Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

 

It happens every year.  Hordes of boys, 16, 17 or 18 fill the streets because this is the night that the October Boy makes his run for the church.  He is a scarecrow with a pumpkin head come to life, a creature that grows in the cornfield.  Tonight he runs through the streets with a machete and the boy that manages to kill him before he makes the church is a hero, his family rewarded with free food and electricity and a new car.  But it is a deadly game.  Each year, some of the boys will never go home as the October Boy takes his victims before he is, in turn, killed.

This year's October Boy is determined to break the cycle.  One of the boys in the town is also determined to break out, to leave town with his sister and a girl he rescued tonight from the streets.  Her parents were killed by the men who organize the October Boy run and she's willing to go anywhere to get away.  But who will win this year, the boy who sees through the game or the October Boy?

This novel won a Bram Stoker award for horror writing.  It has also been made into a movie.  I listened to this book and the narrator did an excellent job.  His deep voice and slow narration created tension and suspense and built them up to an exciting climax.  Readers will be cheering for the October Boy when they learn the secrets behind the game and for Pete, the boy who is determined to leave the town forever.  This book is recommended for horror readers.