“Where do you come from? The dust. Where do you go to? The grave.”

36. Halloweenland – Al Sarrantino

Apparently, this is the first full novel in the Orangefield Cycle. After I initially read it, I thought it might be the last in a series or in the middle somewhere and I guess if you count the novelette and the short story it’s almost to the middle. It doesn’t read much like a beginning to me, is what I’m taking most of a paragraph to say.

Det. Bill Grant and Samhain seem like they’ve been tangling for quite some time and have the world-weariness to prove it. It also reminded me of Something Wicked This Way Comes, with the Halloweenland carnival being set up and having anticipation and a very strange carnival owner and whatnot. There’s also quite the freakshow. And a trip to Ireland. The scope of the book is relatively wide and that’s part of why it reads like an end more so than a beginning. Usually, the series waits till the end to expand or go to heaven.

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This is also Salem’s first pumpkin photoshoot with real pumpkins. He didn’t realize how nicely the orangey ones complement his shiny beautiful hair.