Summer of Night

One of the best and eeriest by Dan Simmons. Five boys look forward to a school-free summer of bike rides and friendship--but a sinister 'something' is creeping over their town, changing people they know--until finally it comes after them.

I don't often write reviews on this site but I might as well break that mold with this one. This is a true beast of a book but the pages fly by with relative ease. My first time reading this one, I was hooked. Summer of Night is a contrast of two things: great characters having great summer fun, and great characters encountering tremendous evil, Horror and terror. There is a reason why coming of age stories strike such a chord with all of us; because when we are kids, we believe we are immortal, invincible or -- better yet -- we even believe we are superheroes. Kids usually don't have questions of existential nihilism, crisises of faith or soul sucking jobs. To a kid, the world (or their neighborhood) is their playground. Yes, there have certainly been other coming of age Horror stories out there -- some more successful (looking at you IT). But if you ask me, Summer of Night doesn't have the glarring weaknesses of IT; King's drug fuiled meandering (self admitted), an ending out of Hell (child orgies *shudders) or an extra 400 pages that could and should have been chopped down. Summer of Night is that but much, much tighter and to the point. The fear is claustrophobic, brooding and agonizing. It is a gradual build and by page count. 300 it is inescapable. Easily 6/5 stars. One of the best reading experiences I have ever had.

Great horror elements: the hidden world of kids, ancient evil, small town politics, isolation, bullying, and weirdness. Similar to King's "It" in basic plot, but very different, as both King and Simmons are masters of their respective crafts. Read it!

This story was written by an author that remembers all the scenarios that scare a young, imaginative kid! Old, spooky schools; noises in the woods; the space under your bed; and even the fear of having to walk INTO a dark room to turn on the light! There's no end to the anxiety-filled situations in Summer of Night. Real horror/thriller stories require a certain degree of character identification in order to scare you. This book accomplishes that and then some! Dan Simmons makes you recall all the imaginative fun and scary experiences of your childhood and you begin to fathom your placement within a group of friends that have a heck of summer planned. As you read this you will find yourself reminiscing your younger days of summers spent in leisure and some of the creative ways you spent your time. Then... Well, I won't spoil it for you. Just trust me. If you have a decent imagination, you will appreciate the ability of Dan Simmons to tell a yarn that encapsulates you in it and recreates all the fears you had when you were a youngster. Add in a supernatural premise for the excitement and you are off and running. You'll love every minute of it. I've read many of the 'Horror classics' and this one belongs in the top 10.

I loved almost everything about SUMMER OF NIGHT. The characters were intruiging, and the setting was marvelous. If you liked IT by Stephen King, you will like Summer of Night. While it is somewhat of a slow starter, the reader will be entralled in the story. This was a book I did not want to stop reading..I am saddened to learn that Dan Simmons has changed genres and stopped writing horror, but at least he has left something of great magnitude for horror fans. This one really is a must read.

I started reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion books and he instantly became one of my favorite authors. Summer of Night lived up to my expectations in many ways, and even exceeded some of them. Some compared this book to King's It, but I think it's much better. I found this book much more chilling and suspenseful not to mention having a great ending (I hated the ending of It). Unlike It, there's actually a little history to the plot, not some deus ex machina thrown in at the end. One of the most interesting aspects of this story is the transformation the boys undergo. I honestly don't understand how some people felt that this story was too slow. Simmons is very adept at revealing pieces of the mystery while building the suspense. To paraphrase, this book made me stay up many nights because I couldn't put it down, and because of what might be under my bed.

I am about to read this book again, for the third time. It creates a world that I actually miss almost like a piece of my own life. The dramatic climax of the book is weak, that's true, but the actual ending of the book is as poignant as the first orange leaves you see on trees in August. Simmons clearly loved this world he created, and leaves it gently and reverently.