Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-read 10/7/21:

This almost seems to be a seasonal regular. And why not? It's a deliciously spooky mystery/horror that revels in childhood and increasingly terrible deaths. In other words: everything a little boy needs.

And just a reminder: this IS the same author who got his chops with horrors before he wrote the utterly classic Hyperion. Just saying.



Original Review:

It's really odd, but out of all these old 80's early 90's-era massive horror tomes to come out, few of them really strike me as worthy of a massive nostalgic revival.

But then, just look at Stephen King's IT. The popularity of Stranger Things. Regular coming-of-age stories like Bradbury was so fond but twisted into dark horrible screaming nightmare shapes. :)

You know what? THIS book really deserves a read or a re-read, ya'll. It's like a cleaned-up version of IT without the parts that make us squirm in a bad way while making us squirm in all the great ways.

I mean, who doesn't love a bunch of 60's-era 11-year-olds shooting guns in rural Illinois? Fighting demons. Or demon-ish. Or ancient gods, ghosts, or demons. I still don't know what it is, but that's the joy of it. We go through this huge process of getting out of school, enjoying summer, living our childhoods again, only to run up against murders, horrible rendition trucks, creepy crawlies, and a lot of interesting history and research about the town. Sound familiar? IT? Who cares. It's awesome. :)

Plus, it's written by one of my favorite authors of horror OR SF. Simmons writes intensely researched s**t, man. And it's always a blast. :)

That nostalgia kick going on? Yeah. This one shouldn't be missed. :)

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