Burned hands rattle the cage—
—breathing becomes tortured, ragged—
—burned hands continue—
—heartbeat slows—
—The Shape—
—struggles…
The rocking of the old pickup truck became hypnotic.
Lethargy crept over Allyson’s body, lulling her toward sleep.
Then the clink of metal on metal startled her awake. She looked to her left, at her grandmother’s head, tilted back against the edge of the truck bed. On the other side of Laurie, Allyson’s mother stared into the night, her face etched with grief and worry, for the loss of her husband and the life of her mother.
For a frightening moment, Allyson couldn’t tell if her grandmother was breathing. She feared Laurie had died while Allyson drifted off to sleep. Then her grandmother’s right hand reached out and covered Allyson’s left, as if to reassure Allyson she was still among the living. But her hand was cool, her grip feeble. She’d lost a lot of blood.
Allyson squeezed Laurie’s hand, willing her to stay with them and become the mother and the grandmother fate had stolen from them, but also to embrace who she was at heart, the brave woman who always fought valiantly for her life.
“Grandmother…?”
Laurie spoke softly, “Not today, kiddo.”
Allyson smiled, a lump in her throat.
Raising her right hand, which still held the source of the metallic sound that had awakened her, Allyson examined the bloody kitchen knife Laurie had presented to her. She wondered about its significance, why Laurie hadn’t thrown it away as soon as they’d escaped the burning house. After a while, the answer dawned on her.
A source of fear transmuted into a totem of strength.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to my editor, Ella Chappell at Titan Books, for her encouragement and support throughout the process, and for giving me the opportunity to write my first movie novelization. Also, at Titan Books, thanks to Valerie Gardner, Joanna Harwood, Helen Marie, Lukmon Ogunbadejo and Kiran Rihal.
Thanks to Malek Akkad, Bill Block, Jason Blum, John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Gordon Green, and Danny McBride at Miramax for bringing me aboard. And thanks to David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley for the frightening and creepy screenplay! Of course, none of this would be possible without John Carpenter and Debra Hill, who gave us the terrific characters and situations from the original Halloween, the viewing of which has become a holiday tradition in our home.
For keeping me in the writing zone throughout, a note of audio thanks for Tangerine Dream’s Quantum Gate.
Finally, thanks to my family for their support and understanding while I burrowed ever deeper into the story.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Passarella won the Horror Writers Association’s prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for the coauthored Wither. Columbia Pictures purchased the feature film rights to Wither in a prepublication, preemptive bid.
John’s other novels include Wither’s Rain, Wither’s Legacy, Kindred Spirit, Shimmer and the original media tie-in novels Supernaturaclass="underline" Night Terror, Supernaturaclass="underline" Rite of Passage, Supernaturaclass="underline" Cold Fire, Supernaturaclass="underline" Joyride, Grimm: The Chopping Block, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble, Angeclass="underline" Avatar, and Angeclass="underline" Monolith. In January 2012 he released his first fiction collection, Exit Strategy & Others. Halloween is his fourteenth novel.
A member of the Horror Writers Association, International Thriller Writers and the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, John resides in southern New Jersey with his wife, children, and two dogs. As the owner of AuthorPromo.com, he is a web designer for many clients, primarily other authors.
John maintains his official author website at www.passarella.com, where he encourages readers to send him email at author@passarella.com and to subscribe to his free author newsletter for the latest information on his books and stories. To follow him on Twitter, see @JohnPassarella.
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Copyright
TITAN BOOKS
Halloween – The Official Movie Novelization
Hardback edition ISBN: 9781789090529
E-book edition ISBN: 9781789090536
Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP
First edition: October 2018
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Cover Image © 2018 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
© 2018 Miramax, LLC. All Rights Reserved. MIRAMAX and HALLOWEEN are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Miramax, LLC. Used under license.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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