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A review by afittingdistraction
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
5.0
This is one of the best horror books I've ever read!
It does the classic, group of kids in the 60s ride around on bikes to solve the unknown horror happening in their small town, so well. I know a lot of people compare it to It and yeah you can see where its taken inspiration but they're definitely two entirely different stories...though I will say I've tried to read It twice now & haven't gotten further than a third of the way through...(I know I know!)
This is 600 pages but never felt bloated, it's perfectly paced, everything has its place and there's no filler.
I adore horror that truly lets you get to know its characters before breaking your heart and everyone one of them felt very well rounded.
It also genuinely scared the shit out of me.
The graveyard confrontation, the combine harvester scene, Dale in the flooded basement and I've never considered myself a claustrophobic person but that whole section with Mike in the tunnels in the final act was terrifying. I had to stop reading it before bed.
It's funny because a lot of the scares and the suspense fall into tropey categories like 'oh no there's something under the bed/in the closet/at the window' or 'kids are the only ones who see it so the adults don't believe them' and usually I'd be like
great here we go again, gee I wonder what will happen if you look under the bed? 🙄
But it got me every time and never once felt overused or stale which is impressive!
Also highly recommend the audiobook
It does the classic, group of kids in the 60s ride around on bikes to solve the unknown horror happening in their small town, so well. I know a lot of people compare it to It and yeah you can see where its taken inspiration but they're definitely two entirely different stories...though I will say I've tried to read It twice now & haven't gotten further than a third of the way through...(I know I know!)
This is 600 pages but never felt bloated, it's perfectly paced, everything has its place and there's no filler.
I adore horror that truly lets you get to know its characters before breaking your heart and everyone one of them felt very well rounded.
It also genuinely scared the shit out of me.
The graveyard confrontation, the combine harvester scene, Dale in the flooded basement and I've never considered myself a claustrophobic person but that whole section with Mike in the tunnels in the final act was terrifying. I had to stop reading it before bed.
It's funny because a lot of the scares and the suspense fall into tropey categories like 'oh no there's something under the bed/in the closet/at the window' or 'kids are the only ones who see it so the adults don't believe them' and usually I'd be like
great here we go again, gee I wonder what will happen if you look under the bed? 🙄
But it got me every time and never once felt overused or stale which is impressive!
Also highly recommend the audiobook