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Moontown
Shelley Campbell only meant to help people.
Recruited by her professor into working with a group-study program investigating phobias, Shelley has been using her ability as an empath to enter the minds of troubled patients. Within the dreamscape of their memories, Shelley uncovers their repressed childhood fears in order to help heal them.
But some fears are buried for a reason. Now, more than lost dreams are resurfacing. Something else is waking too, something dark and long forgotten, something hungry for the taste of our terror . . .
Shelley Campbell has gone too deep, has found the place where the darkness waits. A place ruled by the moon, a place where midnight lives, a place where every night is Halloween.
A place called Moontown.
Recruited by her professor into working with a group-study program investigating phobias, Shelley has been using her ability as an empath to enter the minds of troubled patients. Within the dreamscape of their memories, Shelley uncovers their repressed childhood fears in order to help heal them.
But some fears are buried for a reason. Now, more than lost dreams are resurfacing. Something else is waking too, something dark and long forgotten, something hungry for the taste of our terror . . .
Shelley Campbell has gone too deep, has found the place where the darkness waits. A place ruled by the moon, a place where midnight lives, a place where every night is Halloween.
A place called Moontown.
- GenresHorror
221 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2008
3 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Peter Atkins
75 books29 followersPETER ATKINS is the author of the novels Morningstar, Big Thunder, and Moontown and the screenplays Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III, Hellraiser IV, and Wishmaster. His short fiction has appeared in several award-winning anthologies and has been selected eight times for one or more of the various 'Year's Best' anthologies. His collection, Rumors of the Marvelous, was a finalist for the British Fantasy Award, and his new collection, All Our Hearts are Ghosts & Other Stories, will be published next year. He blogs at peteratkins.blogspot.com and can be found on Facebook under his own name and on Twitter and Instagram as @limeybastard55.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 2, 2025
Shelley is a psychic empath who uses her gift to help others dealing with buried trauma and phobias, by entering their dreams along with them and finding the root cause, under the guidance of her professor. Unfortunately this unleashes a Freddy Krueger-like demonic being from the nightmare realm — known as Moontown — and her patients/subjects are ending up dead, with herself likely being the next victim. But who will believe her story?
Based on this and Big Thunder, I can’t believe Atkins isn’t a bigger name in horror (outside of his well-known screenplays for the Hellraiser franchise and Wishmaster). His imagination is on par with his buddy Clive Barker, imo, only more accessible and streamlined, with far less bloat and little interest in being artsy or profound.
His writing isn’t quite as visceral either, with reduced emphasis on body horror or sacred and profane carnal pleasures — at least in the two novels I’ve read — but he’s able to tap into similar deep-rooted fears as well as the surreal and hellish sort while keeping the reader unsettled and on constant edge. Especially so here, as the characters never feel safe since they could actually be in the nightmare realm without knowing, where anything at all can happen.
Overall this was a fast, fun read, with some chilling scenes of phantasmagorical goodness and a tight pace that’s always forging ahead, giving the reader little to no downtime to simply relax and settle in.
Plus there’s a giant funhouse with a creepy hall of mirrors (and possibly living puppets as well, but I’m not telling). So it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
Based on this and Big Thunder, I can’t believe Atkins isn’t a bigger name in horror (outside of his well-known screenplays for the Hellraiser franchise and Wishmaster). His imagination is on par with his buddy Clive Barker, imo, only more accessible and streamlined, with far less bloat and little interest in being artsy or profound.
His writing isn’t quite as visceral either, with reduced emphasis on body horror or sacred and profane carnal pleasures — at least in the two novels I’ve read — but he’s able to tap into similar deep-rooted fears as well as the surreal and hellish sort while keeping the reader unsettled and on constant edge. Especially so here, as the characters never feel safe since they could actually be in the nightmare realm without knowing, where anything at all can happen.
Overall this was a fast, fun read, with some chilling scenes of phantasmagorical goodness and a tight pace that’s always forging ahead, giving the reader little to no downtime to simply relax and settle in.
Plus there’s a giant funhouse with a creepy hall of mirrors (and possibly living puppets as well, but I’m not telling). So it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
Displaying 1 of 1 review