Stunts

It happens without warning. The shadow of the wolf fails on an ordinary man, and death begins to walk within him. Everyone he hates will die. The senior class of New Jersey’s Port Richmond High School is busy planning Halloween “stunts"—practical jokes on a town-wide scale. The school’s new principal has outlawed stunts, but that won’t keep Brian Oakland and his friends out of mischief. After all, they’re not planning anything serious, nothing damaging (except to the principal’s reputation). Others have different ideas. Dominic Pastore’s waited all year for Halloween. His rifle is ready, but Dorn hasn’t decided if he’ll fire blanks or bullets. Rich little Mickie Farwood wants to pull a stunt too, but first must choose between Dorn’s danger and Brian’s innocence. None of them knows that this Halloween will alter their lives forever. The shadow of the wolf has fallen on two men. In England, visiting lecturer Evan Kendal flees a murderous madman once his best friend flees for Port Richmond and home. And in Port Richmond, in the woods that surround the town, another killer waits … waits for Halloween, when those he hates will die. At his bidding the whole town will die.

From Publishers Weekly

Teenagers' pranks are overshadowed by supernatural mayhem in this effective horror/thriller. In England after being fired from his New Jersey teaching job, Evan Kendal is troubled by inexplicable moments of chilling cold and darkness. At the same time, his friend Paul Burwin disappears, leading Paul's physician wife Addie to wonder if he's seeking treatment for a fatal disease. The truth is far worse. Paul appears at the scene of an auto accident which he later tells Evan he caused. He asks if Evan is sexually involved with Addie and speculates aloud about killing him. Escaping Paul and another accident, Evan fails to make sense of a series of calamitous mishaps. He and Addie flee to Evan's hometown, where his former students have planned fiendish Halloween "stunts" and where Evan's uncle, having fallen under "the shadow of the wolf," has been feeding off live animals found in the woods. Evan and Addie are greeted by fur and blood all over his uncle's apartment; the town's reaction is sheer terror. Grant ( The Pet ) doesn't explain how or why the wolfish powers are assumed, but he sustains suspense so well that there's hardly a moment to disbelieve. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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