Rating: 
Summary: Good, But could have been great
Review: The novel was unique in that it was a sequel, but seems to have concentrated on all of the negative aspects of the characters he developed in Summer Of Night. One of the best aspects of Summer Of Night was how the kids in the novel overcame evil and horror. At the end of the novel the children kept the most important and attractive part of their personalities therfore demonstrating hope and optimism in a better future. The Dale described in this novel has lost virtually all hope and forgotten the lessons learned during that summer of 1960; friendship, loyalty and an ability to refuse to submit to evil are what makes for a better and therefore truly successful life. Not fame, sex and wealth.As a novel it was engaging and entertaining so I refuse to disparage the effort the author put into making the novel'work'. I certainly hope that I would not fall into being a "jackal pissing at the bottom of the pyriamid" as the author described literary critics. But I missed what made Summer of Night a truly memorable and unique novel; the description of the energy, optimism, faith and hope found in most pre-adolescent kids and how those characteristics are what can, and will, always defeat evil. My hope is that Dan Simmons will create a future novel with all of the kinds of characters he had in Summer Of Night and let their positive characteristics give us a better feeling at the end of that novel than I had at the end of this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Crazy or Not?
Review: This book keeps you guessing. Crazy or Not? Everytime you think you have it all figured out, the rug is yanked out from under you. The reader is sent spinning into Dale's mind with little hope of knowing for sure if what Dale is seeing is real, or if the trauma of that dreadful summer has finally caught up and snapped the poor man's mind.
Rating: 
Summary: More than just a sequel
Review: I think that Stephen King tried to do this in "It," and I think he and Peter Straub tried it again in "Black House." Whether this is true or not, neither book succeeds in the way that "A Winter Haunting" succeeds. Here, Simmons gives us what we so rarely see in horror fiction - the psychological and emotional aftermath of a horrific experience. Simmons also takes the standard genre elements and turns them on their collective head, all the while telling a good story that keeps you reading. "A Winter Haunting" is an admirable novel, and I can't imagine a more fitting continuation of its predecessor, "Summer of Night."
I re-read "Summer of Night" just prior to this book, to have the story fresh in my head. I don't think that it's strictly necessary to read the older book to appreciate "A Winter Haunting," but I would have to say that knowing what happens in "Summer of Night" definitely adds several important perspectives to the events of the later book. Dan Simmons has made a career out of writing excellent novels in multiple genres, and "Summer of Night" was no exception; one of the great modern horror novels. As in most such books, the story ends when the evil is defeated. "A Winter Haunting" reminds us that, in real life, the story never really ends there. Those who endure after suffering loss and trauma have to live with what has happened, have to deal with it as best they can. Dale Stewart, in "A Winter Haunting," has dealt with the horrific events of his childhood by not dealing with them - by shutting them out, by refusing to even remember them. A writer now, as well as a college professor, Dale is also the survivor of a failed marriage and a failed affair with one of his students. The books he has written thus far are formulaic adventure stories. He is visiting the town where he grew up, living in the house of his friend who died in the summer of 1960, in order to try and gain something intangible that he feels he has lost, and to write a new sort of story about that long-lost summer that he cannot remember. In returning to Elm Haven, the town where he grew up, Dale confronts a few of his old childhood fears as well as many of his new, "adult," ones. What is really interesting about this is that we come to see that many of the troubles he has suffered as an adult are at least partially a result of that terrible summer in 1960, which he has never faced and dealt with directly. In "A Winter Haunting" we get to see what most horror novels never show us: we see what happens to someone who confronts evil and lives to tell the tale. There are no pat conclusions or pithy observations in "A Winter Haunting" - just an implied truth that sometimes memories are too terrible to be relived, and that some stories take a long time to tell. Though "A Winter Haunting" is a sequel to "Summer of Night," as I read it I got more of a feeling of remembrance from the book. It builds upon the events of the earlier story, but it also deviates from them quite dramatically in tone and theme. It's not a nostalgic novel at all. In fact, it's almost anti-nostalgia. As Dale tries desperately hard to create memories of a summer he can't remember, even as he confronts new terrors both real and spiritual, we are led to the conclusion that some things simply cannot - or should not - be recalled with fondness. In "A Winter Haunting" we are reminded that horrible events have consequences beyond the events themselves. They can exact a psychological toll that can take a lifetime or more to overcome. Once again Simmons has given me a pleasant surprise; not because he has written yet another fine novel (that's an expectation by now), but because he has explored original territory in the horror genre. And he has staked his claim well.
Rating: 
Summary: BUMMER of a Sequel
Review: Well sorry to say but cute little 11 year old Dale from that great book, Summer of Night, has not aged well. And I have to admit that I liked young Dale ALOT better than divorced, suicidal, clinically depressed, having an affair w/his student, 51 year old Professor Dale. Elm Haven hasn't aged so well either. I hate it when alot of stuff that happens is not explained at the end, think it's an easy way out for the author. Lots of loose ends in this book. I had high hopes for this sequel which were sadly not met. Don't waste your time or your money.
Rating:
Summary: A great sequel to Summer of Night
Review: I thought this novel was great! Creepy and chilling. (And the World War I soldier is back--eeek!) Definitely a worthy successor.
Rating:
Summary: Wait for paperback or get it from the library
Review: Reading A Winter Haunting after reading Summer of Night is like reading Endymion after Hyperion. You know that you should be grateful because it's a lot better than other works in the genre, but all you feel is disappointment because you know Simmons is capable of so much more. I was scared to stop reading Summer of Night the first time I read it, scared to go to sleep before I got to the end and the resolution I hoped was coming. With A Winter Haunting, I instead found myself pondering the number of pages left to read and wondering if there was time for anything astonishing to happen. I don't regret reading this but I certainly regret buying it, especially in hardcover.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: If you buy this book in order to "visit" some of the original characters in Summer of Night, you will be extremely disappointed. Most of the original characters are not involved in this sequel and, even worse, some of the characters I was most fond of are developed in undesirable and disturbing ways. This book was also disappointing as a stand-alone story since the plot is somewhat confused and nothing is really resolved for the main character. Also, the confusing changes and merging of point(s) of view are very confusing and distracting. I am a big fan of Dan Simmons and have read all of his published stories, so I can say with some authority that this is not one of his most notable efforts
Rating:
Summary: Long winded and wordy
Review: This was a three page story, and not very good at that, bloated into book length. Scarey? Only in the fact I had purchased this book and wasted my money.
Rating:
Summary: It was a good read.
Review: The flow of interest was good. Although it didn't really get moving until close to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Summer of Night becomes chilling Winter of mind games.
Review: Forty years, a failed marriage, affair, and suicide attempt later, Dale Stewart returns to his hometown and rents out the farm where of his childhood friend Duane had lived. He hopes to write a novel about the mysterious events of the almost forgotten summer of 1960, when Duane died. But strange and disturbing phenomenon, black dogs, neo-nazis, and old friends and enemies continually distract him. Unlike some reviewers, I love what Simmons has done in A Winter Haunting - which is write a classic, literate ghost story that both plays by the rules while intellectually reinventing them without breaking or denying them. Simmons has both Dale Stewart and the reader wondering about Dale's sanity. What exactly does Dale's failed affair with Clare Two Hearts have to do with the events at the farmhouse? Is Dale leaving himself notes? Is any of this really happening at all? And just who is haunting who? Questions a pedestrian and special effects laden spook story would not have the reader asking as the events unfold. A Winter Haunting is a classic chiller that expands on the psychological complexity of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House with stunning power. Highly recommended.
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