What do you think?
Rate this book
Scarecrows
They do more than frighten birds. Much more.
Early one morning in the fall of 1964, Robert searched for his missing six-year-old daughter, Cathy. He found her asleep in a nearby cornfield, covered in blood and holding a small axe. A few feet away lay the mutilated body of her classmate Emily.
Assumed guilty of murder, Cathy lived in a hospital for insane children. She always gave the same account of what happened. She talked of murderous scarecrows that roamed the cornfield on moonlit nights. Her doctors considered her delusional. The police, her neighbors and the press thought she was dangerous. And so she remained incarcerated. No one believed her. That was a mistake.
Early one morning in the fall of 1964, Robert searched for his missing six-year-old daughter, Cathy. He found her asleep in a nearby cornfield, covered in blood and holding a small axe. A few feet away lay the mutilated body of her classmate Emily.
Assumed guilty of murder, Cathy lived in a hospital for insane children. She always gave the same account of what happened. She talked of murderous scarecrows that roamed the cornfield on moonlit nights. Her doctors considered her delusional. The police, her neighbors and the press thought she was dangerous. And so she remained incarcerated. No one believed her. That was a mistake.
- GenresHorror
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2015
1 person is currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Christine Hayton
2 books370 followersI live in southwestern Ontario with my family. I am an avid reader, but my true love is writing. I enjoy reading literary, classics, thrillers, psychological horror, and contemporary fiction.
I just finished "THE ARTIST" a supernatural thriller. Get ready to read about love and family mixed with ghosts and demons. The reviewers to date are impressed with this novel - my best so far. I'm patiently waiting for the publishing world to snap it up.
Becoming an author has not changed the way I review books. I do not solicit reviews and I do not provide reviews upon request. I buy, read, and review books at my own pace based on my own preferences. I provide unbiased honest reviews.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd. released “Scarecrows”, my first horror story, May 5, 2015 and the anthology "Childhood Fears" in October 2015. They closed in Feb 2018, but my books are available. Please contact me directly to purchase.
Like her Author Page: Facebook.com/ChristineHaytonWrites
Follow her on Google+, Linkedin, Twitter, and Pinterest
I just finished "THE ARTIST" a supernatural thriller. Get ready to read about love and family mixed with ghosts and demons. The reviewers to date are impressed with this novel - my best so far. I'm patiently waiting for the publishing world to snap it up.
Becoming an author has not changed the way I review books. I do not solicit reviews and I do not provide reviews upon request. I buy, read, and review books at my own pace based on my own preferences. I provide unbiased honest reviews.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd. released “Scarecrows”, my first horror story, May 5, 2015 and the anthology "Childhood Fears" in October 2015. They closed in Feb 2018, but my books are available. Please contact me directly to purchase.
Like her Author Page: Facebook.com/ChristineHaytonWrites
Follow her on Google+, Linkedin, Twitter, and Pinterest
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 18, 2015
SCARECROWS is the latest in Samhain's "Childhood Fears" lineup. I'll openly admit that I went into this story with a pre-conceived notion of how it was going to end up. I am very pleased to say that was NOT the case--the novella managed to keep surprising me with new revelations all along the way.
Christine Hayton wrote using alternating timelines--this technique had the advantage of giving readers a first hand glimpse of the events young Cathy experienced prior to her being incarcerated in a mental institution for the brutal murder of her six-year old friend. We are then treated to the "current" events happening approximately two year later, as a new psychologist--who believes in Cathy's innocence--is attempting to unravel the events that actually transpired.
The timelines were very straightforward, and I never once felt "lost" as to which period we were in. Each scene brought to light new, unnerving revelations. Just when you've decided that you "know" the mystery, Hayton throws in another curve. Even these are carefully foreshadowed, so that there was never a time where I felt that some piece of the puzzle just "didn't fit".
This was a fantastically unnerving tale from start to finish, and the author did an excellent job in placing the reader into young Cathy's world.
Highly recommended!
*I received an advance copy of this novella through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Christine Hayton wrote using alternating timelines--this technique had the advantage of giving readers a first hand glimpse of the events young Cathy experienced prior to her being incarcerated in a mental institution for the brutal murder of her six-year old friend. We are then treated to the "current" events happening approximately two year later, as a new psychologist--who believes in Cathy's innocence--is attempting to unravel the events that actually transpired.
The timelines were very straightforward, and I never once felt "lost" as to which period we were in. Each scene brought to light new, unnerving revelations. Just when you've decided that you "know" the mystery, Hayton throws in another curve. Even these are carefully foreshadowed, so that there was never a time where I felt that some piece of the puzzle just "didn't fit".
This was a fantastically unnerving tale from start to finish, and the author did an excellent job in placing the reader into young Cathy's world.
Highly recommended!
*I received an advance copy of this novella through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
April 21, 2015
Ever since I managed to catch the hard-to-find and low-budget Scarecrows on video in the late '80s, I've had a bit of fascination with tales concerning this genuinely creepy type of creature. So when new-to-me author Christine Hayton's first first foray into horror popped up on Netgalley, I was all for learning whether she could generate the same kind of chills I still fondly remember from that time when video stores still ruled the world.
First, the good. Hayton skillfully weaves between different timelines as she teases out some information in the present day ("present" in this sense being 1966 for much of the novella) and then throwing it into a different light with flashbacks leading up to the night of a fateful crime described in the opening pages. She also throws a couple of genuinely intriguing curveballs into proceedings that caught me off guard and increased my interest in how the tale was going to pay off.
However - and this is a big however - Scarecrows is not at all creepy or frightening. It is, at best, mildly tense in a few scenes, and to my mind, a story about disappearances and murders in amongst fully-grown rows of corn that one young girl claims were committed by animated scarecrows, should be straight-out terrifying.
I also had a great deal of trouble understanding certain character's motivations and the actions they engaged in. At one point, for example, a psychiatrist opts to live on the farm where a crime was committed and dedicate his entire time to this one case. I couldn't help but wonder about the rest of his caseload? And how ethically compromised he was being in getting so close to his patient and her family. Oddly enough, this psychiatrist only comes to work on the case at the invitation of a colleague - the colleague being the one who dominates the early passages with the child in a mental health hospital. Only that original psychiatrist's storyline goes absolutely nowhere. Why even have her in the story? Why not just start with the latter psychiatrist and go from there?
Perhaps I'm being picky with such concerns given this is a story about scarecrows who may be murdering people. But these kinds of details threw me right out of the story and each time it happened, I found it more bothersome to climb back on. That reluctance was exacerbated by Hayton's stilted dialogue which never sounded "right" to my reading ear.
At its core Scarecrows is comprised of a quality idea and contains a couple of surprising twists, but too much went wrong with the execution of this one for me to be able to recommend it. I suspect those who are more prepared to just "go with it" will have a much better time than I.
2 Many Characters Whose Arcs Went Nowhere for Scarecrows.
The preceding was based on an eARC provided by Samhain Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
First, the good. Hayton skillfully weaves between different timelines as she teases out some information in the present day ("present" in this sense being 1966 for much of the novella) and then throwing it into a different light with flashbacks leading up to the night of a fateful crime described in the opening pages. She also throws a couple of genuinely intriguing curveballs into proceedings that caught me off guard and increased my interest in how the tale was going to pay off.
However - and this is a big however - Scarecrows is not at all creepy or frightening. It is, at best, mildly tense in a few scenes, and to my mind, a story about disappearances and murders in amongst fully-grown rows of corn that one young girl claims were committed by animated scarecrows, should be straight-out terrifying.
I also had a great deal of trouble understanding certain character's motivations and the actions they engaged in. At one point, for example, a psychiatrist opts to live on the farm where a crime was committed and dedicate his entire time to this one case. I couldn't help but wonder about the rest of his caseload? And how ethically compromised he was being in getting so close to his patient and her family. Oddly enough, this psychiatrist only comes to work on the case at the invitation of a colleague - the colleague being the one who dominates the early passages with the child in a mental health hospital. Only that original psychiatrist's storyline goes absolutely nowhere. Why even have her in the story? Why not just start with the latter psychiatrist and go from there?
Perhaps I'm being picky with such concerns given this is a story about scarecrows who may be murdering people. But these kinds of details threw me right out of the story and each time it happened, I found it more bothersome to climb back on. That reluctance was exacerbated by Hayton's stilted dialogue which never sounded "right" to my reading ear.
At its core Scarecrows is comprised of a quality idea and contains a couple of surprising twists, but too much went wrong with the execution of this one for me to be able to recommend it. I suspect those who are more prepared to just "go with it" will have a much better time than I.
2 Many Characters Whose Arcs Went Nowhere for Scarecrows.
The preceding was based on an eARC provided by Samhain Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 31, 2015
Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...
Scarecrows ia horror novella that, although failing to be terrifying, does make one feel grossed out at times, and does have its scary moments. The book reads much like a murder mystery however, and doesn’t quite reach the scare level I expected it would. That is surprising, considering scarecrows are some of the scariest things out there.
Cathy is barely six years old when she commits murder. At least, that’s what local authorities believe. Cathy was found asleep in a cornfield, covered in blood and holding a small axe, with the mutilated body of her friend Emily only a few feet away. Assumed guilty, Cathy is put into a mental hospital for insane children. But Cathy never stopped telling her story of what really happened: scarecrows did it.
And the Scarecrows aren’t quite finished yet. With doctors slowly believing Cathy wasn’t responsible for the murders, and with other strange things happening around town, the question rises whether Cathy was telling the truth after all.
With a premise like that, it’s tough to see how it could go wrong, yet it does. Part of that is because the characters don’t seem realistic. Even though they found Cathy covered in blood, her parents seem all too eager to accept her guilt. Wouldn’t a parent fight for their kid’s innocence, especially when the kid indicates they didn’t do it and never before portrayed violent behavior? Then, the behavior of the psychiatrists is questionable too. One of them even decides to live on the farm where Cathy lived, dedicating months to this single case without having any real connection to it prior to this. And the original psychiatrist’s storyline goes nowhere, leaving us with a dead end as suddenly we get this new psychiatrist seemingly out of the blue.
Cathy is impossible to connect with. She’s six years old (and eight after being released from the mental institution) but she appears much older. None of the characters are easy to connect with, and the dialogue feels unnatural and stiffed.
The book focuses on the scarecrows mostly in the second part, but still never reaches beyond the level of a murder mystery. It’s not horror since there’s no real suspense. At times, the book is painstakingly slow, and other times, the narrative jumps all over the place.
It’s not a bad story, and as a murder mystery it has an interesting eough angle, but as a horror book, it falls flat, providing no sense of creepiness whatsoever.
Scarecrows ia horror novella that, although failing to be terrifying, does make one feel grossed out at times, and does have its scary moments. The book reads much like a murder mystery however, and doesn’t quite reach the scare level I expected it would. That is surprising, considering scarecrows are some of the scariest things out there.
Cathy is barely six years old when she commits murder. At least, that’s what local authorities believe. Cathy was found asleep in a cornfield, covered in blood and holding a small axe, with the mutilated body of her friend Emily only a few feet away. Assumed guilty, Cathy is put into a mental hospital for insane children. But Cathy never stopped telling her story of what really happened: scarecrows did it.
And the Scarecrows aren’t quite finished yet. With doctors slowly believing Cathy wasn’t responsible for the murders, and with other strange things happening around town, the question rises whether Cathy was telling the truth after all.
With a premise like that, it’s tough to see how it could go wrong, yet it does. Part of that is because the characters don’t seem realistic. Even though they found Cathy covered in blood, her parents seem all too eager to accept her guilt. Wouldn’t a parent fight for their kid’s innocence, especially when the kid indicates they didn’t do it and never before portrayed violent behavior? Then, the behavior of the psychiatrists is questionable too. One of them even decides to live on the farm where Cathy lived, dedicating months to this single case without having any real connection to it prior to this. And the original psychiatrist’s storyline goes nowhere, leaving us with a dead end as suddenly we get this new psychiatrist seemingly out of the blue.
Cathy is impossible to connect with. She’s six years old (and eight after being released from the mental institution) but she appears much older. None of the characters are easy to connect with, and the dialogue feels unnatural and stiffed.
The book focuses on the scarecrows mostly in the second part, but still never reaches beyond the level of a murder mystery. It’s not horror since there’s no real suspense. At times, the book is painstakingly slow, and other times, the narrative jumps all over the place.
It’s not a bad story, and as a murder mystery it has an interesting eough angle, but as a horror book, it falls flat, providing no sense of creepiness whatsoever.
August 1, 2015
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
6year old Cathy is thought to be responsible for the murder and mutilation of a classmate and is institutionalised for her supposed crimes. Her stories of murderous scarecrows roaming the cornfields at night only make her seem more delusional.
When a new doctor takes over her case, he believes that Cathy is telling the truth and that she is not responsible for the murder. As the story shifts between different timelines we are shown what happened on that night and who or what was responsible.
This was fairly enjoyable, the 2nd half of the story being far more engaging and having a much better flow to it. The first half felt quite jarring to read and it took until nearly halfway through to get used to the different timeline use. The main characters were fleshed out well enough for a novella but some characters were redundant and didn't end up adding anything to the story. One such character was a female doctor who started off believing Cathys story, was turned into a more villainous character and then disappeared altogether.
I have to wonder after finishing this whether there was any real need for the scarecrow element as the psychological horror would have been enough for a great story. Trimming the characters and focusing more on the core murder story would have made this a much tighter read.
Overall this was a decent read by an author who I would certainly pick up more work from, the ideas were good but the execution needs to be worked on.
6year old Cathy is thought to be responsible for the murder and mutilation of a classmate and is institutionalised for her supposed crimes. Her stories of murderous scarecrows roaming the cornfields at night only make her seem more delusional.
When a new doctor takes over her case, he believes that Cathy is telling the truth and that she is not responsible for the murder. As the story shifts between different timelines we are shown what happened on that night and who or what was responsible.
This was fairly enjoyable, the 2nd half of the story being far more engaging and having a much better flow to it. The first half felt quite jarring to read and it took until nearly halfway through to get used to the different timeline use. The main characters were fleshed out well enough for a novella but some characters were redundant and didn't end up adding anything to the story. One such character was a female doctor who started off believing Cathys story, was turned into a more villainous character and then disappeared altogether.
I have to wonder after finishing this whether there was any real need for the scarecrow element as the psychological horror would have been enough for a great story. Trimming the characters and focusing more on the core murder story would have made this a much tighter read.
Overall this was a decent read by an author who I would certainly pick up more work from, the ideas were good but the execution needs to be worked on.
June 12, 2015
I received an advance copy of Scarecrows by Christine Hayton from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Samhain Publishing.
Never read Christine Hayton before. Saw this on NetGalley and liked the description so picked it up. So many good points and so many bad but a really good read into the bargain.
In 1964, Robert gets wakened by his wife Clare. She can’t find their daughter Cathy. Robert goes searching and finds her asleep in a corn field close buy. She is covered in blood, not her own, and she is holding his axe. Close by is the very dead body of her classmate Emily.
Cathy gets put into an asylum for kids while doctors try and fathom why she did what she did. She tells everyone it was the scarecrows that murdered Emily. No one believes her. They should have.
This is one that is in that grey area between a short story and a novella. Not quite short enough for a short but not quite long enough for a novella. It’s what I like to call a “shovella”. At about one hundred pages you can read this in a short few hours.
This is classic horror. It has murder caused by an unseen force with no witnesses apart from a five year old girl who is presumed to be the killer. She tries to tell everyone she watched the scarecrows from her window at night walking around the corn field. No one believes her but everything points to the fact she is telling the truth. It has a “retarded” (the stories description not mine) boy that makes the scarecrows but no one suspects he is involved. A family surrounded by tragedy. A country setting where bad things have been happening for years. A deep pond where it is rumoured the mob dumped bodies for years.
This has a real old feel about it. It felt more like the 70’s than the 60’s to me. Felt very like The Omen in its atmosphere. It is scary. It is creepy. It is old school horror.
The book jumps about a bit from the past to the present telling the story from different angles. This helps you get a better picture of the driving forces behind the murder, the families, and the problems the doctors have to deal with in helping young Cathy. You can feel the absolute despair of her father, the hatred in the community and the torture of everyone involved.
Those are the good bits.
The negatives? At times the writing in this is absolutely awful. The narrative is so stop and go that the story almost falls on its face. If this was a film you could imagine the actors being cardboard cut-outs instead of humans. It reads as something that, if edited at all, must have been done by someone either very drunk or half awake. I normally try not to be cruel about books but this was just awful at times.
This really disappoints me. Why? Because the story was so bloody damn good. The way it was structured was brilliant. Like I said before it was so much like the old school horror I grew up with and loved so much. If it had just been written / edited better. Close but no cigar.
To summarise: classic horror style. Very creepy and will send the shivers up your spine. Really disappointing writing at times. If you get this (and I urge you too because in a weird way you will enjoy it) stick with it. Don’t let the writing style put you off. You will definitely enjoy it. I just hope you don’t get as frustrated as me. With a little bit more effort in this I would be rocketing this book into my top ten for the year. Alas though, it won’t get near it.
General rating:
★★★.5 Good but could have been so much better.
Horror rating:
★★★★ Very creepy.
Never read Christine Hayton before. Saw this on NetGalley and liked the description so picked it up. So many good points and so many bad but a really good read into the bargain.
In 1964, Robert gets wakened by his wife Clare. She can’t find their daughter Cathy. Robert goes searching and finds her asleep in a corn field close buy. She is covered in blood, not her own, and she is holding his axe. Close by is the very dead body of her classmate Emily.
Cathy gets put into an asylum for kids while doctors try and fathom why she did what she did. She tells everyone it was the scarecrows that murdered Emily. No one believes her. They should have.
This is one that is in that grey area between a short story and a novella. Not quite short enough for a short but not quite long enough for a novella. It’s what I like to call a “shovella”. At about one hundred pages you can read this in a short few hours.
This is classic horror. It has murder caused by an unseen force with no witnesses apart from a five year old girl who is presumed to be the killer. She tries to tell everyone she watched the scarecrows from her window at night walking around the corn field. No one believes her but everything points to the fact she is telling the truth. It has a “retarded” (the stories description not mine) boy that makes the scarecrows but no one suspects he is involved. A family surrounded by tragedy. A country setting where bad things have been happening for years. A deep pond where it is rumoured the mob dumped bodies for years.
This has a real old feel about it. It felt more like the 70’s than the 60’s to me. Felt very like The Omen in its atmosphere. It is scary. It is creepy. It is old school horror.
The book jumps about a bit from the past to the present telling the story from different angles. This helps you get a better picture of the driving forces behind the murder, the families, and the problems the doctors have to deal with in helping young Cathy. You can feel the absolute despair of her father, the hatred in the community and the torture of everyone involved.
Those are the good bits.
The negatives? At times the writing in this is absolutely awful. The narrative is so stop and go that the story almost falls on its face. If this was a film you could imagine the actors being cardboard cut-outs instead of humans. It reads as something that, if edited at all, must have been done by someone either very drunk or half awake. I normally try not to be cruel about books but this was just awful at times.
This really disappoints me. Why? Because the story was so bloody damn good. The way it was structured was brilliant. Like I said before it was so much like the old school horror I grew up with and loved so much. If it had just been written / edited better. Close but no cigar.
To summarise: classic horror style. Very creepy and will send the shivers up your spine. Really disappointing writing at times. If you get this (and I urge you too because in a weird way you will enjoy it) stick with it. Don’t let the writing style put you off. You will definitely enjoy it. I just hope you don’t get as frustrated as me. With a little bit more effort in this I would be rocketing this book into my top ten for the year. Alas though, it won’t get near it.
General rating:
★★★.5 Good but could have been so much better.
Horror rating:
★★★★ Very creepy.
August 9, 2016
The official release date for this first book by author Christine Hayton is May 5. I have followed and been very impressed by Ms. Hayton's comments on the "Goodreads" literary website, sharing her plans and efforts to someday become a successful published author. I was too curious to wait, so I requested and paid for an advance copy.
My reviews of books are always honest and, when appropriate, frankly critical of an author's lack of skill or imagination. I began reading "Scarecrows" with some trepidation, hoping that I would not have to post a negative review.
I need not have worried. "Scarecrows" is superbly written and skillfully narrated. The reader is swept up in a little girl's ten-year living nightmare. It soon becomes impossible to determine what is real and what is not.
The story jumps back and forth from one year to another, blending past and present so cleverly that, rather than being confusing, it actually helps the reader to better understand what created and is driving each character's motivation and thought process.
Six chapters into the story, I was absolutely certain that I knew how it would end. The ending revealed that I was absolutely wrong. I believe that fans of the horror genre, and many who are not, will love "Scarecrows". There are several novels bearing this same title. This one is by Christine Hayton.
My reviews of books are always honest and, when appropriate, frankly critical of an author's lack of skill or imagination. I began reading "Scarecrows" with some trepidation, hoping that I would not have to post a negative review.
I need not have worried. "Scarecrows" is superbly written and skillfully narrated. The reader is swept up in a little girl's ten-year living nightmare. It soon becomes impossible to determine what is real and what is not.
The story jumps back and forth from one year to another, blending past and present so cleverly that, rather than being confusing, it actually helps the reader to better understand what created and is driving each character's motivation and thought process.
Six chapters into the story, I was absolutely certain that I knew how it would end. The ending revealed that I was absolutely wrong. I believe that fans of the horror genre, and many who are not, will love "Scarecrows". There are several novels bearing this same title. This one is by Christine Hayton.
July 10, 2015
From: http://horrorunderground.org/2015/05/...
Scarecrows (2015)
Childhood Fears
Samhain Publishing
Author: Christine Hayton
Making my second venture into Samhain Publishing’s Childhood Fears anthology, Scarecrows, the first horror novel from author Christine Hayton, is a great addition to this collection. While not truly a horror story, Hayton’s novella is more of a murder mystery. There are elements of crime fiction, detective fiction, and little flourishes of macabre that reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft’s storytelling style. While I was hoping for some bone chilling horror given the premise, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story that goes a little deeper than a standard horror novella.
Robert wakes up one morning in the fall of 1964 only to discover his daughter, Cathy, lying in the corn field next to the chopped up body of her classmate Emily. Cathy is blamed for the gruesome murder while she continues to insist that the murder was carried out by three scarecrows in the corn field. The plot weaves back and forth in a timeline that is present day 1966 and the year 1964 when this and other events took place with Robert, his family, and several local people.
The back and forth storytelling is a lot of fun to read, especially on a second read through. During snippets of the past and present, Hayton does a skillful job of giving hints and clues as to what is really going on in this town. As stated earlier, this is a murder mystery and not truly a horror story. Both timelines balance character development and carry the plot to the surprising finale. As we continue to read, the plot juggles the storyline of multiple characters that come and go. Each character is given a significant storyline that impacts each plot point without breaking the pace. The management of the characters and timeline is one of the novella’s greatest strengths.
Scarecrows does offer a few tense moments. There are some genuine heart racing moments throughout the story centered on the children and the scarecrows. Again, while nothing in this story is downright horrifying, it does contain a classic sense of horror storytelling. With a plot centered on multiple murders and scarecrows, you cannot ignore the creepy setting and the sense of paranoia that some of the characters give off.
Christine Hayton is currently working on several new horror stories. As a fresh voice with an appreciation for classic horror literature, I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us. You can follow her on her website or on her Facebook page for more information.
Scarecrows (2015)
Childhood Fears
Samhain Publishing
Author: Christine Hayton
Making my second venture into Samhain Publishing’s Childhood Fears anthology, Scarecrows, the first horror novel from author Christine Hayton, is a great addition to this collection. While not truly a horror story, Hayton’s novella is more of a murder mystery. There are elements of crime fiction, detective fiction, and little flourishes of macabre that reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft’s storytelling style. While I was hoping for some bone chilling horror given the premise, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story that goes a little deeper than a standard horror novella.
Robert wakes up one morning in the fall of 1964 only to discover his daughter, Cathy, lying in the corn field next to the chopped up body of her classmate Emily. Cathy is blamed for the gruesome murder while she continues to insist that the murder was carried out by three scarecrows in the corn field. The plot weaves back and forth in a timeline that is present day 1966 and the year 1964 when this and other events took place with Robert, his family, and several local people.
The back and forth storytelling is a lot of fun to read, especially on a second read through. During snippets of the past and present, Hayton does a skillful job of giving hints and clues as to what is really going on in this town. As stated earlier, this is a murder mystery and not truly a horror story. Both timelines balance character development and carry the plot to the surprising finale. As we continue to read, the plot juggles the storyline of multiple characters that come and go. Each character is given a significant storyline that impacts each plot point without breaking the pace. The management of the characters and timeline is one of the novella’s greatest strengths.
Scarecrows does offer a few tense moments. There are some genuine heart racing moments throughout the story centered on the children and the scarecrows. Again, while nothing in this story is downright horrifying, it does contain a classic sense of horror storytelling. With a plot centered on multiple murders and scarecrows, you cannot ignore the creepy setting and the sense of paranoia that some of the characters give off.
Christine Hayton is currently working on several new horror stories. As a fresh voice with an appreciation for classic horror literature, I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us. You can follow her on her website or on her Facebook page for more information.
June 26, 2015
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This is in no way reflected in my opinion of this story.
Scarecrows can be very frightening so I was really looking forward to reading this. Especially since the other novella's in the Childhood Fears series have been fantastic. This one not so much. I enjoyed the premise more than the actual execution of this story. The story jumped around through different years which made it very disjointed to me. Some of the elements in this story were well written which made the parts that weren't more noticeable. The ghosts and the scarecrows could have been so scary! My biggest problem with this story was with Cathy, one of the main characters. She's supposed to be a traumatized seven or eight year old girl. She spoke like an adult, and the other characters spoke to her like an adult. Even precocious children are still child-like, more so when frightened or upset. I really wanted to like this novella, unfortunately it just didn't live up to it's promise. I can only give this one 2.5 stars.
May 5, 2015
Review: SCARECROW by Christine Hayden
I went into this story expecting supernatural horror, walking scarecrows, and so forth. What I found is even better--and the layers and layers of events and actions that contributed to the consequences! There is really deep psychology here, both adult and child, and some really memorable characters. All in all, an excellent tale!
I went into this story expecting supernatural horror, walking scarecrows, and so forth. What I found is even better--and the layers and layers of events and actions that contributed to the consequences! There is really deep psychology here, both adult and child, and some really memorable characters. All in all, an excellent tale!
July 25, 2015
Scarecrows: Childhood Fears, by Christine Hayton, is one of four new novellas comprising Samhain Horror’s new Childhood Fears project. From the original call for submissions:
“Ah, childhood. A time of innocence, wonder...and unbridled terror. Childhood fears. We all had them. Maybe it was clowns. A particular toy. Something under the bed? Or that creepy house at the end of the block. Admit it, there was something that scared you.”
In Scarecrows, the titular monsters haunt the thoughts of young Cathy in the years leading up to her seventh year. Her bedroom overlooks a neighbor’s cornfield, where she is convinced she sees scarecrows stalking the night and killing people. The root of her terror is interestingly due to her father, who tells her the scarecrows will get her if she ventures into the dangerous field. Though her father told her about the scarecrow for her own protection, to keep her out of the realistically dangerous area, the fear in imparts has tragic consequences.
The novella opens with a very strong scene as Cathy’s parents wake to find her missing from her bedroom and home during the night. This is made all the more frightening due to the fact that Cathy’s friend has just gone missing in the days prior. Robert, Cathy’s father, soon finds the girls out in the cornfield. Cathy’s friend is dead and it seems clear that Cathy has killed her. Cathy insists that the scarecrows killed her friend, an assertion that leads to her being institutionalized.
The idea of “Childhood Fears” is at play here in more ways than the obvious. Not only is the clear fear of scarecrows here, but fears about childhood and child rearing are present as well. The parents fear for their daughter getting lost and hurt in the cornfield is central to forming her scarecrow fear. Also, the fear of having a child who does something horrible, or having a child who suffers from a serious mental illness, are addressed. This is the most interesting part of the story, the interplay of numerous fears from and about childhood.
Most of the characters are sharp and clear individuals, Cathy is a very real young girl and her father Robert’s love and fears for his daughter are, at times, painful. Cathy’s guardian at the institution is a great character and Cathy’s best friend and neighbor Jimmy is a highlight of the tale. While the main characters have strong, well defined arcs, one of the weak points of the book is that Cathy’s elder brother and one of her doctors just drop out of the story with no reason to have been there in the first place.
The book’s conclusion is generally satisfying, with the story of Cathy and her parents coming together very nicely. The tragedy surrounding her best friend Jimmy and his family also brings good closure. The idea of letting go of childhood fears and realizing what really is out in the world to be feared brings this entertaining novella full circle.
“Ah, childhood. A time of innocence, wonder...and unbridled terror. Childhood fears. We all had them. Maybe it was clowns. A particular toy. Something under the bed? Or that creepy house at the end of the block. Admit it, there was something that scared you.”
In Scarecrows, the titular monsters haunt the thoughts of young Cathy in the years leading up to her seventh year. Her bedroom overlooks a neighbor’s cornfield, where she is convinced she sees scarecrows stalking the night and killing people. The root of her terror is interestingly due to her father, who tells her the scarecrows will get her if she ventures into the dangerous field. Though her father told her about the scarecrow for her own protection, to keep her out of the realistically dangerous area, the fear in imparts has tragic consequences.
The novella opens with a very strong scene as Cathy’s parents wake to find her missing from her bedroom and home during the night. This is made all the more frightening due to the fact that Cathy’s friend has just gone missing in the days prior. Robert, Cathy’s father, soon finds the girls out in the cornfield. Cathy’s friend is dead and it seems clear that Cathy has killed her. Cathy insists that the scarecrows killed her friend, an assertion that leads to her being institutionalized.
The idea of “Childhood Fears” is at play here in more ways than the obvious. Not only is the clear fear of scarecrows here, but fears about childhood and child rearing are present as well. The parents fear for their daughter getting lost and hurt in the cornfield is central to forming her scarecrow fear. Also, the fear of having a child who does something horrible, or having a child who suffers from a serious mental illness, are addressed. This is the most interesting part of the story, the interplay of numerous fears from and about childhood.
Most of the characters are sharp and clear individuals, Cathy is a very real young girl and her father Robert’s love and fears for his daughter are, at times, painful. Cathy’s guardian at the institution is a great character and Cathy’s best friend and neighbor Jimmy is a highlight of the tale. While the main characters have strong, well defined arcs, one of the weak points of the book is that Cathy’s elder brother and one of her doctors just drop out of the story with no reason to have been there in the first place.
The book’s conclusion is generally satisfying, with the story of Cathy and her parents coming together very nicely. The tragedy surrounding her best friend Jimmy and his family also brings good closure. The idea of letting go of childhood fears and realizing what really is out in the world to be feared brings this entertaining novella full circle.
July 6, 2015
I loved the concept of this book. Taking our childhood fears, those ghost stories you hear as a child with the flashlight under the chin and turning it into a book you can hold. What fell short for me was the length of this book compared to the plot. I feel if she would have made it shorter and kept the majority of the mental hospital out, she would have had an excellent scary story. Or she could have expanded in some areas, give us more description and scene development and this would have been a five star novel. Where it was at right now I felt cheated of the horror, and short changed of a mystery.
Cathy went missing one night shortly after another little girl went missing. Her father found her in the corn field, covered in blood, holding a weapon and lying next to the missing dead girl. The small community wanted Cathy locked up in a mental hospital for the rest of her life, while the father is dealing with his other kids and wife. The time era was 1960’s before mental health treatment was so advanced, so you can imagine the kind of hospital for mentally disturbed children Cathy was going to grow up in.
Doctors came to evaluate Cathy in hopes they could find a “cure” for her but it took years before a young doctor was convinced as to what was wrong with her. This is an area in the story that I felt could have really been expanded and developed into a novel length book. A major part of this story was Cathy would tell everyone what she remembered and how she used to love watching the scarecrows but no one read between the lines and understood how big of a part this played in the mystery. The community and house she grew up in was reported as haunted, so could a haunted force be part of the murder?
The ending was not something easily predicted and could have been developed into a very spooky and scary ending but it felt more of a rushed conclusion. I really did love the idea of this story, it sadden me that it was written in a way meant to be only a hundred pages. I could certainly celebrate if the author would decide to expand this book and give me more of this story. I would love to connect more to Cathy and her family and explore the horrible damage done to her mother due to the death of that little girl. I would also love to know more about the community and the house she grew up in. I do recommend this book and I will certainly read more from this author. I am excited about the concept of the childhood fears books.
Cathy went missing one night shortly after another little girl went missing. Her father found her in the corn field, covered in blood, holding a weapon and lying next to the missing dead girl. The small community wanted Cathy locked up in a mental hospital for the rest of her life, while the father is dealing with his other kids and wife. The time era was 1960’s before mental health treatment was so advanced, so you can imagine the kind of hospital for mentally disturbed children Cathy was going to grow up in.
Doctors came to evaluate Cathy in hopes they could find a “cure” for her but it took years before a young doctor was convinced as to what was wrong with her. This is an area in the story that I felt could have really been expanded and developed into a novel length book. A major part of this story was Cathy would tell everyone what she remembered and how she used to love watching the scarecrows but no one read between the lines and understood how big of a part this played in the mystery. The community and house she grew up in was reported as haunted, so could a haunted force be part of the murder?
The ending was not something easily predicted and could have been developed into a very spooky and scary ending but it felt more of a rushed conclusion. I really did love the idea of this story, it sadden me that it was written in a way meant to be only a hundred pages. I could certainly celebrate if the author would decide to expand this book and give me more of this story. I would love to connect more to Cathy and her family and explore the horrible damage done to her mother due to the death of that little girl. I would also love to know more about the community and the house she grew up in. I do recommend this book and I will certainly read more from this author. I am excited about the concept of the childhood fears books.
May 23, 2015
This great story is one of four in the Samhain Horror 'Childhood Fears' anthology. All four books will be collected in print later this year, but at present, I'm working my way through the individual ebooks - and loving my journey! I am someone who, in common with many I suspect, finds scarecrows unnerving in a similar way to clowns. Scarecrows stand, absurdly perched on their timber frames and pegs, wearing Worzel Gummidge hats, their tattered, empty sleeves and trouser legs flapping uselessly in the breeze but, at dusk, or in uncertain light, they can appear to be moving. A quick shot of imagination and you can just see them lurching off across the cornfield, scaring more than the crows. Another reviewer has remarked on the multi-layered quality of this novella and I would echo that. It evokes childhood night terrors in its depictions of the creatures with murder on their minds, but it does much more than that. The harrowing experiences of the lonely child, Cathy, her afflicted only friend, Jimmy, the twists and turns, the 'Did she? or Didn't She?' question that runs throughout the story... All of this makes for a fascinating and unnerving tale. Excellent
December 11, 2015
The story begins with a child being committed for murdering her friend in a cornfield. Bizarrely, she blames the murder on scarecrows. She must be delusional since how could scarecrows murder anyone? As the story unfolds, the author weaves the scarecrow component of the story into the area’s history of strange occurrences and ends it with parts both predictable and unpredictable.
Scarecrows isn’t in a genre I prefer to read so I suspended any disbelief (a prerequisite, of course) in the plot and let the author draw me into the world of a child sure of what she’d seen and her strange friend, the odd local events revolving around a pond and adults who are trying to make sense of it all. I did find the movement of the story back and forth in time to be distracting and some of the storyline too complex but, overall, I liked the paranormal, murder mystery about children mixed up with scary scarecrows, scary other things I won’t mention, and—depending on your experience—not-so-scary psychiatrists.
Scarecrows isn’t in a genre I prefer to read so I suspended any disbelief (a prerequisite, of course) in the plot and let the author draw me into the world of a child sure of what she’d seen and her strange friend, the odd local events revolving around a pond and adults who are trying to make sense of it all. I did find the movement of the story back and forth in time to be distracting and some of the storyline too complex but, overall, I liked the paranormal, murder mystery about children mixed up with scary scarecrows, scary other things I won’t mention, and—depending on your experience—not-so-scary psychiatrists.
May 16, 2015
I am a sucker for horror books ever since I picked up The Rats by James Herbert when I was a teenager and I have been hooked ever since so when I saw this title offered for review by the publisher, Samhain Publishing, on Netgalley, I requested a copy in the hope that I would be chosen to provide an unbiased review. I was. Unfortunately, what I read wasn’t horror for me which was a bit of a disappointment to be honest; it was more like a murder/mystery.
For full review, please go to my blog - http://readingstuffnthings.blogspot.c...
For full review, please go to my blog - http://readingstuffnthings.blogspot.c...
my-books
July 10, 2015I received the best ever compliment from Horrorunderground (see the complete review below). They compared my writing to H.P.Lovecraft.
"...There are elements of crime fiction, detective fiction, and little flourishes of macabre that reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft’s storytelling style. While I was hoping for some bone chilling horror given the premise, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story that goes a little deeper than a standard horror novella..."
"...There are elements of crime fiction, detective fiction, and little flourishes of macabre that reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft’s storytelling style. While I was hoping for some bone chilling horror given the premise, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story that goes a little deeper than a standard horror novella..."
August 29, 2015
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Scarecrows and this is what I thought.
The story is a winding mystery that weaves between two different time periods. The search for the truth of what happened on a dark day a long time ago propels the story forward all the way to its satisfying conclusion. The twists and turns along the way were both exciting and unexpected.
I greatly enjoyed Scarecrows and look forward to what author Christine Hayton delivers next!
The story is a winding mystery that weaves between two different time periods. The search for the truth of what happened on a dark day a long time ago propels the story forward all the way to its satisfying conclusion. The twists and turns along the way were both exciting and unexpected.
I greatly enjoyed Scarecrows and look forward to what author Christine Hayton delivers next!
July 23, 2015
This finely crafted nostalgic thriller will lead you on a journey into the past, and keep you guessing until the end. With many twists and turns tucked deep within the plot, Scarecrows may just make you avoid those country roads on a moonless night.
April 25, 2015
A scary novella
For a full review please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/scarec... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
For a full review please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/scarec... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
July 14, 2015
Never read this author before. A cool premise. weird, but good.
October 2, 2016
Review pending. This is an excellent novella, well structured, well worded, mysterious and bloody. It will draw you in.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews