31 Days of Halloween { review } Halloweenland by Al Sarrantonio
Halloweenland by Al Sarrantonio. © 2007 Leisure Books. ISBN 9780843959277. Mass Market Paperback. Horror. 309pages. $7.99 US. Source: purchased a library sale
Synopsis: In Orangefield, Halloween is never normal—and this year will be no exception. For Orangefield is now the home of Halloweenland, a bizarre carnival run by the mysterious Mr. Dickens. No one who sees this carnival doubts that it’s a very strange place, but its real secrets can hardly be imagined.
Orangefield is also the home of Detective Bill Grant, who thinks he’s seen it all. He’s on the trail of an odd little girl, a girl who could hold the end of the universe in her hand. The trail will lead Grant to Ireland, the ancient home of the Lord of the Dead, then back to Orangefield, where, on w hat may be the last Halloween, the ultimate battle between Life and Death will take place.
Review: Halloweenland is a novel that had its first breath as the short story ‘The Baby,’ and it is this short story which opens the book (and lasts the first 77 pages — and not to mention is included again at the end of the book as ‘The short Curious History of ‘The Baby”, serving no purpose but to seemingly take up space).
Marianne Carlin wants a baby more than anything else in this world. Her husband, Jack, would rather drink and hang out with his friends. On the night when they plan to conceive their child, Jack comes home late and smells of booze. But he promised, and so they make love. Marianne’s dream come true and she finds out she’s pregnant … problem is Jack died hours before they made love.
On top of that, Orangefield residents are once again reporting ‘Sam Sightings’—encounters with Samhain, the Lord of the Dead and alcoholic Detective Bill Grant is once again pulled into the fray. The hunt for Marianne’s evil offspring, who is a vessel for the Uncreator, takes him on a whirlwind journey spanning two continents as he tried to save the world.
On the whole, if Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen (with a little evangelical misinterpretation of Samhain thrown in) had a love child, you’d get Halloweenland. However, I really would have liked this novel better had the skewed views of Samhain not been included. That did not make me happy at all, and despite this being fiction, I longed to throw a history book at Sarrantino. Samhain is an Irish festival honoring the dead, not a god, geez! There was also not much horror—if any—and I really expected more from a Bram Stoker Award winner. Not once was I creeped out and this has me not wanting to rush out a read anything else by Sarrantino. 2.5 pumpkins out of 5.
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