Title: Halloween Candy
Author: Paul Phillips
Amazon description: Leah Lawrence is actually excited by her latest school assignment – create a short film based on an event in her town’s past.
Leah and her group decide to base their film on Julian Harvey. He was sent to jail fifteen years earlier for putting razor blades inside toffee and handing them out at Halloween, injuring several people. After he was released from jail, he vanished.
When word gets out about Leah’s film, she starts receiving ominous text messages, and becomes the target of several mysterious incidents.
Somebody out there doesn’t want this film to get made.
What really happened fifteen years ago? Where is Julian Harvey now? Why is somebody working so hard to keep the truth buried?
Leah must uncover fifteen years worth of secrets and lies before she finishes the film – and before somebody finishes her for good.
Review: Like Pool Pranks, this is set in the fictional town of Howlett. I’m getting fond of Howlett; for one thing I really like tied-together stand-alone novels. They’re less commitment than series that have to be read in order, but the familiarity is attractive. Also Howlett has its own charms: it feels largely American but also could be read as somewhere-in-Australia, and the characters’ speech patterns have traces of both.
While there were traces of telling-not-showing, and the middle dragged slightly at times while the characters went over the plot points, neither of these slight flaws are out of place in the vintage-teen-horror genre. Honestly if it weren’t for the publishing date these could have come off my “Point Horror” shelf, and I love that someone is continuing to write that type of book but in a modern setting.
Overall an enjoyable light read, and you can pick it up for “free” if you have Kindle Unlimited. Definitely worth picking up.
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