Reviews

Halloween II by Jack Martin, Dennis Etchison

struanhenderson's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

literatetexan's review

4.0

Movie novelizations aren't supposed to be this well-written, but Jack Martin is a pen name for Dennis Etchison, who is a master of the genre. The high points of the novel are the inner dialogues of the two main characters, Dr. Sam Loomis and Laurie Strode. Also, Etchison seems to get the archetypal good versus evil struggle here, which is an aspect of the movies that Rob Zombie seemed to miss. If you're a fan of the movies, this is worth a read.

michaelrcalkins's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

itcamefromthepage's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This was a pretty straight retelling of Halloween 2 but the descriptions in this book are TOP notch and the little character beats made this such a joy to experience. 

jamietherebelliousreader's review

4.0

4 stars. A very slow start but then again, the film has a slow start as well so I won’t harp on that too much. This one wasn’t as good as the first one which was to be expected but I still enjoyed. Even though I will say that I wasn’t too crazy about this author’s writing. It just wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t terrible or anything. Again, this book fills in a lot of missing details and scenes from the movie which is interesting. I’m having a lot of fun reading these.

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cyanide_latte's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Once again, as with other horror movie novelizations I've gone through, I've got to offer huge thanks to The 80s Slasher Librarian on YouTube for posting a fan-recorded audiobook for this one. It's the only way I was able to read through this novelization, via listening.

Halloween II is one of those movies that while I've seen it and it's not anywhere up in my favorites, it's one that I do have a soft spot for. It's one of those that's just bonkers (unsurprising, considering how Carpenter was allegedly drunk as a skunk when he wrote the script for the movie) and I am okay with that.  I think that Jack Martin did a decent job with the way he wrote this and I especially enjoyed his characterization of Dr. Loomis. I do, however, dislike his characterization of Laurie and cannot stand how he handled the angle of her having memories about being related to Michael and being adopted. It got to a point of being overdramatic, and was the worst part of the book for me.

shane's review

4.0

Very good novelisation, if a little over-the-top with Laurie's thought processes at times. Jack Martin(Dennis Etchison) is very good at the 'show, don't tell' bit.

Enjoyed it very much.