Norman Partridge

On Halloween in 1963, teenager Pete McCormick, dreaming of escaping a dead-end future in his small hometown, gets his chance to take part in the annual rite in which gangs of teenage boys await the opportunity to take on the local monster known as the October Boy, but Pete is unaware of the truth behind the local ritual and the price he must pay to escape. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Dark Harvest

I'll echo other reviewers - good concept, poor execution. I was especially put off by the macho voice/tone of the narration.

Ashlyn

Joey Baker

Weird Cannonball-radio-DJ type narration was kinda cool at first, but it gets a little grating. Unnecessary amounts of it. 
I think this is one of those times where a little more explanation would have been beneficial.
Reading Halloween stories lately, and this is probably the third "Small town with a secret Halloween sacrifice" plot I've read. While this is the best one of them, kinda sick of it.

Sally Salinas

Maggie Gordon

Dark Harvest is a delightfully creepy, action-filled novella that was a very appropriate way to kick off my month of horror reads :) One of Tor's older novella offerings that is often overlooked.

It was okay. I think the wording was weird and too self-indulgent at times , which made it difficult to follow on occasion.

It took really long to finish for how short it was, and I wish the actual festival/ritual was explained in more detail. A decent story but I don't find myself raving about it.

The Stoker Award-winning tale of Halloween Horror!

Casie Blevins

It was an interesting way to write the story by including the reader. I enjoyed the extra flavor that added to the story. It did leave me with questions though.
Why couldnt they leave? What would be the effect of anyone leaving? Who exactly benefited from everyone staying? The stakes had to be high for every single person in town to be so cavalier about so many children dying on a literal yearly basis. What was the point? I just wish the story had been fleshed out to include some sort of history for this becoming a practice. All rituals start for a reason and continue for a reason and that reason is not 'just because'.

Lindsay Danforth

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. This was a fun October/Halloween read!

Erik Wallace

Seth

Christine Bruce

Mark Anderson

Angelica W.

Colton Ray

Taous Merakchi

C. J. Daley 

Alexis Palew

Steve

Jennifer

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and named one of the 100 Best Novels of 2006 by Publishers Weekly, Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge is a powerhouse thrill-ride with all the resonance of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." 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 . . . "This is contemporary American writing at its finest."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Dark Harvest At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Dark Harvest

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