ED SAVAGE AND THE SAVAGE HALLOWEEN MASSACRE

A family once again faces vicious killers with ties to its past in this final installment of a thriller series.

Ed Savage’s friend Tasker Grenning convinces the actor to join him on the dating TV show Eligible Husbands: New York. For good measure, Tasker talks Ed’s brothers—Sam, Roman, and Logan—into signing up as well. Love may be in (and soon on) the air, but, surprisingly, on the first day of filming, two contestants don’t show up, only to turn up murdered. Since the cops shut down production, the show merely shoots elsewhere, moving from Port Roberts to Claw Lakes, New York. But joining the contestants and the show’s host in Claw Lakes is more than one person who’s seeking vengeance and prone to homicide. Meanwhile, recently released convict Barney Allen heads to Port Roberts. He apparently grew close to his still-incarcerated cellmate, Clifford Adams, whose wish list Barney willingly tackles and which includes revenge against Ed. As if that weren’t enough, a killer is targeting female students at Our Lady of Saints University. This is likely the same stalker who’s following student Jenna Vreeland and waiting for the right moment to attack. Though Jenna, with help from her sister, survives her initial encounter with the culprit, he remains at large. Consequently, her father and uncles, one of whom has recently escaped from a sanatorium, vow to unmask and take down Jenna’s assailant. Many of these characters converge in Claw Lakes, where an ensuing bloodbath forces people into a fight for survival.

Roberts’ lengthy novel (over 600 pages) is teeming with characters. The Savage clan is a likable bunch, particularly Ed, while other players range from genial to wholly unsympathetic. They are generally tied to gleefully intricate subplots and backstories. In one case, a woman retaliates against her abusive husband, who’s rendered comatose and whose relative, even years later, plots revenge against the wife. The narrative adopts the style of a slasher film, delivering more than one murderer, which results in abundant bloody deaths. Likewise, these killers are often ferocious, more invested in violating, mutilating, or humiliating someone than in the victim’s death. The author nevertheless generates memorable scenes by slowly building tension. The stalker, for example, trails Jenna in an El Camino, which the mere sight of in later scenes readers will find nerve-wracking. In the same vein, there’s a Halloween Festival in Claw Lakes, setting the stage for exceedingly creepy locales, such as a hay maze and an old, abandoned windmill. Roberts’ chiseled prose lets the unnerving environment speak for itself, complete with the sanatorium’s “subterranean cells,” the adjacent cemetery, and the perpetual cold October night air. As in the preceding installment, this story cites earlier series events with nary a recap. While readers new to the trilogy won’t be lost, knowledge of the first two volumes would prove beneficial, especially regarding a few of the final-act twists. The author ends his series smashingly—with a showdown featuring a helicopter and some characters invariably plummeting.

A highly suspenseful and exhilarating conclusion to a trilogy.