Summer of Night

Very good. I almost stopped listening to this due to an occurrence that really annoyed me. But I kept and I’m glad I did. There is a sequel. Set in the future when the boys are grown.

Much too descriptive. Way too long. It’s basically It in a different form.

It was a good. A bit long but characters are well developed.

Shit was dope, worth the read. It's like Stephen kings it.

I rip off of It written before It was insanely popular. Still enjoyed it.

Not a masterpiece, but a great read, nevertheless. Things are built up nicely in the beginning, the mistery gets deeper and deeper. The finale is also great, along with the back story which is revealed little by little. The horror element is mostly explicit, body horror and gore, but there is also more subtle stuff, like a cold dark room with a presence nearby.
The characters are a little flat and forgettable, but this is not that big of an issue. Summer of Night is a solid horror novel.

Dan Simmons is a good writer. I don't say that lightly. In Summer of Night, he photographs the years of my childhood, when children except for one's own, were mostly unsupervised and often invisible, unless they interfered with grownup business.

One of my favorite themes in this book is the idea that, in the course of our daily lives, while we can recognize irritation and obstacles, we can be blind to plain old evil.

It's well-written, it's a blast from the past, and it's engagingly narrated (I wonder how they do those voices? )

Overall I liked this book, but it could have used some editing

Such a long, long, slow, and uselessly so, beginning. *Hours* of pointless... *everything*. Truly, I skipped a lot.
I only slogged on because I've read and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of other novels by Dan Simmons.
I felt rewarded by a 'B-' grade climax.
I wouldn't recommend this book to friends.

Not only is this book one of the best good versus evil, coming of age stories around, Dan Simmons also does a great job at capturing rural kids lives circa 1960.
The narrator does an excellent job also, and that's as rare as a mint 1960 dodgers baseball card.

Read this book as a teenager. It was one of my favorites. Still a great book. Even listening to it is good.

Too many bad words and too much sex for kids that age — I know, I was there — but otherwise a tremendous book. And praise the Lord, it wasn’t a coming of age story!

This book started out strong. I enjoyed how well the author was able to develop the characters and the scenes so that they truly came alive. And the plot was intriguing as well, at first.

And then it went off the tracks as, unfortunately, the vast majority of books (and movies) of this genre do. It was just too “over the top”, to the point that it actually became tiresome. In fact, the last half of the book ended up borrowing so many disparate cliches that it felt as randomly architected as the school building it describes in the beginning.

I would love to read more books in the horror genre that don’t rely on shock and spectacle, choosing instead to leverage suspense and mystery to create a truly “creepy” response. I’m losing faith that such writing even exists anymore.

Great narration and character voices made for a great and entertaining experience!

I really enjoyed this book. Dan simmons is a wonderful writer.

Lengthy but dont stop, it is a solid story with great narration. Not enough gore, otherwise 5 stars but full of suspense and tragedy. Love the characters, so well developed. It did move along at a pretty good pace, I wouldn't say it dragged at all, the author and the talented narrator kept the spirit of horror going. Definitely worth the time.

Summer of Night is so overwritten. Dan Simmons never seems to use one word when four will do. The kind of big bad book that is ideal for listening to before going to sleep, because you can drift off safe in the certainty that you're not going to miss much.

I couldn’t even come close to finishing this book. I made it 150 pages. 150 pages and nothing happened. Hell 3 pages were wasted talking about a pickup baseball game.
This book and Something Wicked This Way Comes are now tied being the most boring horror books.
And
I should have known it had a recommendation from Stephen King which is always the kiss of Death.

It gets a little weird sometimes, the boys get into some very far fetched situations and handle themselves like trained green berets instead of 13 yro boys, but most of the characters are well drawn (the ‘good guys’ are anyway’ Despite the fact that they fight like mercenaries on occasion. There are some REALLY unexpected plot twists...and some nonsensically vague ‘bad guys’ but all in all I found it entertaining. Also I love long books (especially on here since I only get one free audiobook a month so I hate wasting it on a short one.) I think it was pretty good, but not necessarily enough to recommend using your one audiocredit on it...

Would have absolutely loved this book as a teenager! As someone who feels nostalgia for both rural Illinois summers and Stephen King's IT, this was spooky and enjoyable. I wasn't always able to differentiate between the main characters, nor was I particularly clear on the gang's meandering plans, and the last three hours of shooting and explosions dragged on a bit. However, I was surprised that other reviewers thought it was a slog. Compared to some of the other brutally long books by this author, this one felt cinematic and clipped along pretty nicely.

I was going to try to push through, then Scribd informed me I still 12 hours to go in this 22 hour audiobook.

No. Just no.

This book is:
Lots of kids.
Lots of detail.
Lots of guns.
Lots of small town meanness.

The “scary parts” are:
Did I just feel a cold wind?
Did I just get a dark feeling?
Did the closet door just move?
What was that noise?

And road rage.
And dead dogs. Really hated all the dead dogs.

I had thought to compare this to Ghost Road Blues, 95% small town mean ending in 5% good malevolent supernatural boo, but dear God I enjoyed GRB better. That alone means it’s less than two stars.

Interesting plot that keeps you hooked. End wraps up a little too quick and nicely in my opinion. If you are a fan of Stephen King's IT, you will most likely enjoy and see similarities. However, if you are not a fan of young kids constantly cussing and even making sexual comments- you may not want to choose this book. I almost quit listening to audiobook early on due to large amounts of unnecessary cursing and sexual innuendo. All in all, book was ok, even suspenseful at times, but foul language definitely took away from what could have been a better, more suspenseful read.

There is a little too much description of little boy physiques and the hormonal thoughts they have. The plot was good but would have been better without the essence of pedophilia.

I don't suppose this is *really* a 5 star book ... I mean, as good as Dan Simmons is, he's not William Faulkner, or Homer or ... sigh. Now I feel all pretentious.Anyhoo ... I enjoyed this tremendously and am feeling generous. ;^) When I purchased it for my Kobo e-reader I'd been in search of "something scary" for a few days, and was very skeptical this would do the trick because I knew it was in the 'neighborhood kids battle evil' vein of things -- that is, somewhere in Stephen King territory -- and that's just never really done it for me: there's often an inadvertent Scooby-Doo cast to the goings-on, a sense that one of the villains is going to wind up saying, as he or she is dragged off to prison "... and I'd've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids."Ahem. But I have to say, this novel delivers. It's got some genuinely creepy, and sometimes genuinely gross set pieces, and the interest scarcely ever flags. I find myself not wanting to talk about the plot much, because I don't want to give anything away. I will say that Simmons is *not* shy of killing off loved characters. He doesn't do this with the abandon of George R. R. Martin, but he does it.I will also say that I'd love to quiz Simmons on his personal religious beliefs. In some of his science fiction (the Hyperion novels) there is what appears to be a real excoriation of Catholicism ... that isn't present here (and there are Catholic characters), but ... I'm perturbed slightly by a sense that, yes, we are in a Judaeo-Christian universe and that the evil wouldn't be evil unless the universe had that underpinning. This often comes between me and genuine scares in books and films: I'm an atheist, so if your scares depend on God and the Devil, say, being real things, you've pretty much lost me, scare-wise. I mean, mini-spoiler(?): in this book, holy water works as a defense -- sometimes, anyway. So, Mr. Simmons? I will definitely read A Winter Haunting, which concerns some of the same characters as adults.

Excellent story!

Backstory:

Setting: Elm Haven, Illinois - 1960

The school Old Central is steeped in mystery and it has also seen its last days as the old school is closing its doors and the kids will be going to a new school, so once school has let out for the summer - six friends are looking forward to having fun with not a care in the world, until something evil appears and their summer turns into something totally unexpected that they will each have to learn to face together.

That is about all I can on a taste without giving away spoilers so you will just need to read the book if you want to know what happens!

Thoughts:

I loved the detailed information of the story and how the author weaves the story around you till it feels like you are experiencing what the boys and the town were going through. This book reminded me a lot of Stephen King's book "IT" with the way the friends all stuck together and the coming of age feel as you slowly read what happens to each individual friend along with how they cope with the evil that settles itself into the town.

The book was a slow burn but there was tons of suspense and mystery surrounding the school and the town. The book is definitely a masterpiece and it is one horror book that horror fans should read and add to their collection of summer time coming of age stories. Giving this book five "Supernatural Summer" stars!


Highly Recommend!

I enjoyed the story for the most part. The scary parts are really good, suspenseful and lots of twists in the story. What kills the book for me is all the back story, it was too much and kept taking me out of the story. Then there’s the old character arcs that need to be retired and never written about again. Not all boys growing up in the 40’s are misogynistic. Not all single female school teachers are fat and stupid. Not all single mothers are considered sluts by their school age sons. Not all school age girls are inept, fat, or have speech impediments.

Other reviewers have stated what this book lacks much more clearly and concisely than I can, but basically the faults can be summed up thus: inconsistencies, needless repetition of description, long uneventful "fillerish" scenes, forgettable characters and conspicuous derivation from more popular works such as IT by Stephen King, which is a far better work in every respect. In addition to the problems already mentioned, the author's prose was not up to par and felt very mediocre in many passages. Expect faulty grammar and illogical, confusing syntax.

Now for the good. The book isn't entirely bad, otherwise I could not have finished it. This book would have been a lot better if it were shortened by about 200 pages. There are some great descriptions in this book and instances of lovely writing. Unfortunately, they are just too few and far between. When action does occur, which is rarely, it is very entertaining and suspenseful. You can tell Simmons is a good writer, but it just seems as if this is the original manuscript copy and no editing or revision has been done at all. Too bad.

After reading THE TERROR a few years ago, I knew Dam Simmons could write, but I didn’t know how well he could write until I finished SUMMER OF NIGHT, a book that was a Christmas gift which sat on my shelf a few years too long – I was really denying myself a great read. Simmons’ mastery of character, place and time is among the best, and the traits of a true storyteller.At first glance, SUMMER OF NIGHT appears to be nothing more than another nostalgic coming of age horror story set in a small town in 1960; the kind where only the adolescent protagonists catch on to the supernatural evil in their midst and have to fight it on their own. This plot is an old horror trope, same for the small town in America with dark secrets no one will talk about, where and ancient evil has lain dormant until just the right moment to come back to life, but these seeming clichés are so well handled by Simmons, the reader hardly notices. The central characters are a group of boys around the age of 12, some slightly older, others slightly younger, who are best buds in the 6th grade at the Old Central Elementary School in Elm Haven, Illinois. Their home situations are varied and different, so are their temperaments and personalities; one of the great strengths of this book is how much Simmons makes you care about and fear for Duane, Jim, Mike, Kevin, Dale and Lawrence. And their small town world is so well laid out that the reader will come to see it perfectly in their minds: the tree lined streets and the stores on Main, the dirt country roads with cornfields on either side. We can feel the heat and smell the humidity ahead of a thunder storm. One of the essentials of these stories is a well established sense of mood and place and Simmons pulls it off with flying colors.Though it is set in the summer of 1960, Simmons does not turn it into a trip back to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, instead the nostalgia the author evokes is for a time when the most priceless thing a boy could own was a second hand bicycle, followed by a baseball glove. A time when kids had the freedom on summer vacation to walk out the door first thing in the morning and not come back until dinner was on the table and no one thought anything of it. It’s a nostalgia for a time when kids were expected to amuse themselves for hours on end in a time before childhood and adolescence were overwhelmed by a loud, overbearing and ostentatiously sexy popular culture that treated kids like consumers; a time when small towns still thrived, long before automation, outsourcing, globalization and Wal Mart were even on the horizon. It might be the summer of ‘60, but the nomination of JFK is mentioned maybe twice as an event that is happening very far away. On the last day of school, one of the boy’s classmates, Tubby Cook, goes missing in Old Central, the same day that the peal of a long silent bell is heard. Soon our young protagonists begin to suspect that their teachers and principle were involved in the disappearance. As they try to get to the bottom of the mystery, a figure in a World War I uniform is seen lurking on the back roads, faces appear at windows in the night while other figures lurk in the darkness; shadows dart out of closets and hide under beds, things stir inside crawlspaces and basements; holes leading to tunnels under the earth are found, and as they learn more, a huge rendering truck begins to stalk the kids. Though they might be scared as hell, they also have plenty of grit, and knowing that the adults would not believe them, the boys – along with one girl - decide take on the evil in their midst, a battle that ultimately becomes a war – one that claims casualties before the final confrontation. There is a twist about half way through the book, one that will leave many readers picking their jaws up off the floor, while others will be profoundly grief stricken. The fact that so many fans of this book have commented on their emotional reaction to this event is one sign this book has really connected. My favorite scene is when Jim and Dale turn the tables on the town’s punk ass bully and back him down when they are forced to turn to him for help in a particularly desperate moment. The section of the book where the kids attempt to bait the evil rendering truck into a showdown is among the best things I’ve read in a horror novel in a very long time. And among the well drawn supporting characters, none stands out better than Cordie Cook, one tough piece of white trash; only tell her that at your peril.The book is not perfect, one flaw is the villain, whose motivation and objective is never made clear – it’s just an ancient evil that takes possession of those closest to it. But that is a weakness of many, many horror tomes. At least one character, Mink Harper, the town drunk, is brought in at one point to just relate, in great detail, pertinent information from the past to Mike; another trope that many horror writers use. SUMMER OF NIGHT can be described as a slow build, it takes it’s time setting the stage, but it is so well written by Simmons, that I didn’t mind; the chapters are just as long as they need to be, the character POV’s are will established and the sentence structure flows naturally, helped along with a great ear for metaphor and simile. SUMMER OF NIGHT is often compared to Stephen King’s IT, and it is an apt comparison, but for me, SUMMER might just be the better book. It’s much shorter than King’s work and the story stays within the past, my paperback copy comes in just under 500 pages. It has been a few decades since I read IT, and though the book is one of King’s most popular, I remember it as bloated and indulgent in some parts; all of the contemporary story elements could have been edited out, leaving just the story of the kids in Derry, Maine in the 50’s, and it would have been a better book. And Simmons never lets his young heroes go off the rails like King lets his young protagonists do – I’m talking about that certain scene in the sewers, and if you’ve read King’s book, you know what I mean. One thing IT has over SUMMER is villains; nothing can top Pennywise the Clown.One last thing, why hasn’t SUMMER OF NIGHT not been made into a movie? Its cast of young characters would be perfect for Stephen Spielberg; would love to have seen what POLTERGEIST era Tobe Hooper could have done with it. Someone in Hollywood has dropped the ball.

School is out in the small Ohio town of Elm Haven. This will be the last class of Old Central built in 1876. The atmosphere has always been less than pleasant but now it is perpetrated with evil beyond imagination. The kids of Elm Haven sense this evil and are determined to fight it but the entity has lived too long to give in easily. The advantage is that few adults will believe them if they told. The book is filled with how life was in small town America 45 years ago. It will really bring back memories. You can almost smell the corn growing as you remember lazy summers of your childhood. If you like really good horror stories then this is just your ticket.

Dan Simmons was well-cemented in place as one of my favorite authors before I read this book - this just raises him that much more in my esteem. The man can write in apparently every genre with the same level of intensity. Summer of Night tells the tale of six boys who have just finished the sixth grade (well, one of them is actually a couple of years behind) at the same time that their school - a more-than-one-hundred-year-old building - is being closed for good. But, as they prepare for an adventurous summer vacation, an ancient evil seeks to complete a transformation that began when the school was built.The story is replete with the stuff of which adolescent nightmares are made ... and symbolic, perhaps? I don't know what Simmons' intent was when he wrote the book, and the introduction that accompanies this edition does not preclude the possibility of this, but there is plenty of reason to wonder if some of the things that happen, and the principals involved, could well stand as symbols of many of the things involved in the passage into "teen-hood." And that just increases my estimation of Dan Simmons' writing.One of the characters in the book is apparently Simmons' representation of himself. The story is set in a small town in Illinois (where Simmons apparently grew up), it takes place in 1960, when Simmons would have been around 12 years old, and the protagonists are - by and large - 12, as well. Enjoy!!!