Summer of Night: A Novel (Seasons of Horror Book 1) Kindle Edition

So good I cry over many parts. My childhood mirrored those of the children in Elm Haven. An era that is forever gone into the mists of the past. Simmons, however brings it to life in Summer of Night.The similarity between my childhood and Simmons characters in SON is really amazing.I also had a "bike gang" of 6 male friends during the period of 1958 through 1961. Summers were the "golden times" of our lives and we were free from sunrise to the long summer nights where it was still light at 9:00. Our bikes were our passports everywhere we wanted to go and explore. From the shores of lake Loveland to the old ice house to the city dump where we would find many a treasure.I lived with my parents and my older brother Ron. He was in High School at old Truscott Junior and Senior High on 4th near the railroad tracks and the huge old ice house. It was unknown to the gang why it was called Truscott, but it was a mammoth old brick 4 story structure meant at one time to hold many more students than it did in 1960 just like "Old Central" in SON. The school was next to the railroad track that crossed 4th Street and ran behind the school passed the old ice house, over the City Ditch and out next to the fairgrounds down on 1st and Washington. There had been no trains since 1955. That was the year that the two big canning factories closed and they moved their new automated canning business to the big city of Greeley.Dad, Mom, Ron and myself lived in an old Victorian that had seen better days. It was nice as I had my own room for the first time and the privacy needed for a young boy on the verge of manhood. Our big house was right across the street not from a school, but a huge 3 story brick mansion that had been deserted since the end of WW2. Perfect for illegal exploring for the Bike Gang on warm summer nights. The mansion was called the "Woodberry" estate as before the town grew up around it the owners had over 300 acres of land. Old "Buck Woodberry died of the "Spanish Flu that had swept the country in 1918 and 1919. He apparently had gambled his fortune away and left the family with some land and a decrepit 117 year old 23 room mansion. It was said old Gladys Woodberry stayed afloat by selling off parcels of land during the first half of the 20th century. Her two sons both died on "Porkchop hill" precipitating Glady's final stroke in 1944. The enormous old place lay vacant the last 16 years. It was ripe for our gang to sneak into during our "Golden" summers. Summers just like those that Dale and his gang found themselves in that summer of 1960. On Saturday evenings Dr Perkins and Dr Brown would pull up into Loveland park and set up the big old projector borrowed from the recently closed Rialto Theater on 4th street. They could project films directly onto the white wall of the White Swan Cafe. Dr Perkin's wife Eleanor May owned the cafe and the building itself. She even had her stuck up son Randy P.Q. paint the two story wall two times that year in 1960. After the first white coat Randy had applied and was finished someone (everyone thought it was bad boy Jimmy Linkletter, but no one had any proof) threw a bucket of animal blood and guts onto the nice movie screen wall. It took him three days to clean up that mess and repaint the wall in glistening white paint.Then on nice warm summer evenings a large crowd of townsfolk including myself, Gary Disney, Bruce Templeton and usually Jerry Alexander and his little sister Glenda would travel to the park for the free movie night. We would meet at Gary's house and Gary's Dad, Simon would help the group pop lot's of popcorn. After everyone had a large grocery paper bag from the Piggly Wiggly over on 9th and Roosevelt filled nearly to the top, Simon would melt a pound of butter and pour the hot golden liquid onto the top of our giant popcorn bags. As we made our way to the park our bags would glisten as the butter stained the inside of the bags. I never forgot that smell of hot butter on freshly popped corn in a big paper bag. A smell of innocence lost as we found our usual seats on the cement bandstand just inside the park with a perfect view of Randy's handy work and settled down for the nights enjoyment. We had our hot buttered popcorn and the Nehi Grapette soda pop that Simon insisted we take with us to enjoy the show. We would enjoy at least two cartoons (my favorite was Woody Woodpecker) before the main feature. We saw "Some Like It Hot" which became very controversial as the ladies from the Baptist Church on 5th and Cleveland gave Dr Perkins a petition signed by the good ladies demanding that the "filth" that was shown to the town must stop! Dr Perkins responded two week later on the 4th of July weekend by showing "Let's Make Love" with Marilyn Monroe. What a wonderful time!My friends and myself didn't have the EVIL that came from the Borgia bell, but we scared ourselves silly with all our secret investigations of the many places I have mentioned. We had the freedom of our youth and the wonderful freedom from fear and paranoia that is the curse of the 21st century.Dan Simmons in the "Summer of Night"has captured me and at 72 years old I see the river Styx clearly from my window as I treasure Dan Simmon's "Summer of Night" with it's joy of that innocent time.Dan Simmons is a brilliant writer. I believe he is the better of King in many ways. One of which is his ability to connect the innocent with the evil the children of Elm Haven eventually have to face and conquer. At over 600 pages many reviewers complain Simmons could have cut out a lot of the build up to the final terror. I disagree. By clever writing and plot development combined with his amazing characters we the reader BELIEVE that these children are real...that Elm Haven is real...that Old Central and it's building's horror is real. WOW! What an amazing book! I have purchased it 3 times and now have it on Audible. Once the Audible book finishes I will have "read" "Summer Of Night" over 7 times during the last 27 years. Thank you Mr Simmons for this incredible book along with many other of your great books like "The Terror" to name just one. You deserve my endless thanks for taking me back to my childhood and then scaring the crap out of me with such a great ending. This book is just SPECIAL!!!

This book!! 🖤🖤🖤I had been putting off reading this due to it being 600 pages and now I'm kicking myself for waiting so long! I loved this book SO MUCH!!! There was character development which I enjoyed and it didn't drag for me. There was enough creepiness sprinkled in to keep me glued to the pages. After the 50% mark...hold onto your seat, kids! There's supernatural madness and crazy people!! I don't want to give too much away but for me, it was perfection!! I could gush about it all day! If you love coming if age horror like I do, you HAVE to give this a read!

In a similar vein as Stephen King. Very well written, great character development. Hooks you early and keeps you entertained.

Stephen King is arguably one of the best, most successful writers alive. What's even worse, is he makes it look easy, with truly frightening stories that reflect all our worst fears back at us and sometimes make us see ourselves as we really are. And sometimes, other authors look at that success and how easy he makes it look and decide that they can do that; that they can write a "Stephen King book." Usually, all they manage to accomplish is to highlight just how good King really is, but sometimes they get it right. Peter Straub did it with "Floating Dragon," Robert McCammon does it in "Swan Song," and Joe Hill comes by it honestly (King is his dad), but if you haven't read "Heart-Shaped Box" and not thought "what a great Stephen King story that was," then you weren't paying attention to what you were reading. In "Summer of Night," Hyperion author Dan Simmons takes his swing at a "Stephen King" novel...and knocks it right out of the park.Now, I'm not really saying that Simmons was consciously trying to ape King when he wrote this book, but in the writing, a story of five eleven year old boys and their seemingly insurmountable battle against an ancient evil, he manages to not only incorporate most of the characters and gimmicks that make King's stories work, but he gets the tone right as well. Because Simmons understands what King understands, that the horror is only a small part of his characters' lives; that in order to be relatable, they must have dreams and hopes that exist beyond the immediacy of the horror of the story itself. Summer of Night is about how glorious summer vacation seems when you're only eleven years old; the eternal sunshine of each day, the limitless distance of each horizon, all remembered in a time when parents could trust their neighbors and not have to know where their children were every second of the day. It's a time that modern kids will never get beyond the pages of a book or the scenes of a movie and Simmons captures it perfectly, with love, tenderness and regret for the times we'll never get back. Sure, there's a monster and evil adults caught in the monster's clutches, clueless parents and two-dimensional bullies, but in the end, it all comes down to the boys and the strength of their friendship and their loyalty to one another. Simmons not only creates a believable haunted house (or school in this case) and a believable haunted town, he creates a believable world in which you readily accept that folks get up and go to work and play in the yard and fall in love and get married, and, oh yeah...fight monsters to protect the fate of all mankind.This is a truly special book and, I think, one of Simmons' best. There's a sequel, "A Winter Haunting," that's also good, but Simmons writes it without taking the trip through King territory. Summer of Night is a great book for the beach or a cold night in front of the fire. It's one of the best Stephen King books that Stephen King never wrote.

I only bought this book because Stephen king had recommended, otherwise I hasn't even heard of it, or the author. I found it boring, and at times the language was patronising and sexist

Best book I have read in years. I love Stephen King, Dam Simmons giving him a run for his money. You must read this great story through the eyes of young boys and the horror they find

Great read, can't wait for the movie.

Remains one of my favourite books from my teenage years.

Excellent. Do yourself a favour and read it.