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The Siege
Previously published as Moon Walker and with a new introduction from Matthew Costello. In Dyer, Maine, the dead won't stay buried! The people of Dyer liked their quaint little farming community just the way it was. So they didn't question the bizarre, unexplained disappearances that had begun to plague their town. No one talked about the hideous screams that shattered their sleep, nor asked why the lights at the funeral parlor blazed long into the night. And they never... never... discussed the eerie figures seen harvesting the potato fields by day — the slow, lumbering hulks with expressionless features and a blood-chilling deadness behind their eyes... Engineer Dale Harmon was unaware of the unspeakable evil that infested the sleepy New England village. But now Harmon and four others are about to face an unstoppable onslaught of bloody terror that will far surpass their most gruesome nightmares. For the siege is about to begin. And the army of the dead takes no prisoners!
491 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 7, 2013
About the author
Rick Hautala
137 books129 followersAKA A.J. Matthews
Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.
A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.
A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association.
Sadly, Rick died on March 21, 2013.
Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.
A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.
A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association.
Sadly, Rick died on March 21, 2013.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 21, 2026
"The Siege" by Rick Hautala is a novel set in a small rural town in Main. The book opens with people disappearing, screams head through the night, and strange lights at night around the local funeral parlor. Soon after, people are seem lumbering/roaming around the town's potato fields by day. The protagonist, Dale Harmon, goes to this town for a funeral after a close friend passes away. A deeper threat evolves throughout the story and Dale and a small group of others come to learn that an army of the dead, or zombies as I liked to think of it, start to terrorize the town.
I loved this book. I loved how, at the beginning of the novel, isolated incidents turn into a full scale siege (as the title suggests). The characters were all developed well, and Hautala does a fantastic job making you like the "good guys" and hate the "bad guys". The main antagonist (I will not say who to avoid spoilers) is so creepy and deranged that I had to take a moment at the end of the book to digest everything. The dead, or zombies, or whatever are described in a way that is a little bit different from what we might be used to. Hautala describes the dead, or zombies, in a way where I would never want to come across one. And throughout the book, Hautala does a great job making the reader wonder if some of the characters are "good guys" or "bad guys". The book starts as a slow burn with the isolated incidents but, once everything starts coming together and the characters face the larger threat, lets just say this book goes full speed ahead.
This book is perfect for anyone interested in zomie horror. Just go into it knowing that it stars as a slow burn but, at the end, everything is connected. I feel, te slow burn feeling and isolated incidents add to the tension of the book rather than if the book were to go full speed ahead.
I loved this book. I loved how, at the beginning of the novel, isolated incidents turn into a full scale siege (as the title suggests). The characters were all developed well, and Hautala does a fantastic job making you like the "good guys" and hate the "bad guys". The main antagonist (I will not say who to avoid spoilers) is so creepy and deranged that I had to take a moment at the end of the book to digest everything. The dead, or zombies, or whatever are described in a way that is a little bit different from what we might be used to. Hautala describes the dead, or zombies, in a way where I would never want to come across one. And throughout the book, Hautala does a great job making the reader wonder if some of the characters are "good guys" or "bad guys". The book starts as a slow burn with the isolated incidents but, once everything starts coming together and the characters face the larger threat, lets just say this book goes full speed ahead.
This book is perfect for anyone interested in zomie horror. Just go into it knowing that it stars as a slow burn but, at the end, everything is connected. I feel, te slow burn feeling and isolated incidents add to the tension of the book rather than if the book were to go full speed ahead.
Displaying 1 of 1 review