Originally released under the title The Rutting Season; Dark Hallow is one of Brian Keene’s most dark and disturbing books. Keene took the liberty of writing this story around the area in which he lives in, compared the characters to the liking of himself and the people around him and added a fictional twist to the plot. If you know Keene as a person or follow his life by reading his blogs you’ll find him to be a very personal guy whom tends to include many of his life experiences in his novels. Dark Hallow is full of them and its that personal life experience of Keene that you get when reading this book.
Dark Hallow follows the story of a writer named Adam Senft whom lives in the small community of Leghorn’s Hallow. While walking his dog Big Steve in the woods one day he comes across a something that shocks and horrifies him. Not knowing what to make of it at first he finds his way back home and wonders if what he saw was actually real or a figment of his imagination. He soon learns the shocking truth when the women in the town begin to disappear and men associated with them turn up missing or dead. Mysterious pipe music is heard from everyone in the town at night and it arouses not only the men but the women as well. Adam soon finds out that what he saw in the woods that day was real and that this mysterious being is real and out to get what it wants from the women of Lehorn’s Hallow.
A quick warning to anyone who is about to be father out there; Don’t make the same mistake I made and read this book why your wife is about to give birth. I bought this book with me the day my wife did and read it while we were waiting for the baby. It’s a book that dwells a lot on sexual exploitation, not being able to conceive children, and a bunch of other stuff related to the latter. Just a word to the wise who have a likening for Keene. It’s not a book that you want to sit down and read if your trying to conceive or if your expecting.
The book itself is wonderful written and its a book in which Keene really puts the terror and fear into the reader about the situations in which the characters are thrust into. Your left with a feeling in which you feel helpless as some of the character meet their horrible fate. Men watch their wives get rapped and the torture of the spells that the women are put under in this book are enough to leave any male reader questioning their manhood. Not only is the novel terrifying in a social sense but in a psychological sense as well.
Overall, Dark Hallow is one of Keene’s most darkest books. It has a lot of fantasy element to it, but thrives heavily on the horror and the psychological terror. Its one of Keene’s books that stands on its own and is very different from many of Keene’s other stories. A great read for not only fans of Brian Keene’s work but for people who are looking for a new original and different kind of horror story. A story that does not disappoint.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
