Halloween II

Halloween #2

by Jack Martin (Pseudonym), Dennis Etchison

It is Halloween night in Haddonfield, Illinois. Six gunshots pierce the silence of this normally quiet town. Neighborhood kids trick-or-treating on the street stare as a man plunges off a balcony. A doctor form the county mental hospital rushes from the house. He has followed his patient, who escaped from the institution, back to Haddonfield, where fifteen years earlier he brutally murdered his own sister. The demented young man has already killed three teenagers this evening. Tonight's massacre has only begun!

Genres: Horror, Halloween, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Media Tie In, Crime

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Jack Martin is a life-long Californian; he never set foot outside the Golden State until his 30th year, but has traveled extensively - in his imagination.

Trained in the prosaic fields of economics and law, and earning his living in the corporate bowels of an enormous aerospace company, in his spare time he stretched his mind by studying the wonders of astronomy on the one hand, and the glories of American history on the other. Sonia, his wife of twenty-seven years, was possessed of a brilliant practical business mind; yet she greatly enjoyed Jack's stories of the American past, and encouraged him to write them professionally.

She especially enjoyed his speculation about a "secret history of the United States:" incidents and turning points so vital to our future yet so potentially terrible that knowledge of them was withheld from the American public. With her prodding, he has created a series of novels involving the character of Alphonso Brutus Clay: a Civil War Union officer who will find himself deeply involved in several such incidents that will never find their way into the history books.

Sonia passed away on Christmas Eve 2009 after a brave four-year fight against ovarian cancer, and therefore did not live to see the first of the books that she inspired. However, Jack is convinced that somewhere, she knows.

- Source

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the first book when I was young & it was cheap. I’ve been watching for the second & third book at a decent price. FINALLY, I got them both! They were still pricey, but not too bad 🍂🍁🎃



There are freaking pics in the book! I’m going to show them but they aren’t great as I was doing it one handed and the book is fragile. Sooo... they are perfectly taken. Enjoy!

Black cats and goblins
And broomsticks and ghosts
Covers of witches
With all of their hosts
You may think they scare me
You’re probably right
Black cats and goblins
On Halloween night!

—Children’s Rhythm

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, as far as novelizations go. This is by the same author as the first Halloween novelization, but it doesn't nearly add as much to this story as he did then. It's still worth at least one read, as there's a bit added here and there, including some interesting background info on Laurie Strode. Loomis gets a little more info as well, along with Michael Myers, but not too much, unfortunately.

I'd highly recommend the first novelization if you can get your hands on a copy for a decent price. That's probably the most well-done novelization I've ever read, and while still keeping Michael Myers mysterious, there's a lot more expansion on the story. I mean, the intro alone could be a whole new story in and of itself!

Although I much preferred the first novel, I'd still like to recommend this one! Looking forward to Halloween III: Season of the Witch, quite possibly my favorite of the franchise (you guys just hate it because it didn't have Michael Myers in it). 🎃

Edit: a quick search would have told me the first Halloween novelization and this one were done by two completely different people! I was thinking about II & III both being done by Dennis Etchison...

[Ga.selle (Semi-hiatus) Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's a Celtic word. 'Samhain.' The Lord of the Dead. The end of summer. The Festival of Samhain. October thirty-first."

"In order to appease the gods, the Druid priests held fire rituals. Prisoners of war, criminals, the insane, animals were burned alive in baskets. In the spring it was called Beltane, in the fall that word you saw back there, Samhain. By observing the way they died, the Druids believed they could see omens of the future."


4.45🔪🩸

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideal book a couple of days before Halloween! Why did Michael Myers return to Haddonfield? Does Laurie survive his attack on her? Though not as eerie as the first part of the story you get more details what is behind Samhain and you learn morn about Michael and Loomis. Michael is very busy with his knife in this second installment. You will be afraid of every dark man in Halloween night from now on I promise. Recommended Read!

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery · Rating 4 out of 5]

- My Description -
There's a murderer on the loose.
Michael Myers has killed 5 people, but he's not finished.

Halloween is not over yet.

One more young girl. She's injured.
He almost had her too. She was as good as dead in his eyes.

He'll find her.

He will kill whoever stands in his way.

- My Review -
For me, I didn't like the way this book started out.

I didn't care for the author's descriptions at first.

It was a slow start. It started to turn around about 25% into the book.

For anyone who has read this book, the turn around occurred when the female reporter was in her car. Agree?
For anyone who hasn't read this book yet, that's the point you need to look for.

[Richard K. Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure 'Classic Halloween!!' novelization of the perfect Halloween sequel!

If you have never been lucky enough to get copies of these 2 books and read them as i have been, you can now listen to them on YouTube, just search for them. I originally read this way back when it was published and again this week.....why did I wait so long?! Jack Martin takes the script to this immediate, and same night continuing story of Laurie Strode and her brother Michael Myers to a whole new level of HORROR, muder and revenge!

I will not go into the details of the story, because most horror fans already know this story, BUT what you do not know about this book version, is that there is so much more about Laurie and Michael that you do not find out about in the films. I won't spoil it here.......just look it up and get scared ALL OVER AGAIN! AND BE READY FOR SOME GORE!!!

[Sara Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following on directly from the events of “Halloween”, this has Dr. Loomis searching Haddonfield with Sheriff Bracket on the trail of Michael Myers. Meanwhile, a traumatised Laurie Strode (who is revealed to be Myers’ sister) is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital but The Shape is not far behind her.
I really wanted to like this - I’m a big fan of Etchison and his novelisations always bring something new to the story and I like the early Carpenter films - but it wasn’t to be. Whilst this Halloween film is much weaker than the original but you can kind of forgive it, the deficiencies really show in the prose. Etchison does his best with what he has - and he has to spend a lot of time in Strode’s mind - but overlong sequences of prowling cameras do not translate well to the written word. On the plus side, the dialogue and pace rattle off the page and he even manages to pull off this classic line - “the which than which there is no whicher” - which I still can’t figure out. The writer adds a star but, really, this is only for Halloween completists.

[Jason Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't good in any sense of the word, yet is also wasn't super terrible. First off, it's not a good story. Add to that subpar writing, and, well, it just wasn't good, like I said. There were plenty of short, choppy sentences and sentence fragments. I was wondering if Jack Martin was a screenwriter, because a screenwriter friend of mine once told me that's how that breed rolls, but I couldn't find anything on the internet saying that was his old profession.

Mr. Martin also did a bit of question and answer style, possibly to build suspense, but it didn't work. Stuff like "was there movement in that shadow over there? It was hard to tell." Dude, just stop. Michael Myers was always referred to as "the shape," or "the darkness," and the like. He added a bunch of extra information, but it was too much and sometimes interrupted the action. He also tried to get deep and philosophical, and it just didn't work, though he did get deep in another sense of the word. There were flowery exaggerations which elicited a few eye rolls. E.G.: Mrs. Alves has been bled out. Here's how Jimmy saw it: "Blood was everywhere and spreading, enough of it to flow out into the streets and gutters of the world and soak the earth, drip by horrible drip." Again, just stop. It was just a big ass puddle on the floor, a gallon and a half at most since that's what the average human body has in it. It wasn't Noah's flood.

I shouldn't be too harsh, because the story itself isn't any good, so Mr. Martin is working with subpar material. Don't get me wrong; I like the movie but only because it brings back fond memories of me and my college friends making fun of it. Seriously, most of it is so improbable that suspension of disbelief is strained to the snapping point. The book gives some explanations, and some of those help, but others just raise even more questions. Oddly enough, the TV cut of this puts some of these explanations in with just a line or two of dialogue, or a three second scene. Why couldn't the theatrical release use them? It might've added five or so minutes to the running time, but that's not too much.

Here are some things that have always confused me about the movie. Why did the hospital turn out the lights at night? It's implied that Michael Myers killed the phones, but nothing is mentioned about him doing it to the electricity. Some of the lights are still on and the equipment is still running, so it's natural to assume the staff turned off the other lights, but that's not the case; it turns out the generator is running all that, but it can only operate half of the equipment. As for the hospital staff, they're the most incompetent and inept in the history of the world, except perhaps Mrs. Alves. Worst hospital ever, and that's saying something.

Are Laurie and the babies in the maternity ward the only patients in the hospital? Where are the birthing mothers? Were they just sent home for a few days without their children back in the early 80s? Where are the Strodes? (Book explanation: Dr. Mixter saw them at a party he was at earlier, but nobody can find them after that.) Did they not hear about the murders at the house across the street where their daughter was babysitting? It was all over the radio and TV, and mobs are running around town trying to find Michael Myers. Did they just decide to take a powder?

And the sister stuff. That has never sat well with me, but I accepted it as just being part of the story. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when the reboot which cancelled movies two through eight cut the sister plot line out with the line "No, that was just a rumor." THANK YOU! Anyway, that makes no sense either. How could Dr. Loomis not know about her existence? Documents sealed by the governor? Please! Christ, they even took the girl to the asylum where Michael was staying, and she wandered into his room. The parents didn't want her to see Michael and vice versa. Why take her to the place, then? And whom did everyone at the joint think this girl was? Oh, we just found her wandering around outside the house and decided to take her on a field trip with us to the nuthatch. Did everyone just forget about a two-year-old girl? Did Laurie forget about her former family? I mean, she was like five or something when her parents died and she was adopted by the Strodes. The movie doesn't bother to try to explain any of this which is a wise move because it's inexplicable. They insert a couple of sloppy flashback scenes which just leave the viewer confused. Fine. Whatever. The book tries to explain Laurie's stuff with memory loss, or something, but it just doesn't gel. But why all the adults either forget about or are never aware of a younger sister... Nothing.

And Samhain... Again, just stop. BUT! There was one thing cleared up. How does Michael survive all his injuries? I used to assume he was just semi-invincible, but it turns out he actually dies from them and is then reborn a couple minutes later. I like that better, personally. That's supposed to be related to the Samhain shit in some kind of way, and I'd prefer if the explanation was left ambiguous, but oh well.

However, this is a novelization, and those are supposed to kind of suck, so this is doing it right. My expectations were probably too high because I've been spoiled by some decent ones recently. Besides, this is just supposed to be shock schlock, and it manages that just fine. Well, the movie does, but the book leaves a little to be desired, so I can't recommend reading this. Just stick with the movie and hope that one day they do a mashup of the theatrical release with all its profanity, nudity, and gore, and the TV cut which provides lines and scenes that shed a little light on some confounding matters. The end result wouldn't be coherent, exactly, but it'd be a damn sight better than what we have right now.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooktober 2020 Book 15

I claimed in my review of the first book that I never considered myself a huge fan of Halloween. That sentiment is still true here, but Martin’s take on novelizing the second film in the franchise results in a solid book that answers questions and gives more explanation than the film does.

I’ve actually never seen the second Halloween film (well not the original anyway...I made the mistake of seeing Rob Zombie’s remake and hated every minute of it), so now, after finishing Martin’s book, I’m gonna have to sit down and give the 1981 version a whirl. And of course, what better time than now? Halfway through October?

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Dennis Etchison's...aka Jack Martin's...early works, a novelization of the John Carpenter horror film. He wrote these to pay the rent. I know this because I went to a book signing lugging an armful of these paperback film novelization. He laughed when he saw them and said, "I wrote these to pay the rent."

Nonetheless, they are not shabby at all. Etchison never wrote anything bad and, while his short fiction should be the measure to his immense talent, These little paperbacks covering the first three Halloween films are very entertaining.

[Sabrina Frang · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, in many ways the novelization of Halloween II (and the movie that preceded it) is your typical slasher. Creative kills take more importance than character development. That said, this is a fast-paced slasher with loads of Halloween atmosphere, and it expands on the lore of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Halloween II, both the book and the film, are not particularly memorable entries in the franchise, but they are far better than what's to come.

[kesseljunkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good novelization! It unwittingly exposes the shortcomings of the story as a whole, unfortunately, and isn’t really of interest beyond what fans of the movie might find.

Shorter: It’s a lot of style in the service of not enough substance.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty straight retelling of Halloween 2 but the descriptions in this book are TOP notch and the little character beats made this such a joy to experience. 

[S.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There must be some rule inherent to horror movie tie-ins/novelizations which demands that they all be badly written.

[David Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good novelization of probably the best of the Halloween movies.

[Kate Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the Halloween 1, the writing can be a little cringy. But, the horror elements are still really good and entertaining.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Myers has been on a murder spree in Haddonfield and now he has followed his one surviving victim Laurie to the local hospital, where he brings death and horror to the staff members on the night shift. The book begins with Loomis keeping watch at the Myers house and then discovering the stolen car on a nearby street and saving Laurie from Michael. I found the inner thoughts of Loomis verging on psychotic himself as he plots to kill his patient and there are inner ramblings that are a bit on the stupid side as he gives his opinion on the town cops and other things.

The action moves to the hospital and sticks pretty close to what we see in the film. The problem is that Laurie's inner ramblings are just as dull and repetitive as Loomis as she obsesses about her family issues and the danger she is in. There are also mistakes in the names of characters from the film and the constant telling that Michael killed two people in 1963 which is not true. The actual language used in the book was annoying-ordinary items were described in weird ways and the over descriptive waffle just wasn't needed. For example as Michael patrols the corridors we get gems like this 'and so it was now, one more rerun on the late, late, very late show on Halloween night in this particular town, acting out the last reels of its relentless stalking of the heart of the American Dream.' Or this one to describe the emergency lighting in the hospital 'The dimmed out interstices of the hospital's once bright and optimistic asepsis.' What??? It was weird and did nothing to help the tension build up in the book. It was very offputting! The book itself is ok for fans of the film but nothing spectacular.

2.5 stars?

[BRNTerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never liked the Halloween II film so I didn't expect to like the novel, and I didn't though it's a little better than the film. It's not interesting because all it is Michael killing people in a hospital and there are too many characters to keep up with. In the book Loomis said twice, pages 30 and 39, that Michael killed two people in 1963 but he only killed his sister, Judith. I have no idea why he'd say that. I don't know why that would have been in the manuscript so I'm assuming the author made that up.

It's not stated anywhere in the book that this is based directly on the screenplay, like the book Halloween by Curtis Richards was, so it's unclear if Jack Martin read the screenplay or if he's basing this directly off the film, with a little extra thrown in.

Book vs. Film- Opening credits are very cool when the pumpkin opens up, revealing a skull. Not in the film is hearing Loomis, while still outside at the end of the film Halloween, waiting to kill Michael and not knowing yet of the murders of Annie and Lynda, talk to himself, "I should have torn your heart out with my bare hands and stuffed it down your fucking throat. I should have carved out your eyes like one of your miserable pumpkins and fed them to your rotten face, read you your future from your stinking entrails." That violence doesn't sound like Loomis at all.

Mrs. Elrod's female neighbor, who's on the phone with a friend is named Sally in the book and Alice in the film. In the book there's a death involving news reporter Debra, who's television station is there on the scene where the chaos is that's not in the film at all. Her car has a flat tire, a man stops to help, he makes her uncomfortable so she asks him to leave, she opens the trunk to get tools and Michael's there. He slits her throat. That scene is right before Mr. Garrett, the security guard's, death scene. There's a scene right after that in the film where kids are trashing the old Meyer's house. That's not in the book, I don't think. When Budd and Karen are in the tub in the therapy room at the hospital, the book says Michael turns the water's temperature up to 127 degrees F. The book is more graphic in describing what Karen looks like after being in the scalding water, "...the skin of her face and breasts boiled and peeling loose in long, dangling strips."

In the book when Laurie's roaming around the hospital, right after Michael thought she was in her bed and started stabbing her, we hear her internal monologue. I don't know how she knows that Michael's her biological brother but she was thinking about how, as a toddler right before their parents died in a car accident, she'd ask about him and they'd beat her for it.

The book's epilogue said that the murder count was ten so I guess he's talking about everyone except Annie, Lynda and her boyfriend. So that's Sally, Mrs. Elrod, head nurse Mrs. Alvers, nurses Jill, Karen, Janet, paramedic Budd, security officer Mr. Garrett, Dr. Mixter, and Deputy Hunt. Jimmy wasn't murdered but died later in the car with Laurie from head trauma from hitting his head when he slipped in Mrs. Alvers blood. The reporter Debra was murdered elsewhere.

I don't like how in both book and film when Laurie was in the elevator towards the end, Michael, instead of stopping the elevator door from closing with his hand since he was right at it, he just stuck the knife's blade in it to prevent it from closing, then pulled it out and let it close, allowing Laurie to escape him. I also don't like that we're to believe Ben Tramer, the boy Laurie has the hots for in the first film, was the Michael lookalike who died in the car accident. Two teen boys go up to a sheriff in the movie and book and tell them that Ben left for home an hour before and hasn't made it home yet. Nothing strange about that and no one's going to be telling the police that someone hasn't been seen in only an hour anyway unless it's a small child. We know there's no way Ben could have had an outfit exactly like Michael's so that bit was downright stupid.

[Luke Southard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Halloween 1 was filled with liberties and a whole lot more sexualisation than one would expect, Halloween 2 feels like it was just taken directly from the script.

EXCEPT that Loomis is absolutely batshit crazy in the beginning. STUNNINGLY deranged.

Also, the author said two people died when Michael Myers killed Judith, but it was just Judith. Unless he meant metaphorically as in he killed his sister and also any hope of a normal life for himself.

Laurie Strode is super weak in H2. It can be explained away, but she spends a good bit of her hospital stay in her own head remembering that time she went to a mental asylum to visit a boy who had eyes that scared her.

Finally, horror movies and books always seem to end in a challenge to the next guy in line. “How are you going to talk your way out of him dying like THIS?!”

In this book, the explosion goes off and the medics wheel away SOMEONE that was burned to a crisp (but they couldn’t identify him as either the elderly doctor or the often-mentioned super tall Myers, but I guess we’ll let that slide) and the other was dismantled so thoroughly by the explosion that there would be no putting him back together.

Ever.

Spoiler alert: I’m roughly 20% through Halloween 4 and Myers is severely bandaged and Loomis has a bit of a scar on his face after plastic surgery.

So. Explosions, am I right? They’re just never effective.

Also, fun story: Back when the Internet was an inconvenience for parents everywhere who just wanted to use the phone, I was doing a bunch of research on horror movies in general (some kids played football for fun - we're all a little weird) and I came across Dick Warlock's email address and wrote to him saying he was the scariest Michael Myers of the whole bunch at that time and he actually wrote back to say thanks for the kind words.

He didn't try to sell me anything - he just wanted to say thank you.

It's a memory I cherish.

[Darren Vincent · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was awful and this is coming from a fan of the movies. If I hadn't watched the movie, this book would have made no sense whatsoever.

Too much of the first part of the book was an unnecessarily long recap of the end of the first movie/book and there were inconsistencies with the book, which I had just read. And I get that the recap at the beginning of the second movie was inconsistent with the first movie, but it was too different. What was the mention of two murders in 1963 instead of one (Judith).

There was too much real estate given to the parts of the book/movie that didn't matter and not enough on the parts that did. I got tired of hearing all the analogies for breathing and creepiness that were just too wordy for its own good. And the word SHAPE was way overused. Yes, Michael is referred to as The Shape, but it was not just used for him. It was like they were going for misdirection but failed.

I like that it included the extra scenes from the TV version (school and medical records) or maybe the novel included them first. There were flashbacks that alluded to Laurie knowing that she was Michaels sister that were very jarring as I did not have the movie to walk me through it and there was no prior indication that the narrative was shifting from present to past. That whole aspect was ill-conceived in my opinion and I could have done without it.

There needed to be more chapters as it was difficult to tell when the narrative shifted from one character to another. The first book had a similar problem, but not as bad.

I will continue reading the series but only because I am a fan of the movies, not based on any merits of the authors writing.

[Dope Ghost Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of the night he came home!

Halloween 2 is my favorite sequel to the 1978 immortal classic that is Halloween, effectively making it my second favorite movie in the franchise. But as far as novelizations are concerned, I'd wager Halloween 2 is a better read than the novelization for Halloween. I prefer the writing style and descriptive nature of Jack Martin (real name Dennis Etchinson; I don't know why he picked the pseudonym of Jack Martin for this book) over that of Curtis Richards, who wrote the first film novelization. Plus, unlike Curtis Richards, who seems fixated on the female anatomy and gratuitous sex, the author for Halloween 2 provides more substance over blatant sexuality.

I love how this recaps the first book (movie) in the earlier chapters, establishing an entirely different mood in contrast to the psychedelic fever-dream vibes of Curtis Richards' Halloween. I love how faithful this is to the film version of Halloween 2 besides omitting the earliest kill scene in the movie in favor of a new murder conducted on a television news producer. I love how spooky and macabre this take is. And I love the Autumnal flavoring for the novelization.

Michael Myers is beyond comprehension here and that's exactly how it should be: unknown murderous rage. No ancient druid ritual backstory. Just plain, ol' fashioned slasher fanfare. The Shape has never been scarier. Well, except in the films, of course.

You don't know what death is! ☠️🎃 🔪

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, as with other horror movie novelizations I've gone through, I've got to offer huge thanks to The 80s Slasher Librarian on YouTube for posting a fan-recorded audiobook for this one. It's the only way I was able to read through this novelization, via listening.

Halloween II is one of those movies that while I've seen it and it's not anywhere up in my favorites, it's one that I do have a soft spot for. It's one of those that's just bonkers (unsurprising, considering how Carpenter was allegedly drunk as a skunk when he wrote the script for the movie) and I am okay with that. I think that Jack Martin did a decent job with the way he wrote this and I especially enjoyed his characterization of Dr. Loomis. I do, however, dislike his characterization of Laurie and cannot stand how he handled the angle of her having memories about being related to Michael and being adopted. It got to a point of being overdramatic, and was the worst part of the book for me.

Technical rating is 3.75

[S. Policar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really find I like these Halloween novelizations a lot more than the movies. I'm not really a fan of the movies, just the newest three. Unlike the movies, the books have the thoughts that aren't spoken in the movies. This one was no exception to that. While I've seen the movie a million times because like it or not, it isn't Spooky Month if at least one Michael Myers movie isn't watched, the novelization gives a while new understanding to what's going on in Laurie and Loomis' heads the entire time. It also gives beautifully gory details to each of Michael's victims. While finding these old novelizations is proving to be a task (I've only successfully found 3 digital copies and a lonely one in print thus far), I look forward to trying to finding the others so I can gain a better appreciation for this Spooky Month staple.
I give this book 4 of 5 Paws.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. A very slow start but then again, the film has a slow start as well so I won’t harp on that too much. This one wasn’t as good as the first one which was to be expected but I still enjoyed. Even though I will say that I wasn’t too crazy about this author’s writing. It just wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t terrible or anything. Again, this book fills in a lot of missing details and scenes from the movie which is interesting. I’m having a lot of fun reading these.

{Challenges completed:
✔The Lost Challenges: Hidden Homes Semi-Annual Challenge
✔For Love of a Book: I Went to the Zoo Challenge
✔For Love of a Book: Baking Challenge}

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halloween II received a novelization that also expanded upon the film's story, but to a lesser extent than the first book. The second novel starts further back in the plot of the first movie when children are daring one another to enter the old Myers house. This overlap would be unnecessary for the movie, but strengthens the bridge between the first and second book. The author fills in a few plot gaps that cover some deficiencies in the movie while also creating new problems in the already confused relationship between Laurie and Michael. There's also an even stronger suggestion that this film was truly intended to be the last of Michael Myers, as the paramedics discuss that there's little left of him after the fire. Overall, the writing in this edition was even more engaging and lived up spooky dread of the source material.

[David Sodergren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific novelisation. Stays pretty close to the script (unlike Halloween by Curtis Richards, which turned Michael into a walking erection and Laurie into a crotch-fixated nutter) but is surprisingly poetically written. Turns out Jack Martin is a pseudonym of the terrifically talented Dennis Etchison. He does a fine job here, but part of me really wanted another sleazy bloodbath like the first one.
Oh well, we can’t have it all, can we?

[Kelcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, even more than the first one. To stray away from direct spoilers, its not exactly like the movie but it does add more context and information on certain events and greatly expands on the scenes in the movie.

There is also a new inclusion of a death that didn't appear in the movie but explains how michael got to the hospital because he most likely didn't walk the whole way but drove there (Maybe someone around here gave him lessons).

[Mac Spears · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dennis Etchinson’s Bradbury-Esq prose brings to words imperceptible threat and gives the night of Halloween itself a presence here. The book faithfully follows the beats of the film, but veers into interesting new spots that clear up questions I had watching BOTH films in fairly elegant ways. A quick, eerie read for this Halloween season, I’d easily recommend this book and now want to seek out some the author’s original work.

[E. D. Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the 80s Slash Librarian read this book. This one started out nicely, it did a good job setting the stage, but kind of fell flat for me. A lot of the characters were rather unlikable compared to their film counterparts and it didn't add too much to the story. The writing however was pretty good, just didn't care for this novelization.