Setting: Modern Day
Beardsville,
Vermont is a tiny little town where everyone knows your name and Lauren Kent is
the towns fixer-upper who also often writes news articles for the local
newspaper. Single mother and
independent, she knows how to work for the things she needs. Beardsville is known for it’s extravagant celebration
of Halloween, particularly the ghoulish haunted house that Lauren works on
diligently come every October. However,
this year the pranks in this no-where town seem to have turned malicious, maybe
even deadly! Several businesses have
been targeted for vandalism, even Laurens own house and the house of a fellow
reporter who has been assigned to cover the recent disturbances, Sam Burdett. Sam is as handsome as he is unbearable, yet
the more time Lauren spends with the Sam, the more she grows to appreciate that
perhaps he’s not much different than she.
But there’s really no time to give much attention to their blossoming
romance between work, a defiant teenage son, and the constant pranks, Lauren
has her plate full, and more!
As she plays
partner sleuth with Sam over the month of October, a friendship grows between
the two. Just the same, the mystery of
the town pranks deepen and have become more dangerous than they are funny. Evidence suggests the dead has come alive, or
perhaps someone is just covering their tracks really well. But the time Halloween arrives, the whole
town finds itself held hostage, and Lauren finds herself in love…but will any
of them survive all hollows eve?
As much as
this book sounded scary and creepy, I just found myself reading of one bizarre Halloween
incident to the next without really any suspense at all. Some scenes seemed to drag on, while others
left you needing a little more detail.
The whole mystery, which was uncovered in the last chapter, just didn’t
really make any sense to me.
I love
Halloween and Halloween stories, but this one just wasn’t very fulfilling and
it wasn’t scary at all, either. Despite
the book description and the cover of the book, it’s nothing like a gothic
read!
Rating: 3.0