When Shadows Fall

by Brian Scott Smith

Halloween Horror.
Martin didn`t believe his aunt`s sudden death was an accident, and he and a couple of buddies were determined to find the truth. But when he started sneaking around the house of his aunt`s new "friends", he never expected to witness what he did - a blood-drenched Satanic ritual with a young girl on the altar. But he did see it, and more importantly, the witness saw him !
Suddenly Martin was in a horrifying race for his life. He had to stop the witches before they stopped him for good. And he had to do it before Halloween night, the night when the final sacrifice would be made, the night when the demons of hell would be unleashed on the Earth, the night......

Genres: Horror

362 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Warren Fournier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 1997 paperback was the last book of my 2020 horror reading marathon, and in some ways, it was a fitting end, encapsulating so many horror tropes into one action-packed volume. Crammed into these 362 pages were witches, satanists, zombies, spectres, an evil doctor, a crazed serial killer, and a haunted mansion all wrapped in a convoluted plot involving two young men attempting to sabotage a fiendish plan to unleash chaos upon the world via a Satanic ritual on Samhain night. But this ambitious homage to all things Halloween was written by a relatively inexperienced author as his first published novel, and it seems the experience was too much for him, as he never wrote another novel under the name Brian Scott Smith again.

My main complaint is that there were too many plot points introduced that helped hook you into the narrative but which were ultimately underdeveloped or dropped completely. First of all, the author goes through a great deal of trouble introducing us to multiple mysterious characters who promise to have some secret knowledge or powers to help our two main protagonists. But these budget Obi Wan Kanobies are as useless as a Frigidaire in an igloo. One of them tells the boys about three friendly spirits that they should call on should they need help. They never do. The author forgets about it--but not entirely. After the climax is over, the main protagonist realizes as an afterthought that they forgot to call on the spirits. Why did the author do this? If he didn't ultimately know where he was going with that potential subplot, he could have deleted just a few lines from his final draft and no one would be the wiser. Instead, he draws attention to his own mistake.

There were multiple examples of dropped ideas. A large portion of the book was dedicated to the boys needing to find a magic river with mystical waters that were supposed to protect them. So they find the river. There is a bunch of exposition about why the river is so special. They bathe in it. They put the water in old Perrier bottles and drink it. They splash the stuff all over the place. The water doesn't do a damn thing. No, that's not completely true--one of the boys throws his bottle of magic Perrier at an evil orb of ball lightning and makes it disappear. But then they never use the water like that again against any other adversaries. Why was this magic water such a big part of the plot to have it be completely inconsequential?

Perhaps most outrageous of all is that the main characters, after being clearly aware that they are the targets of a very deadly and powerful cult, decide that they want a little pillow talk and bring two girls they hardly know along with them to investigate the villain headquarters! They do not warn the girls ahead of time. They know they are placing two innocent people in danger, but who cares, a guy has needs you know? And we are supposed to root for these two schmucks?

If the author had trimmed all of this fat, this actually could have made for a very tight novella that may have enjoyed much more notoriety in the annals of horror fandom. But as it stands, I find it hard to believe that any company saw fit to publish this. Some people will certainly find the book very entertaining and its flaws charming. Even I am guilty of indulging in the pleasures of imperfect produce.

But in this case, there is a very good reason this title is now hard to find. For completist fans of vintage horror paperbacks only.

[Mathology · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up in the years of 07. I never heard of the guy before, so i was 50/50 about getting it. it was only 50p so i was like what the hell. It started off slow but picked up later on

[Russell Holbrook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd been eyeballing this book on my TBR shelf for so long and I finally decided to read it this year as one of my Halloween reads. Since the back cover copy boldly proclaims, "Halloween Horror", I was totally excited to check it out. For me, I wish there had been more of a focus on Halloween itself. The holiday and the season are more of a backdrop, though. There are some creepy moments and scenes, my favorite of which occurs in a dingy motel by the highway. If the whole book was like that, it would've been insane! This is a long, winding tale and people who like their horror a bit more on the quiet side, but not completely, will probably enjoy this. :)

[Jolivhanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of When Shadows Fall had a lot of potential but was executed in a way I found difficult to follow. I found the personality of Martin, the protagonist, very unlikeable. I also believed the ending, though intense and engaging, was rather predictable from quite early on in the story. Overall it was a decent effort, but could have done with more fleshed-out and empathetic characters, particularly the protagonist.

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story was sound but style left a lot to be desired. Characters could have been good but the author got to wrapped up in stringing together adjectives.