemec
Halloween Carnival Volume 3 by Michael McBride, Brian James Freeman, Kate Maruyama, Kelley Armstrong, Taylor Grant, Greg Chapman
3.0
This is the third in a series of five Halloween Carnivals. Like the others, the anthology features 5 different authors and are centered on Halloween.
This one is my favorite thus far. Four of the five were about people dreading Halloween, which I found interesting. We have a story about the fear of ghosts and Halloween (Grant's A Thousand Rooms of Darkness); a cautionary tale about letting trick-or-treaters in when you have a questionable past (Chapman's The Last Night of October); a yarn on how to be a good dad when you live in a town with horrible secrets due to your own nasty forefathers (McBride's The Devil's Due); and a predictable but gruesome recounting of a Día de los Muertos Festival and one woman who has a hard time abandoning both her Halloween plans and her old friend.
Once again, my favorite is the first in the book. The Way Lost by Kelley Armstrong begins: "Every Halloween, one child in Franklin lost his way and never came home." First Billy Carson, the annoying next-door neighbor who teased the dog. Then Sue Parker, the pretty girl who attended the same church as our protagonist. Then Richie Gibson, the sad little boy whose mother died. Our protagonist is convinced that one day, the police will come to him to learn Franklin's secrets as he was someone who saw what lived in the woods and escaped... And unfortunately, they do...
This one is my favorite thus far. Four of the five were about people dreading Halloween, which I found interesting. We have a story about the fear of ghosts and Halloween (Grant's A Thousand Rooms of Darkness); a cautionary tale about letting trick-or-treaters in when you have a questionable past (Chapman's The Last Night of October); a yarn on how to be a good dad when you live in a town with horrible secrets due to your own nasty forefathers (McBride's The Devil's Due); and a predictable but gruesome recounting of a Día de los Muertos Festival and one woman who has a hard time abandoning both her Halloween plans and her old friend.
Once again, my favorite is the first in the book. The Way Lost by Kelley Armstrong begins: "Every Halloween, one child in Franklin lost his way and never came home." First Billy Carson, the annoying next-door neighbor who teased the dog. Then Sue Parker, the pretty girl who attended the same church as our protagonist. Then Richie Gibson, the sad little boy whose mother died. Our protagonist is convinced that one day, the police will come to him to learn Franklin's secrets as he was someone who saw what lived in the woods and escaped... And unfortunately, they do...