Dark Harvest

By: Norman Partridge

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

"This is contemporary American writing at its finest." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

Winner of the Stoker Award and named one of the 100 Best Novels of 2006 by Publishers Weekly, Dark Harvest is a powerhouse thrill-ride with all the resonance of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He's willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror--and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy...

Critic reviews

“Probably the most exciting and original voice in horror literature to have appeared in the last decade.” —Peter Straub

“A major new talent.” —Stephen King

“This is contemporary American writing at its finest.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Dark Harvest

“Already [Dark Harvest] has the aura of a classic. Required reading for Halloween.” —Booklist

“If you're looking for a scary Halloween tale, with lots of blood and gore--and candy--you've come to the right place.” —Rocky Mountain News on Dark Harvest

“Using a quick, lean prose reminiscent of the finest Gold Medal-era fiction and, at the same time, as fresh as a Quentin Tarantino film, Partridge packs more into this slim volume than most authors do in a bloated 600-page epic.” —The Austin Chronicle on Dark Harvest

Fantastic on every front

Story and reading are both great for those of us who like this kind of thing. 10 out of 10 🤘🏻🎃🤘🏻

Good Bones

Read it before watching the movie. It is a solid story. I'm interested to see how it is adapted. I hope they make it better not worse, and fill the gaping hole.

Fantastic Halloween Story!

Absolutely enjoyed this book from the story to the performance! If you want a quick listen for Halloween I couldn’t recommend this enough

Good Story.

This was a good story overall, I liked how it was written and performed, just wish it was longer. More backstory to the town and its people and what made the entire ritual start, and definitely more about what happen to them after.

Meh boys horror story

It’s like all the things boys like in stories about growing up. It was boring I started & stopping it multiple times cause it was just annoying not the narrator fault per se but the author over florid language was too much for me.