October

A Novel

By: Michael Rowe

Narrated by: Joel Froomkin

The time: the waning years of the 1990s at the dawn of the millennium.

The place: an isolated rural town called Auburn, which could be anywhere at all - a town where everyone knows everyone else - where dark secrets run through its veins like blood.

Everyone knows that 16-year old Mikey Childress is "different." A target for bullies since he was a small boy, everything Mikey does attracts abuse: the way he walks, the way he talks, the way he looks. Everyone knows he's not like the other boys in Auburn - the boys who play hockey, who fight, the boys who pursue girls. Only his friend Wroxy, a girl almost as isolated as he is, can even guess at the edges of his pain, or the depths of his yearning for love.

But even the people who hate Mikey couldn't dream of how many secrets he has, or how badly he could hurt them if he wanted to.

Until the night Mikey is pushed beyond endurance by his abusers. The night he makes a pact with dark forces older than time to visit a terrible vengeance on his enemies. The night he inadvertently opens a doorway that should never, ever have been opened, and unleashes something into the world that should have remained damned.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Michael Rowe (P)2018 Tantor

audio was disappointing

While I found the premise to be intriguing, I found myself at a loss with the overall experience. The town is rife with unlikable (even horrific) characters who seem to be present only to make life a caricature of reality. The protagonists, while relatable at first, turn just as mean-spirited.
I wanted to root for them, but could not.
The narrator was not to my liking either. The nasal delivery was reminiscent of the worst of Valley-girl dialect.
I may give the print edition a try. The all to real bullying and violence aimed at the LGBTQ community tried to find expression in this horror story, but missed its mark for me.

Unhappy ending but good

WTF! Why?! This ending was like that of Satanicus! The author’s self adoration chapter is not needed.

Rowe writes fantastic contemporary horror!

October is the second novel I have read by Micheal Rowe. Once again, I was very happy with the time I spent listing to October. Rowe writes fantastic contemporary horror. While I believe I detected a bit of a nod to Stephen King, the plot felt unique and timely. The ending is a killer, so buckle up buttercup and read on!

This didn't scare me, it turned my stomach

The most unlikable portrayal of a young gay man I’ve ever read.

The story of a high school aged gay boy who’s a weakling with no morals, no sense of self worth, and no grasp of friendship.

His only sense of himself is from learning the hateful homophobic and completely unsympathetic opinions of his family and neighbors towards him.

So, he has two feelings:
1.) I’m an unlovable piece of crap.
2.) I’m so god damed horny.

He stumbles through a small town being victimized in an unending series of horrific events.

He gains the sympathy of a girl who tries to befriend him, but he cannot return her friendship because he doesn’t know what selflessness is.

Supernatural forces take control of his pathetic existence with no real interesting consequence other than making it worse.

In the end there is no redemption.