Author: Jennifer McMahon
They say that urban legends and myths are based in fact. In this short story (I lean more towards novella really as the audio version of the story is just over an hour long....a bit lengthy for a short story), a town's legend about a young girl who once went crazy while trick-or-treating turns out to be more truth than legend. Many, many kids dress up as the Hannah-Beast and the legendary figure is even hanged in effigy in the public park each year. But one woman knows the truth.....and it's going to come back around in a predictable but gruesome way.
While similar stories have been told before, I liked how this one is told in present time and in flashbacks. The story is a mix of horror and morality tale. Secrets and lies never really go away.....they come back around when least expected. No escaping karma. I wasn't surprised at the ending, but this was still an enjoyable listening experience. I longed to tell two characters in this story that under no circumstances should you ever, ever, ever trust the mean girls. Never. Not ever.
There are seven stories in the Dark Corners Collection. This is the first one I have listened to. I'm definitely going to listen to the rest. I'm reviewing them separately because they are all by different authors that are new to me. Jennifer McMahon is the author of several other creepy stories....after enjoying this one I'm definitely going to read more by her. She has also narrated several audio books including Haunted Ground by Erin Hart.
The audio book version of this story is narrated by Amy Landon and runs just under 1.5 hours. Landon reads at a nice pace. At first, I thought her performance was a bit wooden...but her voice and delivery grew on me as the story progressed. Her tone made more sense as I came to know the main character a bit better. All in all, a nice listening experience.
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