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Out of the Night
One hundred years after a lynch mob seeks revenge against a group of mysterious strangers believed responsible for a chain of savage murders, a new series of grotesque killings terrorizes Ravina, California, and only one man suspects the truth
- GenresHorror
310 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 10, 2020
Yet another "supernatural evil in small town"-type story that I can't seem to get enough of, complete with your standard horror-fiction stereotypes who must band together to defeat it. My rating doesn't reflect the fact that I actually really enjoyed this for the most part, but unfortunately it all became just a bit too over the top and...well...let's just say "silly."
Here's the basic setup: A series of gruesome, inexplicable murders have been happening in the small California town of Ravina, mostly taking place in and around the local cemetery that's situated on top of a giant hill overlooking the town. The old local archaeologist, Martin Larchmont, of course knows a thing or two about the town's forgotten, unsavory history of mysterious, seemingly supernaturally-influenced deaths, and must convince his former student and the town sheriff that an ancient and powerful evil has returned. They're both highly skeptical, but as the death toll and sightings of the animated dead rises, they soon have no choice but to believe, and try to combat the burgeoning threat.
Pretty typical, but what (initially) elevates this slightly above most midlist mass-markets of the era -- namely a relatively tight pace and a handful of genuinely creepy moments-- soon descends into pure ridiculousness by story's end. I pretty much lost interest during the latter chapters, but the first 2/3 make up for it somewhat, despite the cardboard characters and standard-issue plot. It's actually a rather fun read if you're in the mood for some mindless, pulpy horror.
3.0 Stars.
Here's the basic setup: A series of gruesome, inexplicable murders have been happening in the small California town of Ravina, mostly taking place in and around the local cemetery that's situated on top of a giant hill overlooking the town. The old local archaeologist, Martin Larchmont, of course knows a thing or two about the town's forgotten, unsavory history of mysterious, seemingly supernaturally-influenced deaths, and must convince his former student and the town sheriff that an ancient and powerful evil has returned. They're both highly skeptical, but as the death toll and sightings of the animated dead rises, they soon have no choice but to believe, and try to combat the burgeoning threat.
Pretty typical, but what (initially) elevates this slightly above most midlist mass-markets of the era -- namely a relatively tight pace and a handful of genuinely creepy moments-- soon descends into pure ridiculousness by story's end. I pretty much lost interest during the latter chapters, but the first 2/3 make up for it somewhat, despite the cardboard characters and standard-issue plot. It's actually a rather fun read if you're in the mood for some mindless, pulpy horror.
3.0 Stars.
June 8, 2020
Wow, what a fine novel, out of the night, into the light so to say. What happened in Horrcove cemetery and why are people dying again? Sheriff Henry Sutton, John Cable and other well drawn characters experience an incredible adventure. An old lore has come alive. Can they prevent mystic creatures from becoming fully awake again? What about the owners of the funeral institute. How are they involved in the going ons? Is modern technology helpful to get rid of ancient evil? This is a great blast from the past novel I absolutely enjoyed reading. Interesting back story, plausible characters, no tedious moments but a relentless fast forward pace by the author. If you want to read a classic horror story from the Golden Age this is your novel. Look at the cover! Patrick Whalen won't disappoint your need for scary moments. Highly recommended!
December 26, 2025
The pulp is strong with this one! For a tale of small town terror, Whalen does not disappoint. The town of Rivina, CA has a troubled past. One October in 1889 several people were murdered in horrific ways, night after night. A band of 'gypsies' camping on a hill overlooking the town were blamed and a lynch mob went to 'put things right'. They hung the gypsies in darkness, but when they lit torches, they realized the things they hung were not even human. The killings in town stopped, but several members of the lynch mob killed themselves and their families shortly thereafter. Flash forward a 100 years and it seems something is stirring in Rivina once again.
Our main protagonist Cable is traveling down to L.A. from Vancouver to visit an old friend and mentor after a divorce. Along the way he picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a prostitute. None the less, she proves a good road companion, but Cable is bushed and decides to stop for the night in Rivina. That night the prostitute is horribly murdered and Cable becomes a suspect. The killings continue and they are most bizarre. One man rots to slush in under 12 hours, another is actually scared to death. It quickly becomes apparent to the local sheriff that something strange is going on...
This is a fast and fun read. Whalen introduces a range of characters who meet gruesome ends, and the plot moves nicely. While I would probably not actively seek this one out, read it if you find it and like cheesy/pulpy 80s horror. 3.5 stars rounding up.
Our main protagonist Cable is traveling down to L.A. from Vancouver to visit an old friend and mentor after a divorce. Along the way he picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a prostitute. None the less, she proves a good road companion, but Cable is bushed and decides to stop for the night in Rivina. That night the prostitute is horribly murdered and Cable becomes a suspect. The killings continue and they are most bizarre. One man rots to slush in under 12 hours, another is actually scared to death. It quickly becomes apparent to the local sheriff that something strange is going on...
This is a fast and fun read. Whalen introduces a range of characters who meet gruesome ends, and the plot moves nicely. While I would probably not actively seek this one out, read it if you find it and like cheesy/pulpy 80s horror. 3.5 stars rounding up.
January 23, 2008
Patrick Whalen, Out of the Night (Pocket, 1990)
Much of the geographic detail of Patrick Whalen's novels makes it seem as if this guy lives in the same California everyone else does. Everything else makes it sound like he lives on another planet. If half the things in California happened that Patrick Whalen write about, the state would be deserted. (Some would contend that the election of Sonny Bono is scarier than anything Patrick Whalen has ever written about, though.)
In this case, a public lynching during the nineteenth century is the focal point of the novel's beginning. A number of townsmen band together to hang six outsiders they believe to be responsible for a rash of deaths in the town outside which the strangers are camped. After the lynching, the town experiences a suspiciously high number of suicides, but no one (seems to) connect the dots.
The bulk of the novel takes place a hundred years later, when murders begin again in the same tradition as previously. A ragtag band of protagonists eventually come to the same basic conclusions-that the strangers who were lynched a hundred years previous are back. Not the stuff of good dreams.
A number of the problems that made Whalen's first novel just a touch under the par line are gone here. This book rolls along like a two-ton boulder on a smooth downhill slope. The foreshadowing is subtler, the characters more believable, the climax set up very well. There are a couple of places where predictability rears its ugly head, but such is the case with most horror novels; there are certain characters who always walk around with "kill me" tattooed on their foreheads, and some of those in Out of the Night are no exception. Still, the horror reader will find that an easy (and familiar) enough pill to swallow in the general scheme of things. Now, if only someone would make a movie of this with John Hurt and Denzel Washington.
In my recent kick of late-eighties out-of-print horror novels, this is one of the best I've come across. *** ½
Much of the geographic detail of Patrick Whalen's novels makes it seem as if this guy lives in the same California everyone else does. Everything else makes it sound like he lives on another planet. If half the things in California happened that Patrick Whalen write about, the state would be deserted. (Some would contend that the election of Sonny Bono is scarier than anything Patrick Whalen has ever written about, though.)
In this case, a public lynching during the nineteenth century is the focal point of the novel's beginning. A number of townsmen band together to hang six outsiders they believe to be responsible for a rash of deaths in the town outside which the strangers are camped. After the lynching, the town experiences a suspiciously high number of suicides, but no one (seems to) connect the dots.
The bulk of the novel takes place a hundred years later, when murders begin again in the same tradition as previously. A ragtag band of protagonists eventually come to the same basic conclusions-that the strangers who were lynched a hundred years previous are back. Not the stuff of good dreams.
A number of the problems that made Whalen's first novel just a touch under the par line are gone here. This book rolls along like a two-ton boulder on a smooth downhill slope. The foreshadowing is subtler, the characters more believable, the climax set up very well. There are a couple of places where predictability rears its ugly head, but such is the case with most horror novels; there are certain characters who always walk around with "kill me" tattooed on their foreheads, and some of those in Out of the Night are no exception. Still, the horror reader will find that an easy (and familiar) enough pill to swallow in the general scheme of things. Now, if only someone would make a movie of this with John Hurt and Denzel Washington.
In my recent kick of late-eighties out-of-print horror novels, this is one of the best I've come across. *** ½
February 5, 2021
An evil returns to a coastal California town a hundred years after the town folks killed what they believed to be gypsies that were killing them nightly. To their dismay, they killed something that was not human. All the people who took part that night suffered horrible deaths by their own hands or loved ones. Now in the present, 1990, it seems that the evil is once again ready to set loose on the town. An archeologist who knows a thing or two about it all is brought back in to it by a former protege. They are joined by the sheriff and others to stop the evil before its to late.
This was a very rousing horror book. One of the better ones I have read in a while. The only reason I didn't go the whole five star route was that it did go off the rails from time to time. Not to say that was a deterrent, but if it would of stayed a bit more cohesive, then it would of been that much better. Still, a great novel. I have never read anything by Patrick Whalen, though I shall keep my eyes open for another soon.
This was a very rousing horror book. One of the better ones I have read in a while. The only reason I didn't go the whole five star route was that it did go off the rails from time to time. Not to say that was a deterrent, but if it would of stayed a bit more cohesive, then it would of been that much better. Still, a great novel. I have never read anything by Patrick Whalen, though I shall keep my eyes open for another soon.
December 31, 2022
I am so happy to end this year on a high note. This was good, classic horror through-and-through, with characters the reader actually likes and is interested in, monsters that are as scary as they are deadly, and unnatural deaths abound. Top it all off with a killer cover and it’s an easy five stars.
September 11, 2022
Out of Night has everything I like about 80’s and 90’s horror. A small town attacked by a supernatural evil, fun characters and an engaging story that kept me turning pages. The ending had a little left to be desired but it tied everything up. I give it a solid 3.5 stars.
March 1, 2021
This was brutally boring. I had to skim the last 30 pages thanks to my lack of commitment inspired by cardboard characters and the very weak evil presence they were up against; weak as in I could actually imagine this as a lame 80’s B flick encounter. I probably would’ve enjoyed this as a teenager.
Premise: some evil offspring of the Kurdistan god Iblis are brought to America during the 1880s and are stopped once from gaining their true power by a bunch of townspeople. Those townspeople all die via their own hand as some kind of tantalizing catch the author thought would suck us in. Then the remaining followers of the evil offspring escape with the six bodies of the ‘demon gods’ to scurry into hiding for another century. That century passes and the same thing occurs this time with the cardboard characters fighting against the demon gods. They win.
The only enjoyable part was when the scroll written by a follower of Iblis was read detailing the events leading to their escape from Kurdistan. Meh to the rest.
Premise: some evil offspring of the Kurdistan god Iblis are brought to America during the 1880s and are stopped once from gaining their true power by a bunch of townspeople. Those townspeople all die via their own hand as some kind of tantalizing catch the author thought would suck us in. Then the remaining followers of the evil offspring escape with the six bodies of the ‘demon gods’ to scurry into hiding for another century. That century passes and the same thing occurs this time with the cardboard characters fighting against the demon gods. They win.
The only enjoyable part was when the scroll written by a follower of Iblis was read detailing the events leading to their escape from Kurdistan. Meh to the rest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2025
I decided to give this 3 stars based on my overall enjoyment of the book. Pros: it took place in San Luis Obispo county (where I lived for almost 6 years), I actually enjoyed the exposition of how the six demons originated and ultimately arrived in California, I liked the character of Sutton quite a bit, and it was pretty well paced. Cons: the romance between Cable and Charlcie was silly and not very believable, the "computer" story arch was confusing and didn't really payoff, and the two epilogues were longer than necessary. Overall, I appreciated the book and it looks like Mr. Whalen wrote four horror novels during this period in the late 80's and early 90's but there's basically zero biographical info on him that I could find online which seems odd to me because this story wasn't nearly as bad as some works from other popular horror authors from this era. I liked this enough that I'd still read any of his other three if I ever stumble upon them.
July 16, 2018
This book is a turn of the page, the story is interesting and fast paced, and some passages of the book made me think twice before turning off the lamp of the night. It is good to find a good horror book since it is a difficult genre. It only has a minor setback with respect to the dialogues that at some point felt flat or beaten.
Definitevely a must read if you enjoy horror. I loved this author since I read Monastery, its tood bad he only wrote 4 books that i know of.
Definitevely a must read if you enjoy horror. I loved this author since I read Monastery, its tood bad he only wrote 4 books that i know of.
March 2, 2018
This was a great Book Love the way It keeps your interest straight through .
August 14, 2023
Decent horror book. A few minor plot wholes. But a fun read if you're in the mood for a mysterious horror.
September 28, 2023
Really loved this, it felt like reading something I would have caught at 2 a.m. on USA Up All Night in 1991.
November 25, 2023
This book can be considered an actual paperback from hell. The reader never knows where the plot will go, or whether a rotting hand will burst through the grave in a graveyard tonight......
January 30, 2015
Very good book. The story like was a little slow to start, but ended well.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews