My first time reading Douglas Clegg. Initially drawing me in with a child being rescued/kidnapped from a cult, the story soon became laborious in its use of extended flashbacks to provide the bulk of the story. Despite the story being intriguing, this jumping around between time periods really hampered my enjoyment and immersion.
The New England setting of Stonehaven and its history was well fleshed out, and the characterisation showed a lot of promise, but I just didn’t get the sense of dread or creepiness that I look for in horror novels.
I’m not going to discount Douglas Clegg, and will read more of his work, but I would not recommend The Halloween Man as a starting point.
