Rating: 
Summary: A Horror Harvest
Review: This is my third Douglas Clegg book. I've also read his short story collection, The Nightmare Chronicles, and his novel, You Come When I Call You. I read all three books back-to-back this summer, and just wasn't able to put any of them down.The Halloween Man is the story of Stony Crawford, a boy on the verge of manhood who, in the autumn of his fifteenth year, learns some troubling things about his birth, and must decide how to move forward in the light of this knowledge. There are many similarities between this novel and You Come When I Call You. They both feature main characters on the cusp of adulthood who must battle demonic forces in a small town (in both cases the town is ultimately wiped out Roanoke Colony-style by the evil force in question). Clegg probably does a better job in You Come When I Call You of building a strong propelling narrative that leaves the reader with no other choice than to keep turning pages. The Halloween Man is still very reader-friendly, but it's a little bit smaller and quieter of a novel (a little bit, anyway). The focus here is more on atmosphere and history. Clegg brings out more of the local color of the small seacoast New England town than he did for the desert town of You Come When I Call You. There's something very Lovecraftian about the briny surroundings that doesn't bode well for the local inhabitants. In both novels, Clegg is concerned with religion and in teasing out what he believes, and what his characters believe about the origins of Biblical stories. I found this very fascinating, especially in The Halloween Man, in which Clegg does a more complete job of teasing out those beliefs. If you've read and enjoyed any of Clegg's other writing, you should certainly pick up The Halloween Man. If you haven't read anything by Clegg and are thinking about it, I would either start with his short story collection, The Nightmare Chronicles, or this novel. You Come When I Call You is more of a powerhouse, but The Halloween Man displays more range and more of Clegg's facets as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: I could not put Halloween Man down!!!
Review: Wild! This story is so deep and fast-paced but really easy going and a slow build to the horror that I was surprised that I liked it since I'm not always such a big horror fan (I still read Stephen king and Dean Koontz and now Bentley little and DEFINITELY Douglas Clegg!!!) I would not have bought this if I wasn't really into Mr Clegg because of his email novel Naomi that I've been getting into (a great ghost-witch story!) I ordered Halloween Man and resisted it for a while too because of the title but once I started it it was like slam!!! I loved it! The basic story is a man grew up in this New England town full of all these unsaid things, mainly concerning something he couldnt understand as a little kid. When he falls madly in love with this girl, theyre going to run off together and get married because she may be pregnant, but all these dark secrets in this little town just build up and something truly terrifying happens. And then it gets more terrifying and more terrifying, until its like this door opened on all this horror. Its really great reading. It was like when I read The Shining by Stephen King for the first time and I just got these shivers while I turned the pages. So I found in a used bookstore a copy of Mr Cleggs early novel Goat Dance and despite ITS bizzarre title, its a really great story too! Now my goal is to findm all of his books and just make sure Ive read them all. But Halloween Mans got to be one of the best horror novels Ive read in a long long time!
Rating: 
Summary: The plotline was severely lacking
Review: I was very suprised to find mostly favorable reviews here. While the violent scenes were very (and satisfyingly) graphic, they really meant next to nothing because the wandering plot was meaningless. It was written well but you just CANNOT get into this meandering, chaotic, pointless plotline. For more than 90 percent of the book you have no idea where this is going, and in the end, the fearsome "halloween man" is the good guy...wait, he's still the bad guy...no, actually he is going to save the world...wait, the force within him will destroy everyone if it is let out.....you get the point.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite horror novel of the year
Review: The Halloween Man by Douglas Clegg is one of the most complex and riveting novels of horror I've ever read. From its opening as a man kidnaps a boy and take the kid to a small New England town -- to the back-story of the man's childhood in the town of Stonehaven, with all its dark secrets -- The Halloween Man had me enthralled.
Both a powerful story of the redemptive spirit of love as well as a truly nightmarish excursion to the heart of darkness, The Halloween Man ranks as one of the best horror novels of the '90s. Other favorites: The House by Bentley Little, Bag of Bones by Stephen King, Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce, Sineater by Elizabeth Massie I can't wait for the new Clegg book, Nightmare Chronicles.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Horror Book!
Review: This book is a great novel by horror master Clegg dealing with devil worship in a small New England town. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Stony Crawford just as he's kidnapped a small boy - a boy with amazing powers - from a compound of religious zealots in Texas. I was immediately prepared for Stony to be a bad guy and was surprised to find out that this wasn't necessarily the case. A large section of the novel is told in a flashback to the year that Stony was fifteen and in love with a beautiful girl, Lourdes Maria. During this flashback we learn who Stony truly is and why he had to kidnap the boy. Without giving too much away, the novel deals with "devil" worship, small town secrets, and the hidden nature of Stony. I enjoyed this book a good deal, though for a while I wasn't sure I knew where it was going. Luckily, the murky part of the plot cleared up and it was all the better for being a bit unclear. Clegg's characters are very strong and the poignant way that he wrote about first love between Lourdes and Stony made me long to see them happy together. This was my first book by Clegg and now that I own about 6 or 7, I'd have to say this is the best.
Rating:
Summary: oh man!
Review: i find the case with clegg strange. he's like a guy who voluntarily turn to cliches and all the bad stuff a horror writer can. too many characters making it seem like total chaos at times, when he finds that the suspence is too slow he just writes a scene of violence having little to do with the plot, stupid dialogues, cliche "evil man"- talk, not enough focus on building up the plot, too many irrelevant episodes described, too many passages of short length, idiotic "i must kill"-cliche thoughts and similiar cliches. the guy represent why horror is considered junk by many.
Rating: 
Summary: Very, very good !!!
Review: Halloween Man is a fantastic horror novel. It is well paced, has many truly horrific moments, and keeps the supernatural suspense at a razors edge. It also is a very heartfelt, emotional book (you can't help feel sorry for the main character as his life becomes unwound). As always Douglas Clegg's writing is great. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I felt the ending was a bit anticlimatic.
Rating: 
Summary: really 3 1/2
Review: I did enjoy this book, but you can actually go thorough and pick out which books he drew inspiration from. The opening is quite similar to ghost story. Stony's childhood and adulthood reminded me very much of Mr. X. The character of Nora seemed very similar to Mother Abigal from the Stand. Also Nora makes reference to the demon Legion, of which Stephen King is constantly making reference to. Clegg is a talented writer, but I believe this book is bogged down with envy of other writers in this genre. This is my first Clegg book, and I will be reading more of him in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Call me crazy, but.....
Review: I just plain 'ol didn't like the book. After finishing the last page, I couldn't help but sit back and say, "huh?" I thought the story was slow, filled with insufficient explanations and didn't really keep my interest. I was looking forward to this book, seeing many references to King and Straub in reviews, and after reading it thought, he's got nothing on those guys. Give me a King, Straub or Rice novel any day.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing horror yarn
Review: This is the first book I bought and read from Mr. Clegg. The Halloween Man is about Stony Crawford and his life as a teen in the town of Stonehaven, a coastal town with skeletons in their closets. What I enjoyed about this was Clegg's style in creating convincing characters and an eerie setting to Stonehaven. Clege composes a tale featuring romance, mystery, and horror. He makes Stony a three-dimensional, sympathetic character whom the readers will care about. In my own opinion, The Halloween Man is not only a horror novel, but it is a coming of age yarn about identity and discovering secrets. Strongly recommended
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