So much of the plot depends on Samhain being pronounced SAM HAIN and it's not, it's SOW-EN. Found that really annoying.

If this were a hot sauce, it would be a two on the hot-o-meter, which ranges from 1-5, but I will say it had an interesting taste to it...So, enough with the food analogy! Let's get into this book review! I'm giving this book three stars. It started off slow, then ramped up, and then it sputtered. There was almost too much going on in this book. I'm thinking that this first book in the Orangefield series should have been a short story collection, more so than an actual book. Maybe if this novel

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 StarsThis book contains three novellas that start the Orangefield series. The three short stories are okay Halloween treat reads in themselves but make a much stronger impact linked together in one book.1. Hornets (Part I) - 3 Stars The very first tale in the Orangefield cycle, about the warmest Halloween ever, and the orange-and-black-striped insect that brings death to the town of Orangefield.2. The Pumpkin Boy (Part II) - 3 Stars Pumpkin Boy a name given by the n

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, but the rest was just okay.

This is part of a series. Isn't every book anymore? It centers around a town that really goes overboard with the Halloween stuff. It's a quick a read and in the horror genre. I did not find it particularly scary, although it is entertaining enough that I'm reading another in the series. If you are looking for a quick horror read with a Halloween theme, you might want to check this book out.

I requested this audio book in exchange for a honest review. This was a good Halloween listen. I enjoyed the stories even if the narrator mispronounced Samhain the whole time. No biggie, it happens a lot. This is my first experience with Orangefield but I'm already planning my return trip.

I was excited to discover a Halloween specific novel by an author I've read before in anthologies. What I didn't know until I read other reviews was that Horrorween is a compilation of three novellas set in Sarrantonio's town of Orangefield. The overarching element is that the town is home to Samhain, the Lord of Death. Some townspeople have seen him and heard his voice, and strange happenings and deaths have occurred every Halloween. While the back of the book makes it seem like the plot is foc...

I snatched this book out of my tbr pile thinking it was going to be a spooky tale about a town plagued by the "Lord of Death" and creepy pumpkins. Who can pass up creepy pumpkins? What it really was, however, was a hastily slapped together book containing three loosely related novellas that had previously been printed elsewhere. This would've been lovely if I were looking to read a collection of ho-hum poorly researched novellas. But the blurb led me to believe this was a complete novel and it w...

I had some serious issues with this book. But I digress. I guess the main issue of this book that I had was the misleading cover. That is one of my biggest pet peeves with books. The stories were okay but only that. Don't think I'd really recommend this one.

3 1/2 stars I ripped through this novel and really enjoyed it up until the end. However, the end was anticlimatic and left every question unanswered. I would certainly try another novel by him, but I would want a stronger ending.

Here's my new book review video on "Horrorween" by Al Sarrantonio. Also included is the history of Halloween.https://youtu.be/LIUYkDTveY4

Man, was this book all over the place. If you're looking for a coherent story, you're not going to find one here.The back of the book does not help you at all here. Yes the story INCLUDES what happens in the back of the book, but that's not the focal point of the story.*Spoilers*The first third of the story is about an author who has writers' block. we get to know about him, his wife, and his plight. he starts out as kind of a butt, but then he gets better. Then as we're starting to like him, NO...

In my old age, I have grown curmudgeonly in my approach to reading Halloween-themed fiction. I've just read too much of it, and a lot of it is the same ol', same ol'. There is a lot of that in this book, but it was much better than I expected. The beginning is the best part of the book. Speaking as someone who, for an entire summer, had a bee infestation in his bathroom, the hornet situation is horrifying. I liked the Pumpkin Tender a lot. I loved the town history in two parts, in particular the...

I read the back cover... & found that this book was replete of my all-time-favorite themes and images. Suburbia... curses... harvest-time... homecomings... killer children. I got hooked. Well, Halloween IS my favorite movie ever; & my favorite holiday.Samhain here is an actual personification who makes solely a cameo but whose presence is definitely felt. There is a Psycho moment: a protagonist gets killed off very early... The bees and wasps declare that something is coming... there is not one

Not a bad book overall. Obviously partially a hack job of trying to connect three independent stories, "Hornets," "Pumpkin Boy," and "Orangefield" into a coherent novel. Hornets and Orangefield are pretty good but Pumpkin Boy is pretty bad.

I read this book in October thinking that it would be fun to read something seasonal and spooky. It wasn't! I could not tell from the cover that the book consisted of three (not very well written) novellas that really did not connect very well. I found the stories rather lame there were a few errors and not much to hold my concentration.I feel that the author is rather like one of his characters, an author with writers block. He seems to have bundled together these three short stories into one b...

Every October, I try to read at least one Halloween themed horror novel, and this year I picked up Book 1 in the Orangefield series, by Al Sarrantonio, called HORRORWEEN. More of a series of interconnected vignettes, we're introduced to a number of citizens, including a midlist horror writer, a haunted and damaged war veteran, a police detective who's seen too much, a dowdy librarian, an awkward young girl interested in the occult history of Orangefield, among others. As Halloween approaches, an...

Barely two stars. This is a book grown from three different and disparate novellas. It's not cohesive and it's not well-written. The plot is weak and the characters empty. The only reason I didn't give it one star is because I've read worse.

Me, being a big fan of both Halloween and horror, I fell for the blurb and cover as soon as they caught my eye (at the discount book store down the street). I apparently forgot the ol' book-cover-judgment rule because, boooo (in the disappointment way, not the ghost way). I'd like my 3 dollars back. I was confused by the end and disappointed that plots didn't converge. It wasn't till I had finished the book and stareted reading some reviews that I found out this "story" is actually a collection

Horrorween is probably not the worst book title I have ever heard. But surely it is in the top twenty. Al Sarrantonio is an author I have read before. (I remember Toybox as a pretty good collection of short stores, though I do not recall a standout) I read Horroween for a variety of reasons. The action takes place in a fictional town called Orangefield-as I type this a real town called Orangefield is around thirty miles away. (Why don't they have a pumpkin festival? It seems like a natural.) Of