C. V. Hunt

Strang isn't the small, quaint town it appears to be. It's haunted every night by a creature the townsfolk refer to as Halloween. Once the sun sets each day, Halloween emerges to collect its treats: a small, live offering from each household. The residents comply because no one wants to be the target of Halloween's tricks. But the nightmare of residing in Strang is nothing compared to the yearly ritual Halloween demands of the citizens on All Hallows' Eve.

Halloween Fiend

C. J. Daley 

This was on my Spooky Season TBR for a while because I LOVE the cover. This year I finally was able to get it and give it a read. 

The town of Strang is visited nightly by a deadly creature. If they leave out a live offering nightly (usually a Guinea pig, cat, rabbit…) the creature leaves them alone. No one remembers why or how this agreement was struck, but if it works, it works, right? In a perfect world at least… 

So because I always listen to an audio and read a physical book at the same time, I had this really unique experience of reading these two very similar scenes in two drastically different novels within like an hour of each other. Both this novella and Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s ‘Hex’ (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) feature a fall festival that isn’t really dedicated to their town’s (I’ll say) affliction, but at the same time kind of is. It was cool to see how each framed how their town responded to what they had been forced to accept as normal over time. 

A liked how this author used the short length to really drive home how many bad things were happening to the main character, Barry. Typically writing includes things befalling the main, it adds tension, but just because this one was short, didn’t mean the author cut down on the amount their main had to deal with, they used it to reinforce just how bad he really had it. (Really bad). 

Personally a 4/5* for me. Enjoyable, spooky, I’m glad I read it.

Kirsty

I'm on the fence about this one. On the one hand I really enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and the intrigue around the Halloween character. However, I had a lot of problems with it. Certain language pertaining to certain characters and the way that a certain woman was objectified didn't sit right with me. 
I also do not understand the ending - the last couple lines specifically so if anyone could message me and explain it'd be much appreciated!

Jessica Flores

It’s my first time reading a book by CV Hunt and I’ll definitely be on the look out for another of their books. It was an interesting book and definitely a perfect creepy vibe book to reading during Halloween/spooky season. I wish it was scarier but regardless still an enjoyable book. The twist at the end was definitely fun to read. **TW: animal sacrifice** 

Halloween Fiend

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