Synopsis
It’s Halloween night, 1963, in De Pere, Wisconsin, and all is not well. Evelyn Schmidt’s life is almost at an end—she’s been diagnosed with cancer and given only days to live. But she’ll be damned if she’ll go quietly, in the hospital or at home. She’s heading for the Idle Hour to drink up a storm, whether her fellow drinkers want her there or not. Steve Omsted is only sixteen, but it seems to him his life might as well be over. He’s on academic probation, he’s been kicked off the football team, and now his girlfriend has dropped him. He’s looking for an easy target for his rage and has set up a nighttime ambush for his victim. Chuck Williams feels his life hasn’t even started yet—but he can’t wait any longer. Sure, he’ll go trick-or-treating, but he doesn’t want to end up waxing windows with the other fifth-graders; he’s aiming to hang out with the older kids and cause some real trouble. As the evening unfolds, the paths of these and other characters in their town converge in a series of shocking events that will change the lives of everyone involved. In stark language and with bold, cinematic vision, John Dixon delivers a stunning portrait of a small town at war with itself.
Publishers Weekly
Halloween turns into a very grim holiday in Dixon's stark but flawed debut novel about a group of teenage boys on the rampage in small town De Pere, Wis., in 1963. Rambunctious fifth-grader Chuck Williams wants to hang out with the older boys-Omsted, Carner and Rusch-for an evening of more tricks than treats. He gets his wish as the night unfolds, but his choice of companions proves fateful when the gang quickly graduates from wreaking havoc amid innocent revelers to a fight over a girl that ends in the murder of Putzie Van Vonderan. Between descriptions of the teenagers' violent mayhem, Dixon details the downward arc of Evelyn Schmidt, a cancer victim who goes on a drunken bender as her son, David, floats in and out of the chaos. Dixon's story churns with action as the boys hurl insults and test their limits, and Evelyn Schmidt agitates for another drink at the local bar. But the novel's lack of backstory or character development makes the violence of this pivotal Halloween night feel especially random and gratuitous. Though the author demonstrates talent with the dark action sequences in this grim, charged portrayal of smalltown life in the early '60s, the novel remains thin and episodic. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.