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Night of a Million Maniacs
Bellevue Grove is hours away from its first-ever Halloween event and chief of security Andrew Calloway is already afraid it'll be the last. The historic amusement park has been teetering for years now. Why else would management hire "Careless Calloway," a man nationally famous for being a security risk? Same reason they tried to cut his five guards down to two. On paper, Bellevue can't afford "Night of a Million Maniacs." In practice, it can't afford anything less.
He fought for every possible safety measure. A fleet of metal detectors. Background checks on all 200 of the actors eager to terrorize. Anything to protect the 10,000 guests paying for a brush with make-believe death and quiet the anxious ache in his gut telling him something would go wrong.
Andrew Calloway knows he's in for the longest night of his life.
But he has no idea it's just getting started when he finds a fresh corpse among the fakes.
He fought for every possible safety measure. A fleet of metal detectors. Background checks on all 200 of the actors eager to terrorize. Anything to protect the 10,000 guests paying for a brush with make-believe death and quiet the anxious ache in his gut telling him something would go wrong.
Andrew Calloway knows he's in for the longest night of his life.
But he has no idea it's just getting started when he finds a fresh corpse among the fakes.
318 pages, Paperback
Published October 21, 2023
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Herbert
3 books7 followersJeremy Herbert is a fan of frozen beverages, loud shirts, and drive-in movies. He makes award-winning horror shorts for the price of minor kitchen appliances and writes crime for outlets like Ellery Queen and the Mystery Tribune. He's supposed to be working on a novel, but don't remind him.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2024
The prose is so strong. Gets you in the mood for some fall festivities at a local roller coaster park. The crappy cold, the delicious expensive food, and the scares you both hope and dread might be real. I can still hear the terrible radio commercials (SEVEN FLOORS OF HELLLLL).
Enter Calloway. A chief of security who thinks he deserves every bit of disrespect his underlings dish him. Whose past led him to take a dead end job in a dying amusement park as a penance that will never end. He's got one friend and that might be too much. But he tries, and that endears him to no one except the reader.
I've never read a realistic 38 year old and I loved the portrayal in this. The bad knee and creaky joints you don't think can carry you ten feet on a good day, showed the author really took careful attention to detail. I hope this author writes another, I know he's a screen writer (checking out his movies next), but literature would be glad to have him whenever he graces us with another.
Enter Calloway. A chief of security who thinks he deserves every bit of disrespect his underlings dish him. Whose past led him to take a dead end job in a dying amusement park as a penance that will never end. He's got one friend and that might be too much. But he tries, and that endears him to no one except the reader.
I've never read a realistic 38 year old and I loved the portrayal in this. The bad knee and creaky joints you don't think can carry you ten feet on a good day, showed the author really took careful attention to detail. I hope this author writes another, I know he's a screen writer (checking out his movies next), but literature would be glad to have him whenever he graces us with another.
January 29, 2025
Herbert’s debut novel is so well crafted, the prose so well formed and distinct, that I often found myself lost in how he writes, rather than what he writes.
A fun “over one night” type story with a character not too different from a McClane and a house (amusement park) of horrors makes for a great fall read.
A fun “over one night” type story with a character not too different from a McClane and a house (amusement park) of horrors makes for a great fall read.
January 2, 2024
A favorite of 2023. I read it at Christmas, but it instantly transported me to Halloween. A fun horror with lots of twists. I love the theme park setting… especially knowing that the author has a lifelong love of his own Bellevue Groves makes it special. As for me, going to Halloweekends will never be the same…
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews