By: Ben Farthing
Last Halloween 30 trick-or-treaters disappeared. This October, they begin to come back – one by one. Bob has never stopped searching for his daughter, Mary. When the other kids start to return, he’s anxious about Mary’s return. The kids that have come back all say the same thing, the one that took them will return as the 31st trick-or-treater. In a quest to stop it, Bob does everything he can to figure out what happened. He just wasn’t expecting what he learned.
This book is meant to be read as an advent read – 31 chapters and 31 days in October. One chapter per day. However, this author struggled to pull this of successfully. Sometimes the chapters were short and nothing happened in them. Other chapters had a good amount of action and information. Some left me wanting more, and some left me not caring about the book at all. The writing wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. It was easy enough to read and get through.
There were many questions that the author leaves the reader with and there was so much potential as to where the author could have taken the book. Unfortunately, the author would start with something and then abandon it. The author had the children acting older than they actually were, and then he had the parents let kids run around after 30 kids were kidnapped. Also – how come there was no mention of the other kids’ parents that were kidnapped until they started to reappear? Why did it feel like none of them were doing anything about their missing children?
The ending wasn’t great either. I don’t know if it was rushed or just not a fleshed out idea or maybe even the author trying too hard. I just wanted more from this book. I think with a good editor who could help the author flesh out ideas and plot points, this could have been a really good book. Unfortunately, that is not what I read.
There are reviews where some loved it, but it seems to be a mixed bag. Check it out, see what you think!
Publish Date: September 24, 2025
Find the book here.
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