What do you think?
Rate this book
If He Hollers
Ten years after a member of the "in crowd" disappeared while playing a baseball game, his friends reconvene for a birthday party, unaware that he has returned and is planning to kill them all one by one.
- GenresHorror
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1995
33 people want to read
About the author
A.G. Cascone
27 books23 followersThe team of Annette Cascone and Gina Cascone, sisters.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 20, 2025
Even though I usually balk at giving books that deal with traumatic topics five stars as it feels like I condone it, If He Hollers feels different in a way I can't really explain but will try.
The saying of judging a book by its cover is clear because despite thinking you're going to get some slasher serial killer going around in a baseball catcher's mask, it is more than that because the face is clearly visible.
What psycho killer is going to want his victims to see his face?
Reading the back, you can tell he wants some revenge, and it has taken ten years to get there.
Someone is watching a birthday party from the woods behind the home of Stacey Patterson on her seventeenth one to be exact. He clearly remembers another party ten years earlier where most of the same teenagers were children, noting a few names. Ten years ago, a little boy named Bobby Crawford was kidnapped.
Mary Ellen, known by her friends as Mel, is the only one who saw the man take Bobby when he went to go and grab the baseball from the woods. She followed him and then screamed his name as the man looked straight at her, taking Bobby with him.
He said he would be back for her.
This party is just as bittersweet because Stacey is about ready to move away to California with her parents. She and Eric are dating now, and she just happens to be Mel's very best friend since both girls were in grade school. Mel is glad she will still have Phil and Eric in her life, alongside her new boyfriend Jimmy, but even Stacey isn't happy.
It could also be because her only brother, Wayne, couldn't be bothered to come home from college for her birthday. Yet if this the last birthday they will all be spending together, Mel is determined to make sure it isn't like that day on Stacey's seventh birthday.
Mel explains to Jimmy when he arrives at Stacey's party later that night after work a little of what happened only because he wants to go make-out with her in the woods. Mel has serious PTSD because it was where she saw Bobby get taken by the man and everyone told her she was only a child.
They never found Bobby and his parents never received a ransom note or call despite being wealthy enough, they never held any blame on Mel for what happened to their son. An older couple, Bobby's father had heart problems and died a couple of months after his son was taken. Bobby's mother overdosed on sleeping pills, heartbroken over her double loss.
Yet there is something Mel knows about the day Bobby disappeared that she and her fiends Stacey, Eric, Phil and Stacey's brother Wayne didn't tell the police...
Wayne doesn't come home for Stacey's birthday and the police have come to let them know that his dorm room at college has been ransacked yet they don't believe there was foul play. Checking the credit card the Pattersons gave Wayne for emergencies, it was used to purchase an airline ticket for a week in the Bahamas.
Stacey's parents are livid and take out their anger at Wayne on Stacey by taking her car keys from her and saying they won't pay for her to go to college if her brother can blow it off just as easily. A livid Stacey is fed up with her parents wanting to control her life and tells Mel she might just run away to teach them a lesson.
Mel convinces Stacey to not do anything crazy like her brother and says she will come to pick her up.
When she arrives, Mel finds Wayne's old retriever, Butkus, scratching at the door to get back inside and Mel finds Stacey gone. Stacey has done this before, so Mel leaves the house. It isn't until Eric's Camaro is found by Phil in the school parking lot with the windshield busted in that Mel starts to become really worried.
No Eric in sight...but a baseball in the passenger seat. A new baseball, like the one Butkus carried in his mouth, but with a signature. The baseball that Bobby Crawford chased into the woods that day was his father's authentic signed Ted Williams baseball...clutched in his hands when Mel saw the man carry him away.
The baseball that caused all of the trouble...then and now.
So much symbolism in that cover now isn't there?
If He Hollers went beyond my expectations as it didn't resort to visceral violence but more of a psychological horror...the terror of torture destroying who you were. The twists and the reveal are actually very heartbreaking, and the ending climax is filled with drama and tension. The characters in the book do a lot of literal and metaphorical character development in how you can't judge a book by its cover.
What looks scary...can actually be pleasant and the painted smile can hide darkness underneath.
The police seem like useless adults but are much more on the ball than the teenagers think and even Mel has to admit that even though Bobby Crawford was the kid that no one liked...nobody deserves to have their life ruined.
If you van find a copy, I highly recommend this book.
The saying of judging a book by its cover is clear because despite thinking you're going to get some slasher serial killer going around in a baseball catcher's mask, it is more than that because the face is clearly visible.
What psycho killer is going to want his victims to see his face?
Reading the back, you can tell he wants some revenge, and it has taken ten years to get there.
Someone is watching a birthday party from the woods behind the home of Stacey Patterson on her seventeenth one to be exact. He clearly remembers another party ten years earlier where most of the same teenagers were children, noting a few names. Ten years ago, a little boy named Bobby Crawford was kidnapped.
Mary Ellen, known by her friends as Mel, is the only one who saw the man take Bobby when he went to go and grab the baseball from the woods. She followed him and then screamed his name as the man looked straight at her, taking Bobby with him.
He said he would be back for her.
This party is just as bittersweet because Stacey is about ready to move away to California with her parents. She and Eric are dating now, and she just happens to be Mel's very best friend since both girls were in grade school. Mel is glad she will still have Phil and Eric in her life, alongside her new boyfriend Jimmy, but even Stacey isn't happy.
It could also be because her only brother, Wayne, couldn't be bothered to come home from college for her birthday. Yet if this the last birthday they will all be spending together, Mel is determined to make sure it isn't like that day on Stacey's seventh birthday.
Mel explains to Jimmy when he arrives at Stacey's party later that night after work a little of what happened only because he wants to go make-out with her in the woods. Mel has serious PTSD because it was where she saw Bobby get taken by the man and everyone told her she was only a child.
They never found Bobby and his parents never received a ransom note or call despite being wealthy enough, they never held any blame on Mel for what happened to their son. An older couple, Bobby's father had heart problems and died a couple of months after his son was taken. Bobby's mother overdosed on sleeping pills, heartbroken over her double loss.
Yet there is something Mel knows about the day Bobby disappeared that she and her fiends Stacey, Eric, Phil and Stacey's brother Wayne didn't tell the police...
Wayne doesn't come home for Stacey's birthday and the police have come to let them know that his dorm room at college has been ransacked yet they don't believe there was foul play. Checking the credit card the Pattersons gave Wayne for emergencies, it was used to purchase an airline ticket for a week in the Bahamas.
Stacey's parents are livid and take out their anger at Wayne on Stacey by taking her car keys from her and saying they won't pay for her to go to college if her brother can blow it off just as easily. A livid Stacey is fed up with her parents wanting to control her life and tells Mel she might just run away to teach them a lesson.
Mel convinces Stacey to not do anything crazy like her brother and says she will come to pick her up.
When she arrives, Mel finds Wayne's old retriever, Butkus, scratching at the door to get back inside and Mel finds Stacey gone. Stacey has done this before, so Mel leaves the house. It isn't until Eric's Camaro is found by Phil in the school parking lot with the windshield busted in that Mel starts to become really worried.
No Eric in sight...but a baseball in the passenger seat. A new baseball, like the one Butkus carried in his mouth, but with a signature. The baseball that Bobby Crawford chased into the woods that day was his father's authentic signed Ted Williams baseball...clutched in his hands when Mel saw the man carry him away.
The baseball that caused all of the trouble...then and now.
So much symbolism in that cover now isn't there?
If He Hollers went beyond my expectations as it didn't resort to visceral violence but more of a psychological horror...the terror of torture destroying who you were. The twists and the reveal are actually very heartbreaking, and the ending climax is filled with drama and tension. The characters in the book do a lot of literal and metaphorical character development in how you can't judge a book by its cover.
What looks scary...can actually be pleasant and the painted smile can hide darkness underneath.
The police seem like useless adults but are much more on the ball than the teenagers think and even Mel has to admit that even though Bobby Crawford was the kid that no one liked...nobody deserves to have their life ruined.
If you van find a copy, I highly recommend this book.
July 16, 2021
The book takes place in 1995 with memories and flashbacks to the time when there was kidnapping of a child from a birthday party almost exactly 10 years ago.
You have a sad, tragic and heartbreaking story that could be a reality.
The boy was Bobby Crawford who had the time was little boy who was arrogant & boastful. You have Wayne & Stacey Patterson, siblings whose house the party was at. They were celebrating Stacey’s 6th birthday. There is Eric knight, Phil Richards, Mary “Mel” Ellen Taylor as the main characters and who were at the birthday party. Wayne had thrown the baseball of Bobby’s Dads that he was not supposed to have had into the woods behind the house due to Bobby’s boasting about it. The parents had just stepped into for a few minutes.
As Bobby went to retrieve the baseball he was snatched and Mel was the only one who had seen the man who did it, she started to scream and scream. The way it seemed they did go all out on searching for Bobby. They found some items in the woods and kept those as evidence, taking fingerprints.
None of these kids or their families were bad people. The kidnapping took a toll on them.
The Patterson’s where the abduction took place became irrational overbearing, very controlling parents. In doing so, they alienated their two children and caused a lot of resentment and some behavioral problems from both Wayne and Stacey.
Bobby’s parents had been older and he was their only child. The father died soon after the abduction and his mother couldn’t go on without either one of them.
The other three kids didn’t talk much about the abduction but it was apparent it was something they could not forget. Mel hated the woods and could not bring herself to step foot back in them.
The kidnapper from 1985 was a heinous monster and he created the villain of today. However, you can see where the two villains of today were not that way by choice. How easy it is to warp a mind.
The baseball is an integral part of the story. You feel for all involved. The police are not portrayed as inept just skeptical.
You think of the actual true events of Steven Strayner and more current events.
This was a hard read only due to the actual events in the book even though it is fiction.
This is good, this might be good for children of today to read and learn. Yes this is dated, there are no cell phones, computers, internet mentioned here.
You have a sad, tragic and heartbreaking story that could be a reality.
The boy was Bobby Crawford who had the time was little boy who was arrogant & boastful. You have Wayne & Stacey Patterson, siblings whose house the party was at. They were celebrating Stacey’s 6th birthday. There is Eric knight, Phil Richards, Mary “Mel” Ellen Taylor as the main characters and who were at the birthday party. Wayne had thrown the baseball of Bobby’s Dads that he was not supposed to have had into the woods behind the house due to Bobby’s boasting about it. The parents had just stepped into for a few minutes.
As Bobby went to retrieve the baseball he was snatched and Mel was the only one who had seen the man who did it, she started to scream and scream. The way it seemed they did go all out on searching for Bobby. They found some items in the woods and kept those as evidence, taking fingerprints.
None of these kids or their families were bad people. The kidnapping took a toll on them.
The Patterson’s where the abduction took place became irrational overbearing, very controlling parents. In doing so, they alienated their two children and caused a lot of resentment and some behavioral problems from both Wayne and Stacey.
Bobby’s parents had been older and he was their only child. The father died soon after the abduction and his mother couldn’t go on without either one of them.
The other three kids didn’t talk much about the abduction but it was apparent it was something they could not forget. Mel hated the woods and could not bring herself to step foot back in them.
The kidnapper from 1985 was a heinous monster and he created the villain of today. However, you can see where the two villains of today were not that way by choice. How easy it is to warp a mind.
The baseball is an integral part of the story. You feel for all involved. The police are not portrayed as inept just skeptical.
You think of the actual true events of Steven Strayner and more current events.
This was a hard read only due to the actual events in the book even though it is fiction.
This is good, this might be good for children of today to read and learn. Yes this is dated, there are no cell phones, computers, internet mentioned here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2020
This is the book that got me into reading after my best friend chucked it at my face. Years later I am still going back to it, and the story that unfolds. While the romantic part of the ending tends to make me roll my eyes, the rest of it is wonderful.
April 17, 2015
Another book where it's actually two authors instead of one author which means multiple point of views.
The book's main appeal for me is its attempt to make all characters sympathetic and likeable. Each teen character is at least distinctive and their friendship seems genuine as they don't treat each other badly. I especially like Mel who I suppose is the main character as she feels guilty for something she should have done but couldn't which makes her sympathetic for having this burden lay on her life and is generally nice for being very concerned for her friends.
Even the villains seems sypmathetic and also interesting when the book reveals the backstory.
The book fairly was suspenseful and (lightly) disturbing in parts so it kept my attention for awhile.
I still don't like villain's POV and it's not working here. It's still generic bad guy scheming and there's like plenty of these. I also wish the twist of the other villain hadn't happened sooner because it dampens the mystery aspect of guessing who the other bad guy is.
This book is mostly character driven horror. It has horror elements but with added bonus of having a semblance of characters Highly recommended for those into YA horror.
The book's main appeal for me is its attempt to make all characters sympathetic and likeable. Each teen character is at least distinctive and their friendship seems genuine as they don't treat each other badly. I especially like Mel who I suppose is the main character as she feels guilty for something she should have done but couldn't which makes her sympathetic for having this burden lay on her life and is generally nice for being very concerned for her friends.
Even the villains seems sypmathetic and also interesting when the book reveals the backstory.
The book fairly was suspenseful and (lightly) disturbing in parts so it kept my attention for awhile.
I still don't like villain's POV and it's not working here. It's still generic bad guy scheming and there's like plenty of these. I also wish the twist of the other villain hadn't happened sooner because it dampens the mystery aspect of guessing who the other bad guy is.
This book is mostly character driven horror. It has horror elements but with added bonus of having a semblance of characters Highly recommended for those into YA horror.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews