Nostalgic Teenage Horror Novel Between Challenges and Depth - A Review of Dan Simmons' 1991 Novel Summer of Night

Summer of Night is a 1991 horror novel by renowned American author Dan Simmons. It's the first novel in the four-part Seasons of Horror series. The great thing is that one can read Summer of Night without feeling the urge to explore the rest of the series. The novel has received much critical acclaim and was praised by American horror author Stephen King. This should be no coincidence since this novel recalls works such as Stephen King's It. Summer of Night offers nostalgic teenage horror that should indeed be appreciated by patient readers aged twelve and above.

The novel takes place in boring smalltown Elm Haven in Illinois throughout the summer of 1960. As the sinister building of Old Central School is about to close its doors forever, a student named Tubby Cooke vanishes mysteriously. A group of twelve year-old students start investigating the case and soon find information about an occult curse that could change their lives forever. This group of students transitions from the innocence of childhood to the seriousness of the teenage years while confronting an ancient evil that most adults are either unaware or afraid of.

Cordie Cooke is the sister of the boy who disappeared who is known as an outsider living in abject poverty as she is being abandoned by her own family. Duane McBride is the intellectual mind of the group of friends who conducts a thorough investigative research on the curse. Mike O'Rourke is a pious altar boy who is friends with the local priest but who also starts having feelings for the smalltown's most beautiful girl Michelle Staffney. Dale Stewart is courageous and protective of his little brother Lawrence Stewart who is impulsive and irrational. Kevin Grumbacher is a loyal friend coming from a middle-class family and is of German descent. Jim Harlen is a grumpy boy suffering from memory loss after falling from a window ledge.

This novel convinces on several levels. First of all, Dan Simmons' detailed descriptions and keen observations truly manage to bring the United States of America in the early sixties to life. Readers learn about specific details such as religious rites, presidential candidates, different types of guns, elementary school education and the difficult coexistence of poor, middle-class and rich families that all have their own flaws and strengths.

The characters in this novel are particularly detailed. Duane McBride impresses as intellectual leader from a broken family. Cordie Cooke convinces as one of the roughest female teenager characters you will ever come across. Mike O'Rourke leaves a mark with his balance between religious faith and daredevil courage. As the novel is told from different perspectives, readers might soon find their favourite characters and appreciate certain chapters more than others. The development of the characters from childhood to adulthood and everything in between is also profound.

The moments when the elements of horror take centre stage are particularly intense in this novel. This novel doesn't only describe an evil curse and mysterious figures wandering about but also doesn't shy away from depicting brutal kidnappings and even the pitiless deaths of teenagers. The novel however never exaggerates such passages as such horrific events are dosed very reasonably and never seek for simple shock value.

The novel however also has several flaws. While the story revolves around a group of young teenagers, an audience of the same age might have trouble reading this novel of about five hundred pages. Summer of Night has several significant lengths in the middle section. Dan Simmons is very descriptive in even the tiniest details which might be tiresome to explore for younger audiences. The vocabulary is quite advanced, complex and intellectual at times which makes the novel slightly complicated to read for a younger target audience. The story itself is comparable to other teenage horror novels such as Stephen King's It and fails to break new ground and surprise more experienced readers.

Making it through the entire novel is even a challenge for adult audiences. However, Dan Simmons' Summer of Night ultimately offers more positive elements than negative ones. His precise intellectual writing style remains unique, the locations are realistic and the characters have much depth. The story might not be particularly creative but is tense enough to make readers want to read until the very end. At the end of the day, I would recommend this teenage horror novel to older teenagers and young adults who truly like taking their time to sit down and read a novel from start to finish for the sake of entertainment. Impatient readers who don't have much time on their hands should however avoid this novel or anything else written by Dan Simmons for that matter.

Final Rating: 70%