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The Summer of Winters
Some kids have it all—wealthy, loving parents, lots of friends, self-confidence. But not Mike Guthrie, a friendless, awkward boy who has recently been abandoned by his father. The only thing Mike’s not short of is creativity, spending most of his time in backyard making up games.
The summer of 1983 begins on a promising note when new neighbors move in. In walks Paige, a sassy girl who takes an immediate shine to Mike. They become fast friends, and everything seems to be looking up for Mike. She shares his love for games and begins teaching him important lessons about friendship.
A whole new world of hope, until…
Mike and Paige discover a dead girl in the cemetery.
And nothing will ever be the same again.
The Summer of Winters is a terrifying and touching coming-of-age story in the tradition of James Newman’s Midnight Rain and Stephen King’s The Body. Mark Allan Gunnells (The Quarry, Asylum) takes us back to the familiar stomping grounds of his youth (Gaffney, South Carolina) in this, his most intimate and haunting tale to date, giving readers the greatest gift any writer can: a genuine slice of Americana shot through the unique lens of a gifted storyteller.
The summer of 1983 begins on a promising note when new neighbors move in. In walks Paige, a sassy girl who takes an immediate shine to Mike. They become fast friends, and everything seems to be looking up for Mike. She shares his love for games and begins teaching him important lessons about friendship.
A whole new world of hope, until…
Mike and Paige discover a dead girl in the cemetery.
And nothing will ever be the same again.
The Summer of Winters is a terrifying and touching coming-of-age story in the tradition of James Newman’s Midnight Rain and Stephen King’s The Body. Mark Allan Gunnells (The Quarry, Asylum) takes us back to the familiar stomping grounds of his youth (Gaffney, South Carolina) in this, his most intimate and haunting tale to date, giving readers the greatest gift any writer can: a genuine slice of Americana shot through the unique lens of a gifted storyteller.
148 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
11 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 13, 2025
This reminded me of The Sandlot, just with some…well…unpleasantness. Not sure why, as neither story has anything to do with each other, but the setting just took me there. The story is brief and straightforward. No bizarre twists or turns, and you honestly could figure out where it was going from early on, but that didn’t affect your interest. However, it was fun to see main characters, neither coming from stable, upper class houses, interacting with one another in such an uncomfortable situation. I really did want to know more about Paige, as Mike reflected on his experience with her years later. I just felt like he carried all this guilt with him, conflicted on his actions, or lack thereof, and that kept the reader unsure if he acted in the best way or not. I liked that dynamic created, but Paige just got left in the dirt, in a way. We get a brief story of what happened to her, even with a very fascinating turn of events, but that was it. Call me greedy, but she had been through a ton, and I just wanted more from it. And Brody could have used some more development, too. Also, while there was nothing detailed or fully displayed, there are some portions of this book that deal with sexual assault towards minors, so I’m issuing a trigger warning on that. But beyond that, it’s a short, simple, traumatic coming of age story between two young kids in a less than perfect world.
July 3, 2013
Touching, harrowing, and real, this trip down memory lane or up nightmare alley, is well worth making. Gunnells captures childhood and all its anxieties with grace and crafts a spellbinding story that is as heartrending as it is terrifying. Highly recommended.
April 3, 2024
This was an excellent coming of age story. I've read a few books by this author, but this was my favorite. The way the story was told was interesting, and was very well written, and Mike and Paige were great characters. I wish this story would have been novel length.
October 25, 2013
I have read and enjoyed most of Mark Allan gunnells books. This one is a quit disturbing coming of age novella told in flashback form. Other than just being a good story this novella also shows that Mark is growing as a writer, maybe it is just because it is a much darker more serious story than most but the writing seemed better.
May 1, 2023
_The Summer of Winters_ by Mark Allan Gunnells receives four stars from me due to the tension and interesting take on a coming of age story.
This novella took me longer to read than I think it will take most people. I find myself with highly tense works that I get a bit stressed. This happens with TV series too. At first, I thought it's because I don't like the tension, but now, I think it's because I do. I like the tension and I choose to make it last longer.
Back to the book. For me the tension makes the novella strong. It's tense from the start and that tension doesn't let up until the end. Gunnells starts by the main character taking the blame for the death of someone else. That sets the tension. This carries through out the novella; however, more tension is added for different reasons and situations.
Another thing I liked was the treatment of a coming of age story. My loose definition of coming of age is something dramatic happens that changes the child's life which ends his or her childhood. I feel like I've read about the death of a father; about first sexual encounters; that sort of thing. However, never in the pages of a horror novel. I'm not saying it doesn't exist; I've not read it before. I like the mixing of genres like this.
Recommended: do you enjoy a horror story that is tense not gory? You'll like this. Are you not sure that horror is for you, then you could use this as a start. Horror is about building tension, dread, and fear, and this novella has those.
This novella took me longer to read than I think it will take most people. I find myself with highly tense works that I get a bit stressed. This happens with TV series too. At first, I thought it's because I don't like the tension, but now, I think it's because I do. I like the tension and I choose to make it last longer.
Back to the book. For me the tension makes the novella strong. It's tense from the start and that tension doesn't let up until the end. Gunnells starts by the main character taking the blame for the death of someone else. That sets the tension. This carries through out the novella; however, more tension is added for different reasons and situations.
Another thing I liked was the treatment of a coming of age story. My loose definition of coming of age is something dramatic happens that changes the child's life which ends his or her childhood. I feel like I've read about the death of a father; about first sexual encounters; that sort of thing. However, never in the pages of a horror novel. I'm not saying it doesn't exist; I've not read it before. I like the mixing of genres like this.
Recommended: do you enjoy a horror story that is tense not gory? You'll like this. Are you not sure that horror is for you, then you could use this as a start. Horror is about building tension, dread, and fear, and this novella has those.
September 6, 2021
For Mike, one of the outcast kids, this is the summer he meets Paige, his new next-door neighbor, and perhaps, his first friend. They go bike riding, explore the green tunnels in the thick bushes near their houses, they play board games--they have a good summer. That is, until on one of their bike rides to the nearby cemetery, they find a body, a little girl, who has been brutally murdered, and raped.
This summer of friends becomes a summer of the loss of innocence, of darkness, and an unspeakable crime.
Mark Allan Gunnells, a master storyteller, kept me reading as the story unfolded, as Mike finds himself caught in a terrible dilemma. He thinks he knows who the murderer is--but does he? Does he have proof? And who would believe him? But if he tells no one .... Framed in a visit Mike and his partner makes 20 years later, this story is also a tale of memory, of guilt, and the uneasy peace we must often make with the past to have something akin to peace in the present.
Well told, well done.
This summer of friends becomes a summer of the loss of innocence, of darkness, and an unspeakable crime.
Mark Allan Gunnells, a master storyteller, kept me reading as the story unfolded, as Mike finds himself caught in a terrible dilemma. He thinks he knows who the murderer is--but does he? Does he have proof? And who would believe him? But if he tells no one .... Framed in a visit Mike and his partner makes 20 years later, this story is also a tale of memory, of guilt, and the uneasy peace we must often make with the past to have something akin to peace in the present.
Well told, well done.
December 3, 2024
Mike is awkward and friendless until he meets and makes friends with Paige, a spirited young girl whose family have just moved in next door. She is just the person to bring him out of himself and all seems to be going well until they find a dead girl in the cemetery. I can’t stress how much I enjoy Gunnells’ books and this one is no exception. I found myself totally involved in it all and quietly working out possible directions things might take as the story progressed. I must admit to not having particularly liked the ending, but there was enough before that to make it worth reading. I don’t understand why this author is not more popular and has so few ratings on GR. I have enjoyed all four of his books that I have read so far, but ‘2B’ is probably my favorite.
June 24, 2021
Great coming of age story. The characters are excellent and the pacing is perfect. I devoured it!
June 19, 2014
Beginning in the summer of 1983, The Summer of Winters tells the story of an unlikely individual whom many can identify with. At only eleven, Mike Gunthrie exists in a state where life is better left in fantasy than to the arduous wasteland of reality. Ridiculed by his peers, he has no friends. Most of his time is spent in his backyard, playing games or making others up. He reads when he’s inside. His mother works constantly after being abandoned by their father. They eat leftovers religiously. Everything seems just on the verge of his grasp. On the cusp of adolescence, it seems impossible that anything will change. But when a little girl named Paige Moore moves in next door, Mark will realize that this is, truly, a summer he will never forget.
Due to the length of the story, it is hard to accurately detail the work without giving the plot away. Written in flashbacks, we are introduced to a narrative that is very much like Stand by Me, albeit with one central character instead of several. Unlike similar works in its vein—which seem written solely to display an overwhelming sense of symbolism—Gunnells concentrates solely on the narrative. We see Gaffney as it’s supposed to be seen—small, quaint, obviously quiet, a small town we all remember either by heart or passing. The people are friendly. The kids are mean. And what begins as a seemingly-charming story about friendship and the trials that come with it soon turns dark when a little girl named Sarah Winters is found dead. From that point on, everything changes—and Mark, caught in the midst of it all, is left with a sense of morality that will change his life forever.
While there isn’t much that makes The Summer of Winters stand out in the broad scheme of literary work, its fluid writing and careful attention to detail lend to a powerful narrative that is literally teeming with life. Gaffney breathes in the pages of this work—a living, persisting world that isn’t fabricated and instead feels like a real place, where the events depicted seem as though they actually happened and the history within is that which is chronicled in some archive in a place we’ve never been. In that sense, you can say the work is stunningly brilliant. Smooth in execution and steadfast in its pace, it’s not often you read something that compels you to finish in one sitting. The Summer of Winters is one of those works, and is undoubtedly a coming-of-age story that will resonate with any who experience it.
Due to the length of the story, it is hard to accurately detail the work without giving the plot away. Written in flashbacks, we are introduced to a narrative that is very much like Stand by Me, albeit with one central character instead of several. Unlike similar works in its vein—which seem written solely to display an overwhelming sense of symbolism—Gunnells concentrates solely on the narrative. We see Gaffney as it’s supposed to be seen—small, quaint, obviously quiet, a small town we all remember either by heart or passing. The people are friendly. The kids are mean. And what begins as a seemingly-charming story about friendship and the trials that come with it soon turns dark when a little girl named Sarah Winters is found dead. From that point on, everything changes—and Mark, caught in the midst of it all, is left with a sense of morality that will change his life forever.
While there isn’t much that makes The Summer of Winters stand out in the broad scheme of literary work, its fluid writing and careful attention to detail lend to a powerful narrative that is literally teeming with life. Gaffney breathes in the pages of this work—a living, persisting world that isn’t fabricated and instead feels like a real place, where the events depicted seem as though they actually happened and the history within is that which is chronicled in some archive in a place we’ve never been. In that sense, you can say the work is stunningly brilliant. Smooth in execution and steadfast in its pace, it’s not often you read something that compels you to finish in one sitting. The Summer of Winters is one of those works, and is undoubtedly a coming-of-age story that will resonate with any who experience it.
February 22, 2013
Readers of this blog will know that I am a very enthusiastic fan of Mark Allan Gunnells. Ever since he came out with Asylum, his awesomely original take on the zombie apocalypse, I have been addicted to this man's writing. I know that anytime I open a Mark Allan Gunnells book that I am in for a great story with memorable characters and powerful storytelling. And The Summer of Winters is no exception.
Told in flashback, it is the story of Mike Guthrie during the summer of 1983. He is eleven, a scrawny and awkward adolescent that gets bullied at school and has no friends. His father has abandoned the family and his mother has to work twelve hour days at a textile plant to support Mike and his younger brother Ray. It is during this summer that Mike meets his new neighbor, Paige Moore.
The Moores move into the house next door to the Guthries, and Mike hasn't ever met anyone like Paige before. She takes a liking to him immediately, and in asking him to be her "guide" around town and to show her the sights puts Mike in a position he hasn't been in before; the role of friend and playmate. Paige's enthusiasm for adventure is contagious, and Mike finds himself attempting things he would never had tried before, such as interacting with the other local kids. He also develops a crush on Paige's older brother, Brody. But Mike's summer of fun and new found friendship is soon brought to a terrible halt by the death of nine-year old Sarah Winters.
The Summer of Winters is an intimate coming of age story that is laced throughout with a quiet horror. Gunnells tells Mike Guthrie's story with a very precise hand; he perfectly captures both the local color of the area, plus the thoughts and feelings of an eleven year old boy, with the twin emotions of dread and loss that young Mike experiences speeding the story right along to its chilling climax.
With The Summer of Winters, Gunnells cements his reputation as a master storyteller. It is a poignant tale of horror and loss that will reverberate with its readers for a long time to come.
Told in flashback, it is the story of Mike Guthrie during the summer of 1983. He is eleven, a scrawny and awkward adolescent that gets bullied at school and has no friends. His father has abandoned the family and his mother has to work twelve hour days at a textile plant to support Mike and his younger brother Ray. It is during this summer that Mike meets his new neighbor, Paige Moore.
The Moores move into the house next door to the Guthries, and Mike hasn't ever met anyone like Paige before. She takes a liking to him immediately, and in asking him to be her "guide" around town and to show her the sights puts Mike in a position he hasn't been in before; the role of friend and playmate. Paige's enthusiasm for adventure is contagious, and Mike finds himself attempting things he would never had tried before, such as interacting with the other local kids. He also develops a crush on Paige's older brother, Brody. But Mike's summer of fun and new found friendship is soon brought to a terrible halt by the death of nine-year old Sarah Winters.
The Summer of Winters is an intimate coming of age story that is laced throughout with a quiet horror. Gunnells tells Mike Guthrie's story with a very precise hand; he perfectly captures both the local color of the area, plus the thoughts and feelings of an eleven year old boy, with the twin emotions of dread and loss that young Mike experiences speeding the story right along to its chilling climax.
With The Summer of Winters, Gunnells cements his reputation as a master storyteller. It is a poignant tale of horror and loss that will reverberate with its readers for a long time to come.
January 28, 2013
I've read most of Mark's work and liked them all. However, this book shows his maturity as a writer. This is the best of what he's written in the last few years. The only reservations I have is a couple of typos and I felt the ending was rushed, for me. The story was very good but I did see the end coming, and maybe that's what he intended.This review is not to take away from the work. I wholly recommend anyone wanting to read a 'coming of age' story, pick this one up. I can hardly wait for his next book.
February 27, 2013
I started this book earlier this afternoon and devoured It! This was my first time reading Mark A. Gunnells, but certainly not my last. I really enjoyed this coming-of-age tale, with one small quibble...the "whodunit" of the mystery was revealed too soon.
Greg
Greg
June 12, 2013
This was a great read - very entertaining and succinctly told murder mystery and coming of age story all in one. Well-developed and likeable characters. I am looking forward to reading more from Mark Allan Gunnells.
November 5, 2016
I'm gonna make this short and sweet. If you love coming of age tales purchase this book now! I always compare books like this to Boy's Life and The Body. Summer of Winters makes the grade 100%. Nostalgic,thrilling and heartbreaking, as you can tell I loved it.
December 28, 2015
More short story than anything else. Well written, if not truly fleshed out.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews