October 2017 Group Read #2: The Halloween Children

[WendyB]

October's Group Read #2 is The Halloween Children by Brian James Freeman. Please use spoiler tags, percentage marks, page and chapter numbers when necessary. Have a scary good time, eveyone!

[Latasha]

I'll join in on this one. I had it marked as to read! don't you love surprises like that?

[Rachel]

I may get this as an ebook thru my library but I have too many other books to do first. So I'll probably be joining in quite late.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

I put it on my Amazon list but can't get it right now

[Kimberly]

I'll join in on this one! :D

[Marie]

I am joining in too as I had forgot that I had bought it a few months ago on my kindle. :)

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

This is one of my overdue NG titles! Guess I'd better get to reading it :)

[Kimberly]

Should be a good discussion!

[Marie]

I started it this afternoon - 4% in so far. :)

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

17% in, it's surprisingly a little funny. The bird scene cracked me up.

[Marie]

I like how the chapters go from the father's view to the mother's view regarding the children. (view spoiler)[The melted army men probably stunk to high heaven (hide spoiler)]

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

I'm enjoying the switching POV's as well. It's making for a zippy read.

[WendyB]

I like the he-said, she-said chapters, seeing things from both parents point of view.

[Marie]

This book just draws you into some kind of time warp as I couldn't hardly put it down last night and then I had to pick it back up awhile ago to read a few more pages. :)

[Latasha]

!!! Y'all got me in suspense! I'm gonna try to start it tonight ... if I don't fall asleep first lol

[WendyB]

I'm about 1/3 of the way through and it's all I can do not to look at the ending. I wanna know what happens! The suspense is getting to me! LOL
This is creepy good fun and, at least so far, I can see why it got so many good reviews.

[WendyB]

Latasha wrote: "!!! Y'all got me in suspense! I'm gonna try to start it tonight ... if I don't fall asleep first lol"

Make some coffee and stay up and read. :)

[Latasha]

WendyB wrote: "Latasha wrote: "!!! Y'all got me in suspense! I'm gonna try to start it tonight ... if I don't fall asleep first lol"

Make some coffee and stay up and read. :)"

i think that sounds like a good idea!

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

24% Amber's story was chilling! I'm getting some coffee too. I refuse to fall asleep unti I've found out what happens on Halloween!

[Kimberly]

It's October officially! Time to start the re-read!!!! :D

[Latasha]

I started Blanky first. since it won't take as long to read it.

[Marie]

Well I was going to try and read this book slow while enjoying every word morsel, but something happened last night. I couldn't sleep and ended up reading the whole book. :) How is everyone else doing with the book?

[Latasha]

Lol wow Marie! I've postponed it.

[Marie]

Latasha wrote: "Lol wow Marie! I've postponed it."

Don't worry I am still going to keep track with you all as I want to see what all you think about it as you read it. :)

[WendyB]

I'm at 60%. Enjoying the slow creep of strange happenings. Still don't see where this is all going but I like it.

[Marie]

WendyB wrote: "I'm at 60%. Enjoying the slow creep of strange happenings. Still don't see where this is all going but I like it."


Well, the rug is going to be pulled out from under you pretty soon, so get ready. :) lol

[Kimberly]

I'd forgotten all the specifics--I may have to write out a new review when I've finished this read!

[WendyB]

I should have the time to finish today. I'm dying to know what happens. Really enjoying this book. A great opening story for my Halloween reading.

[WendyB]

Alllllrighty then..... finished. whew that was freaky.
(view spoiler)[ what a messed up family! I figured toward the end the wife had to be involved in some way. A typical idea in Halloween stories today is the evil things happening to those who don't celebrate the day or give out candy. Soooo... remember to have candy ready on Halloween night. Don't want to lose anyone that night... bwaaahaaha! (hide spoiler)]

[Richard]

I’m gonna start this book ASAP

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

Ugh, no time to read these past few days and I fell asleep the other night even after a big mug of coffee! I'm dying to read the freaky :)

[Latasha]

I know how you feel. :(

[Latasha]

21%
(view spoiler)[ the scene with the headset is HILARIOUS LOLOLOLOL (hide spoiler)]

[Tattooed Horror]

It's currently only 2.99 on Kindle, should I buy it?

[Latasha]

I did.

[Kimberly]

tattooedreader13 wrote: "It's currently only 2.99 on Kindle, should I buy it?"

I loved this one enough to read twice already. :)

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

tattooedreader13 wrote: "It's currently only 2.99 on Kindle, should I buy it?"

Most definitely!

[Elliot]

I finished this book last night and wanted to think about it before I commented.

I didn't really like it too much. I felt the end was too disconnected and I don't understand the purpose of the emails between the college student and her friend. Also, it just came across as.. super unlikely at the end. And the majority of the characters were very unlikable.

I did like the dynamic of the married couple and delving into their differences. I also enjoyed the build up of the story. There was some interesting tension and I was curious to see how it would end.. but I wish we veered left instead of right.

I enjoyed the ride but really disliked the destination with this one.

[Latasha]

I'm around 50%. (view spoiler)[ they just found the bird in the oven. (hide spoiler)]
It's intriguing, so far.

[Marie]

@ Latasha (view spoiler)[so much for para-tweet - he has been silenced forever (hide spoiler)]

[Sean]

Elliot couldn't of said it better. So much potential.

[Latasha]

Marie wrote: "@ Latasha [spoilers removed]"

lol yep!

[Latasha]

(view spoiler)[ does it ever say if something bad is in the land or anything? in one of the e-mails, doesn't she mention how all these people killed themselves? is that ever confirmed? (hide spoiler)]

[Kimberly]

Marie wrote: "@ Latasha [spoilers removed]"

LOL!!

[Latasha]

Well that was weird. Huh. 3 stars for me.

[WendyB]

It was called The Halloween Children but I think it was more like (don't read spoiler unless you've finished) (view spoiler)[ the Halloween Family. It seemed pretty obvious the mother and father were involved... especially the dad telling stories about the tenants, and the way he described how hard he worked on Halloween. No way could the kids have set up the gym equipment or done any of the killings. I think dad put the bird in the oven too. Mom kept the kids home that day to help out. Twisted. (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

Hmm. There was definitely more going on than we got told about.

[WendyB]

Latasha wrote: "Hmm. There was definitely more going on than we got told about."

After reading the ending, I think it's necessary to go back and read between the lines. Yeah, so much going on that we weren't told about.

[Latasha]

Yeah. (view spoiler)[ I wanna know about that book they took to school! And did those people really die in the building?! (hide spoiler)]

[Laurie (barksbooks)]

(view spoiler)[Hmmm, turns out we have not one but two very unstable and unreliable narrators leaving me to figure out many things on my own. (hide spoiler)] I found it all very creepy and enjoyed the slowly building dread and reveals but it may take another reading to piece it all together. I'm glad I saved it for October.