Summer of Night

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 22 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys’ days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic childhood. But amid the sun-drenched cornfields, their loyalty will be pitilessly tested. When a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the night, the townsfolk know it marks the end of their carefree days. From the depths of the Old Central School, a hulking fortress tinged with the mahogany scent of coffins, an invisible evil is rising. Strange and horrifying events begin to overtake everyday life, spreading terror through the once-peaceful town. Determined to exorcize this ancient plague, Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a war of blood against an arcane abomination who owns the night....

©2011 Dan Simmons (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Impressive...combines beautiful writing and suspense into a book for which Dan Simmons deserves the bestseller status of King and Koontz.” ( The Denver Post)

“One can only wonder what Simmons will do next, now that he’s shown us he can do everything the best writers in horror and science fiction can do.” ( The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“It stands with the best of King and Straub in the traditional modern horror genre.” ( Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Good story, little unrealistic

I really loved the story, but I think it was unrealistic that it took 12 yr old to beat it. I also found the doberman represented incorrectly and felt that it could have been left out entirely. I almost stopped the book at that time.

Good story!

I didn't grow up in the Era this book is set in, so it was a bit slow for me at the beginning. The story did really pick up and I loved the book halfway into it. Recommended!

Great story and narration

I really enjoyed the story and characters and the narration itself pulled me in. Great all around horror with that nostalgic It feel.

Not just a book, it's a commitment!

If I'd actually read Summer of Night instead of listening to the Audible version, I never would have made it across the finish line. This is a LOOOONG novel. A beast of a book, one might say. But it's a worthy investment, this "beast".

As the reader, you are welcomed into 1960's Elm Haven, a small and not even approaching middle class town in rural Illinois. You settle in as a nostalgic resident while a tragic story slowly unfolds. Something is wrong because something was very wrong before. Only the kids who should be enjoying a wholesome summer of pickup baseball and camping under the stars seem to understand what is happening. You get to know each of the boys and their genuinely flawed families. You learn everyone's habits and look forward to town events. You expect who will figure out what, and when. You invest yourself in this one dusty summer, where the reality starts to rip apart.

I won't give anything away, except to say that if truly brutal deaths aren't your cup of tea, this probably isn't the book for you. Summer of Night may focus on elementary school aged boys trying to solve a 60 year old town mystery, but this is not a young YA book by any stretch of the imagination. It gets gruesome and gory, and those terrifying bumps in the night are often deadly.

Horror

Should have been listed as young reader horror. Wish I could have returned it, but audible won't let me, so I listened.

Good story but narration a little flat

I enjoyed the story although I've heard its type before, reminding me of "IT" but different enough to stand on its own. It took me a long time to care about the characters, but I think that was because of the narrator. He was a bit monotone - not a bad narrator, but not to my taste. Overall, glad I tried Dan Simmons and I've already downloaded the next book in the series!

long ass night.....

well.... some serious likeness to IT and all over the place. I felt the performance was not well done and the performer was overly bland, with no emotion in his voice. it took me weeks to finish it.

let's start with story. This book tries (hard) to be a Stephen King epic but falls short. The characters are forgettable except for a couple of the kids. The monster is confusing and never really distinguishable. I feel like it could have been much better. This is my first Dan Simmons book and I will probably try another one before I write him off as unoriginal.

The performer was not that good. he was bland and every voice other then the redneck girl were the same. If he would have had emotion it would have made it better.

For fans of Stephen King

This is an excellent horror/thriller centered on the activities of a bunch of boys in Illinois in the summer of 1960. It's very much in the tradition of a Stephen King novel, and the only reason I didn't give it five stars is because the first half kind of dragged a little bit. The second half, though, more than made up for that, and the writing was good enough to keep me engaged.

Long time since. ..

I love this book. It's been a long time since I've been taken back to childhood even if it's not mine. This book is almost as good as classics like Boy's Life and It by Stephen King. Narration was excellent and the voices were distinctive. You can tell the difference between who was talking. I was impressed. I really like books like these because they remind me that even though children can go through horror they can also be heroes and also still have the ability a lot of times to find hope and even happiness after that. It's books like these that help me as an adult sort through my childhood and remember it not as so much horror here and there, but of all the long slow summers all the people that were my friends and all the people that cared for me. Books like these help me and probably other people I hope so anyway, get through. I'll be saving this one with the other two books I mentioned and a couple of others for my grandchildren.

I hope books like this one can take them back to another time and realize that kids where the same back then as they are now. That times might change and things might change but for better or worse people don't really change. Sometimes that the horror, but most of the time it's a great comfort. I will be looking forward to hearing the narrator more and also to reading more of the authors books. Good reading.

Hard to finish

Struggled to finish. An ok story, the narration was painful and did not reflect the horror element. It sounded like he was reading from a catalog most of the time.