Helloween

Helloween is available now on Amazon!

Not to be hyperbolic but I think we should address Duncan Ralston as The Great Pumpkin from now on. 
This book is for Halloween fans, the ones who wore their costumes again and again until they fell apart. Those of us who hoarded Halloween pencils and party favors to try to keep enough to have year round, those of us who lived for October for the AMC marathons. That we’d watch with one finger on the recall button for when our parents inevitably walked in during the sex scene.
If I just described you, I think you’ll appreciate Helloween as I did. It’s gory, supernatural Halloween fun while also making some keen observations about religion, popular culture, and even some shout-outs to the Indigenous people of the area (yakoke for that, Mr. Ralston). 
I think what Ralston does most successfully is bring together all of our favorite things about Halloween, that feel nostalgic and familiar, but combine them into a new story that will still surprise you. At different points I was reminded of some of my favorite Buffy episodes and Trick r’ Treat, with a coming-of-age aspect that reminded me of IT without ever feeling too familiar or derivative. Excellent. 
Another great success of Helloween is the characterization of the teenagers. This is a common gripe from me while reading from the POV of a teenager, sometimes they are overwrought and attempts to portray teen surliness/rebellion comes off as distinctly unlikeable and hard to root for when the shit hits the fan. Not here. I rooted for them all and cheered and grieved throughout the story.
This is the time that I confess that I may be slightly biased as I was blown away by Woom so I knew to expect a good story. But Duncan Ralston especially shines with Helloween. He had a blast writing this story, it comes through on every page. And he was nice enough to bring us along for the ride.

5/5 wire hangers

Big thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!