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)

Where's the editor?

The story is actually not bad and could certainly make for a great book. What it needs is a good editor to trim the excess fat. At over 500 pages (or 22 hrs.) the story becomes bloated and rambling at times. With a good editor this could have been 4 or 5 stars. As it stands, I have given it 3 stars, but much of it only deserves 2.

servicable

if you are like me you quickly burn through your favorite authors on audible and then have to mine for a nugget , this isnt one but it is flecked , alot of other reviews compare it to stand by me , but that is not right it is closer to IT than SBM and closer to the goonies than Salems lot I like alot about this book except I cannot for the life of me think why Dan simmons spent so much time describing how brilliant the fat kids father was, together the son and father invented everything except the ipod 50 years ago , but it is still worth alisten if you have the credits and hours to burn.

An Unexpected Ride

Would you listen to Summer of Night again? Why?

Yes, I probably will because I'd like to experience it again.

What other book might you compare Summer of Night to and why?

"It" by Stephen King. (I know that a lot of people made this comparison.) I have to add that this book was so well narrated that I could see the images in my mind. For this reason, I will further compare this performance to the movies "Stand By Me" and "The Sand Lot" for it's depiction of childhood friendships.

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scenes with Cordie, or Lawrence for that matter. These were minor characters in the book but they added substance to the story that it would not have had without them. I'm explaining this badly. Cordie and Lawrence were different from how other story-tellers would have depicted them. It was terrific. Lawrence grew to be important to me and Cordie, oh my goodness was she unusual!!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I have no idea.

Any additional comments?

In many ways this book felt like a walk through an abandoned building (well, yeah) but in other ways it was like looking through the windows of people in any town.

Perfect!

Narrator is amazing. This story comes alive in his capable "hands". My very favorite is his voice for Mink. Terrifyingly well written by Dan Simmons- read The Terror right now!

wonderful!

I really loved it! It reminded me of my favourite book by Stephen King, IT!

Refreshing and superbly narrated

I was tentative about choosing this for my next credit for several reasons. It was longer than I was in the mood for and I had neither read anything by Dan Simmons nor heard anything by Dan John Miller. So this was a total flip of the coin for me. I'm glad I landed on 'heads'.

The fact that this was written over 25 years ago was another reason I decided to give it a try. In an era of self-publishing there are so many awful books with the same tired storyline. The label "bestselling" means almost absolutely nothing to me now. According to Amazon every other book is now by a "bestselling" author or part of a "bestselling" series. This novel was amazingly refreshing and deserves to be more widely recognized.

I was immediately drawn in by the smooth prose and vibrant descriptions. And although the book centers on a group of children it is in no shape or form a YA novel. Simmons' ability to take us into the inner workings of each kids minds in such a way that you feel yourself relating to them is remarkable. They become much more than just a story... suddenly they are your own personal childhood friends. Before I knew it I found myself so emotionally invested that I was listening to it every second I could. Add to that the brilliant narration of Mr. Miller and you have an ideal combo.

I would easily rank this as one of my favorites to date and would have no problem recommending others to listen to it. I wish there were more out there with both a winning story and exceptional narrator.

"It" meets "Something Wicked This Way Comes"

I pretty much summed up the book in my title. So much of the book reminded of both stories, whether it be the narrator of this audible or the content. Regardless, it is a very good book.

It may start out a little slow, but something I've learned through reading Simmon's novel, six thus far; is I think it is starting out slow. In reality, from the very first word, a web is formed and I can't put it down. The tendrils loosed has a way of grabbing my imagination and keeps drawing me in. All the way throughout your last gasps of "WHAT's" before it ends, then throws more on the fire. The climax of the book is non-stop.

This book will definitely make you look under the beds twice and recheck your closet is closed before you turn out the lights.

As for Dan John Miller, the narrator, I didn't like him at first. I thought he was too dry, but like the story, he seeped into my mind and ended up being a great voice for the book.

Give them both a chance, I do not feel you'll regret it.

Great Book!

I don’t write a lot of reviews but felt compelled to do so here. I bounce between fiction and non-fiction and was really hoping to find a good fiction when I read the Stephen King review of The Outsider. A review gave a rather low review of this book and directed readers to Summer of Night. Very thankful as I found this book to be outstanding from beginning to end. Dan Simmons character development was written to perfection - I found myself relating to each character individually and was engrossed throughout the entire book. I learned that this is a prequel - can’t wait to get into the next book.

If you liked, Stranger Things~!

Loved this book! If you have watched the Netflix series, "Stranger Things" or if you enjoyed Stephen King's classic, "Stand By Me," you will LOVE THIS BOOK! The author successfully writes 5 pre-teen boys in the 60's as the small town heroes of the story battling an unknown (and creepy as hell) Evil, and you will absolutely be rooting for them by the end. As far as scary stories go, the book starts off with a fairly shocking creepy event and keeps on rolling and picking up pace throughout the whole tale. I have a lot of appreciation for the beautiful way the author is able to truly transport the reader into Small Town America during the 60's ~ the Drive In Theater, the likable Priest who is friends with one of the boys, the corn fields, etc - The town really becomes one of the characters under siege by the unforeseen Evil terrorizing everyone. There are plenty of creepy and suspenseful scenes - don't even get me started on the rendering truck! But, I don't feel like my review is doing the book justice- just read it! I highly recommend it. Narrator was great!

Fun story and wonderful narration

Engaging, thrilling, fun read. The author does a good job of writing kids that are believable as kids (though far more competent than most adults) which helps keep the story moving. The narration is superb and gives all the characters a distinct voice. It felt a little derivative of other horror coming of age stories but the characters and action and scares were so well done I barely noticed. My only complaint is that a map of the town and its landmarks would have been helpful since so much of the story relies on the group of boys pedaling from place to place on bikes.