#Spooktober-‘Dark Harvest’ by Norman Partridge

About the book…

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and named one of the 100 Best Novels of 2006 by Publishers Weekly, Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge is a powerhouse thrill-ride with all the resonance of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol’ Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He’s willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror–and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy . . .

‘A story has to stick with those who tell it’

OMG why have I only just found this book?

The fabulous Hey Little Thrifter recommended this when I gave a shoutout for #Spooktober title suggestions, I had never read it before and now I intend to every Halloween.

Short, sharp, incredibly adroit, this is a classic tale that deserves to be read and read again. The tale of a town where the teens are firstly, starved for 5 days, then secondly, sent out , with weapons, and the aim of killing the scarecrow that comes to life each Halloween.

The boy who catches, and kills, the October Boy gets bestowed with riches and honour, his name becomes a byword for glory.

However, if the October Boy gets to the church tower, rings the bell before midnight and shouts out his phrase, well, no one knows because it has never happened before but the town tradition states it never should. It could mean the end of everything.

”Pete can outrun his father’s words,but he can’t outrun that look.It’s welded to his spine like a shiny key stuck in the back of some cheap Japanese toy,and with every click-clack twist it winds his bones and muscles tighter,so when that key spins free he runs like the devil himself is cranking his gears.”

The October Boy is a fearsome creation equal to any Neil Gaiman ever created. As the story takes place over one night, the narrative is stripped back to the bone and pared within an inch of its life leaving a taut and frenetic tale where your allegiance as the reader swaps once, twice and then once again.

The loving relationship between father and son is so well crafted and not immediately obvious yet grows upon you as you read, the link of small towns and their impermeable traditions as well as the fear of what lies over the Town Line ring so true. I live in a small Welsh town where everywhere you go there are hills on the horizon so it looks as though you are in the dip of a bowl and there are people here, who have never left its borders. My husband is from a valley where a deep grained mistrust of strangers and their ways means they have never left their place of birth either( I have since corrupted him with my town-y ways, never fear!)

At a time where belonging and routine offer comfort from the strange and often inexplicable intrusions of the outside world, this story resonates so deeply. The fear of letting the October Boy reach the church steps has people doing unthinkable things.

What is going on?

I cannot begin to say ,as I would dearly love every reader to experience the folk horror of ‘Dark Harvest’ for themseves. All I can say is that I felt such a wrench on that final page, the dark and subversive atmosphere of the town at the edge of the pumpkin patch left me feeling so engrossed, so present and so Halloween ready that I was disappointed to come back to reality.

Highly recommended for fans of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and Mark Morris, this is a wonderful read!

‘Dark Harvest’ is available in ebook and paperback from the fabulous Tor!

About the author…

Norman Partridge’s fiction includes horror, suspense, and the fantastic—“sometimes all in one story” says his friend Joe Lansdale. His compact, thrill-a-minute style has been praised by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and his fiction has received three Bram Stokers and two IHG awards.

Partridge’s career launched a series of firsts during the indie press boom of the early nineties. His first short story appeared in the second issue of Cemetery Dance, and his debut novel, ‘Slippin’ into Darkness’, was the first original novel published by CD. Partridge’s chapbook ‘Spyder’ was one of Subterranean Press’s inaugural titles, while his World Fantasy-nominated collection, Bad Intentions, was the first hardcover in the Subterranean book line.

Since then, Partridge has published pair of critically acclaimed suspense novels featuring ex-boxer Jack Baddalach for Berkley Prime Crime (‘Saguaro Riptide’ and ‘The Ten Hour Siesta‘), comics for Mojo and DC, and a series novel (The Crow: Wicked Prayer) which was adapted for the screen. His award-winning collections include ‘Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales‘ and ‘The Man with the Barbed-Wire Fists’. Partridge’s latest novel, ‘Dark Harvest,’ was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2006.

Whether working in mainstream markets or the independent press, Partridge’s vivid, exuberant writing style has made him a fan favorite. Never content to be pigeon-holed as a writer, Partridge continues to defy categorization. A third-generation Californian, he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Canadian writer Tia V. Travis.

Links-https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/revelations-norman-partridge/

https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/author-spotlight-norman-partridge/

@torbooks

2 comments

Kelly says:

9 October 2019 at 05:29

Christ on a pony, Rachel, stop adding books to my TBR 😂

Reply
1. RachelB says:
  
  9 October 2019 at 07:23
  
  ZOINKS!!! Sorry not sorry! You have never added about a million to mine lol!!!
  
  Reply