The Old Myers Place

Halloween #2

by Kelly O'Rourke

Mary White just moved to Haddonfield, Illinois. Being the new girl is tough, but she finally seems to be settling in. She's friends with a popular girl. She's dating a gorgeous guy. Everything is perfect. But Mary's family moved into the old Myers place. In fact, Mary's sleeping in the very bedroom where Michael Myers killed his sister. Now, he's coming back to make sure she sleeps like the dead.

Genres: Horror, Halloween, Young Adult, Fiction, Media Tie In

150 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Alternate pen name for Kelly Reno.

Reviews

[Jason Harlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not about what you know, it's about who you know, which explains how an entirely unknown author named Kelly O'Rourke was tasked with writing three young adult novels loosely based on Michael Myers back in the 90's. This entry takes place a year after the first one and other than featuring a few mentions of Michael escaping the mental asylum and murdering numerous teens the year prior, stands as its own story in the complicated, albeit legendary Halloween lore. The main character, a troubled girl named Mary White moves from Los Angeles to Haddonfield and sleeps in the very room that Judith Myers was killed in! (hence the name of the book) There's some boyfriend drama between our main character Mary and some geeks named Jeff Wayland and Josh Pender, so you know, love triangle vibes ensue. This is basically what you could expect if you read the first one and went into this expecting half the entertainment value. This is a 3/5 but that almost seems generous.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A year has passed since Lori Parker and her friends were terrorized by the return of Michael Myers in The Scream Factory. The survivors of that new Halloween night massacre have graduated high school, but we can't be sure what happened to them after that. Did they attend college nearby college, or move away from Haddonfield to leave the specter of the still-living Michael Myers behind? We don't find out the answer in The Old Myers Place. We meet with a new set of characters in a different situation, though with the same psychopathic antagonist hunting them.

Whatever could have possessed teenaged Mary White's parents to not only move to a town with a bleak and fearful past like Haddonfield, Illinois, but to move into the actual house where spree killer Michael Myers at age six murdered his older sister and subsequently returned several times over the next twenty years to wreak further havoc, is beyond my understanding. Not only that, but Michael Myers still lives, and is believed to have resumed his killing spree in Haddonfield less than a year ago. Nevertheless, Mary White has moved into the old Myers house, and it is precisely this choice by her parents that puts Mary and her friends in line for another slaughter on Halloween night.

As Michael Myers closes in on Mary and her acquaintances from the high school, they are unaware of the horrifying danger that approaches. Mary is excited about her new boyfriend, Josh, one of the most popular guys at Haddonfield High. Her previous boyfriend, Jeff, warns Mary that all-American Josh isn't what he appears to be, that he has a dark side that always eventually comes out when he's been in a relationship with a pretty girl for a while, but Mary doesn't want to listen to Jeff's advice. He's probably jealous, she figures, having blown his chance with Mary earlier that year. When a mysterious stranger attacks Mary in the dark in her own bedroom at the Myers house, she's shocked to find out who the police suspect of the assault. Could there be more to the story, though, than the police are willing to believe? Is it possible that the stranger who tried to strangle her could be the murderous Michael Myers himself, come back to get rid of the family that has settled into his old house?

Author Kelly O'Rourke has improved quite a bit with this second installment in the Halloween book series. The feel of the writing more closely resembles the movies, and Michael Myers figures more prominently into the action than in The Scream Factory. There are some tangibly suspenseful scenes in The Old Myers Place, set amidst the confusion that reigns on Halloween night as it begins to dawn on the people of Haddonfield that Michael Myers is back. The movies tend to be better, but I recommend Kelly O'Rourke's books to any serious fan of the Halloween franchise.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, huge thanks to The 80s Slasher Librarian for posting on his YouTube channel a fan recorded audio version of this book! I doubt I would have been able to read this otherwise, and he does all of this archiving and fan recording to make these old slasher books freely accessible to fans. Go check him out!

It's difficult for me to say what I think about this one. Little to none of the characters were likable. There was at least consistency between the events of the previous book and this one, and I do think Kelly O'Rourke does a solid job of building tension and making the intense scenes with Michael's attacks have impact in these books. The relationship drama between the various teens falls flat in this book compared to the first, probably because the majority of characters in this one are just so damn bland and unlikable.
(Warning there is attempted sexual assault in this book from a guy who has only gone on three dates with a girl, as he claims she's "made him wait too long". The assault is stopped but the assailant does not get any sort of real consequence or comeuppance for his actions. Additional warnings for non-sexual assault against two younger girls for just being outcast and punk.)
I'm also very lukewarm on the use of "The Old Myers Place" as this book's title when it has little to no actual focus in the story.

[Yolanda Sfetsos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading the first book in this trilogy earlier today and it was SO BAD that I said I wasn't going to bother reading the next two books.

Well, I lied. I mean, The Scream Factory was so cringe and awful that I couldn't resist checking out the next one. LMAO.

The funny thing is that I actually liked this installment because the characters were very interesting. I know, I'm still shocked, but it was super creepy and features a group of teens that were definitely more realistic in tone, dialogue, and behaviour. Gone is the cringey insta-love, and instead we get a variety of teen romances, as well as abusive assholes masquerading as nice guys. There are friend groups with plenty of dysfunction and the new girl in town who recreates herself after moving from LA to Haddonfield.

I think the creepiness in this story is a LOT better, too. Plenty of tense scenes. It's also definitely gorier and Michael steps up the violence. Not to mention that the new girl, Mary, actually lives in the old Myers house!!

Super creep. And you gotta love how the parents move Mary into a house with a killer reputation and are hardly home so the teenager is home alone all the time.

The worst thing about this book is that Michael is still off. He just doesn't feel like Michael Myers. Okay, he does feel like him when he's attacking or stalking, but I hate the mask descriptions. And the grunting. Michael Myers doesn't grunt. I really wish the author had done her research. Or, you know, watch the actual movies.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the second book in this trilogy. It's really good. Even the writing is better!

[Gustavo Alves-Gregorio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorier than the previous, however, the author uses the term “laughing stalk” instead of “laughing stock” and that bothered me. I recognize that it’s an eggcorn, but I still was very bothered.

[Jacob Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this one it reminded me of the original first Halloween even though Michael doesn't run but I'll ignore that. It was worth the buy yes there was one or two plot holes there was no such thing as 12 or 19 teenagers dying in the first two movies.... The first movie three teens died and one mechanic the second movie one teen died a couple of nurses and a security guard...

[Angel Alejandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hasta ahora ha sido el menos favorito de la trilogía. Simplemente se siente como un revoltijo de ideas que simplemente no terminan de encajar entre la supuesta "premisa" de la historia. En un momento están en la casa de los Myers, luego en un barco, luego en un centro comercial, después en una fiesta y para terminar en la casa; no hay nada de coherencia allí.

Los personajes son de lo más planos y sin carisma, es realmente horrible ver como toman decisiones tan estúpidas y en general como la autora retrata a unos adolescentes.

Quizás el mayor problema del libro es que trata de abarcar muchos temas (que resultan interesantes) como la cultura punk, el escape del pasado, los celos e incluso el abuso sexual! Pero lamentablemente se quedan a medio cocer entre tanto suceso...

Y ni hablar del hecho que Michael apenas y aparece para el final. Realmente "apenas" y se siente como algo de la franquicia de Halloween para los últimos 5 o 6 capítulos, antes de eso es puro drama juvenil (y ni siquiera de los buenos!)

[Peter Lowry · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all just accept that Michael can be multiple places at once, walk around unseen, easily move bodies large distances quickly, & knows where everyone lives. Imaging this as an older slasher movie makes all these plot issues moot as we'd have just looked past them in an 80's/90's movie, haha.

Otherwise, it is a YA novel with high school love interests & bullying taking up some portion of the story, but this time around the ups & downs of those relationships do play more into the story. Michael is much more in character this novel (I still don't care for the descriptions of his yellowed teeth & putrid breath, I find this a bit much as we've never once seen his teeth through the mask).

Also, a few characters who really should have died didn't & I consider that a failed plot point, haha. In old slashers the dickhead always gets axed.

Also, when the heck did Haddonfield get a lake?!?

[Russell Holbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary just wants to date the creepy kid who lives by the graveyard but those jocks keep getting in the way! Why can't she just hang out with her goth cousin like she used to back in the cocaine-fueled, LA party nights? But wait, the date-rapist rich boy has other plans! And then there's that cranky old Micheal Myers who just wants those jerks to get out of his house!
The stereotypes in this book have speaking roles. And there's knives and pumpkins!
Seriously, though, the scariest characters in this book are the jocks and rich kids, who take center stage as the antagonists while Michael Myers almost becomes a minor character. The author brilliantly plays off stereotypes while making the villainous teens truly disturbing and off-putting. I found this an uncomfortable and off-kilter read. Very interesting!

[Dope Ghost Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second Young Adult Halloween novel by author Kelly O'Rourke, following the wonderful The Scream Factory, The Old Myers Place is a major step down in quality!

This time, we have a whole new set of characters sidling in and mostly all of them, our main protagonist included, kind of suck. It's a shame because the characters in the last book were actually likable and engaging; these characters are just lambs to the slaughter, but dull as dishwater, lackluster lambs. Michael Myers is once again brutal, but unfortunately he's mainly sidelined for a major portion of the book. Still, I liked some of the plot points we got and there's a creepy tone prevalent throughout.

It's Halloween...everyone's entitled to one good scare!

[David Denoyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like several other reviews have stated, I can thank the 80s Slasher Librarian for access to this very rare & hard to find young adult entry into the world of Halloween. Picking up one year after THE SCREAM FACTORY, THE OLD MYERS PLACE tells the story of Mary whose moved with her family from California to Haddonfield & is now living in the Myers house, even sleeping in Judith’s room. Whereas the previous book had a great build up with fun characters, I genuinely was struggling with this one as it takes over halfway through the book for us to get our first legit appearance of Michael let alone start the body count. The ending does finish strong at least but be prepared to deal with alot of teen drama & red herrings before then. My least fave of the series so far.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally enjoyed this a bit more than the last book, even if it is still flawed. I assume the author wasn’t all to familiar with the Halloween franchise, as if she read the movie summary, saw a picture of Michael Myers and decided to write a story. The stories of past events don’t really line up to those in the movies, and Michael’s appearance definitely doesn’t match up with the one we know. That aside, it’s a typical YA horror novel, pretty gnarly deaths.

[E. D. Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good little read. 3 1/2 ⭐
This one seemed to play a little more into traditional slasher tropes, but d fall short on one.
This entry picks up a year after the events of The Scream Factory with a new cast of characters, except for our friend Michael Myers, who is now being referred to (and is being portrayed somewhat as) a zombie.
This one did have some added tension and some fun and was a little more daring than the first one, but I'm not sure I like it better.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with the previous book, neither Michael Myers nor Haddonfield felt true to the movies. However, this book was definitely an improvement from The Scream Factory. I've clearly got issues with how the author protrayed Michael and the town but The Old Myers Place was not nearly as corny as the previous entry and actually had more moments of intensity and creepiness, which made it easier to forgive certain things. Better kills, too!

[Lane Stanberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

listened to audiobook.

this myers novel is verrrrry YA, and i really would have enjoyed this had i picked it up in middle or elementary school.

there are some very weird ways to incorporate michael back into the lore of haddonfield many years later, but i guess he had to come back somehow, right?

if you’re not the target audience here, i’d only recommend for actually halloween franchise fans. general readers probably won’t find much value here.

[Alexander Dye · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 starts. A YA Michael Myers book? Sign me up! The writing isn't great, the author doesn't seem to understand how Myers works (he runs and growls a lot in the book). But the story is pretty good. The 90s seems to have been the wild west in YA fiction, and I'm here for it.

[Matt Spaulding · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again, like the first, cheesy, badly written and absolutely written by someone who has never seen a "Halloween" film and somehow got it published by people who had also never seen a Halloween film

[Chris Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the second novel an equal amount to the first. Would have loved the stories from novel one to carry over but these characters were fun to. This book was the creepiest of the 3, especially anytime Mary was home alone in the Meyer’s house.

[T1na Ba1ley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The details are great.