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I loved this grouping of stories!!! Really great way to get in the Halloween mood!! Although I enjoyed every one of these, my favourite would probably fall to either to “The Devils Due” or “The Last Night in October.” “The Devils Due” had a feel of a Halloween Krampus and was just fabulous. “The Last Night in October” was just creepy and a perfect choice to end the collection.
Pure fun. Highly recommended.
**Thanks to NetGalley for providing book in exchange of an honest review.*** ( )

"Every Halloween, one child in Franklin lost his way and never came home."
These words began my dark and delightful foray into Halloween Carnival 3. I was looking for scares and I certainly got them. Volume 1 and 2 were good but this is the best so far of this 5 part anthology series that will be released in time for Halloween.
Oh my gruesome goodness! Every one of these tales was amazing. I would not even be able to choose a favorite as I normally do with short stories because every single one gave me chills. From ghosts to demons to twisted psychological terror this anthology is a horror lover's dream.
5 out of 5 fright filled stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review. ( )

Halloween Carnival is a series of five ebooks from Hydra (Random House) featuring unique and creepy short stories. One volume will be released each week in October 2017, with the last coming out on Halloween.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I'm loving these story collections!! The cover art is fantastic & the stories are deliciously varied and creeptastic!

Each volume features five Halloween theme stories. In Volume 3:

The Way Lost - Kelley Armstrong. Every year on Halloween a kid in Franklin disappears. Dale knows they go into the forest and never come out. But why doesn't anybody ever ask any questions? This tale is delightfully chilling from beginning to end....a great opener for this anthology!

La Calavera - Kate Maruyama. She used to attend the Dia De Los Muertos Festival at Hollywood Cemetery with her friend Jasmine. But this year she's going alone. Or is she? This is an entertaining story. Nice build to a fantastically creepy end!

The Devil's Due - Michael McBride. Prosperity in Pine Springs, CO comes at a high price that one man isn't prepared to pay. A wickedly cool tale of fear and sacrifice.

A Thousand Rooms of Darkness - Taylor Grant. Anne is afraid. Panic attacks. Phobias. She's especially scared of ghosts and Halloween. Turns out she has a very good reason for being afraid. OMG....this story was great! My favorite of this collection. The creep-o-meter maxxed out on this one for me. Fun, scary read!

The Last Night of October - Greg Chapman. Gerald knows kids should avoid the corner of Blake and Washington Streets and that Halloween is dangerous. He's known that since he was a kid and made a choice. One that comes back to haunt him every Halloween. Great story -- reminds me to always check the peep hole to see who is at the door before I answer it! You never know (especially on Halloween) who or what might be there....wanting in.

Halloween Carnival Volume 3 will release October 17th 2017 from Hydra (Random House). I heartily recommend it for anyone who enjoys horror short stories and Halloween!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Hydra (Random House) via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

The Way Lost (Kelley Armstrong)
My favorite story in the collection with a great solution. *****

La Calavera (Kate Maruyama)
The ending provided a nice, though foreseeable twist. **

The Devil's Due (Michael McBride)
This felt like a routinely written story with enough details and a clever plot, but it did not provoke any strong feelings while reading it. ***

A Thousand Rooms of Darkness (Taylor Grant)
It was OK I think, but also the least memorable - I must admit I already forgot most of it. **

The Last Night of October (Greg Chapman)
The last story was also the longest, which is my main complaint: the whole 'foreplay' between the old man and his nurse was lengthy and slowed the story down considerably. Only when Gerald finally told his story things got interesting. **

The first story was the only one that really excited me and made this anthology worth reading.

(Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own) ( )

During the month of October 2017, Brian James Freeman and the folks at Hydra, have gotten together to present a total of twenty-five Halloween tales of horror from twenty-five of the best genre writers working today. Every Tuesday during October there will be a new volume in the Halloween Carnival anthology series.

Volume three is a solid entry in this series and is well worth your time this Halloween reading season.

The Way Lost by Kelley Armstrong - A delightfully disturbing story with a killer opening line. "Every Halloween, one child in Franklin lost his way and never came home." The truth makes this tale even more chilling.

Calavera by Kate Maruyama - A Calavera is a representation of a human skull used in the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Trish makes one of these skulls to honor her friend Jasmine, but not everyone is happy about her decision.

The Devil's Due by Michael McBride - A wonderfully horrifying story of an annual sacrifice a town has been making ever since its inception and how one man defies the ritual and the consequences that follow. Great storytelling.

A Thousand Rooms of Darkness by Taylor Grant - A terrifically imaginative and original story of a woman who suffers from phasmophobia (a fear of ghosts) and samhainophobia (a fear of Halloween). The truth is even more frightening. My favorite story in this collection.

The Last Night of October by Greg Chapman - Greg is an Australian artist and Horror writer, who grew up in a world without Halloween. It's true, in Australia, Halloween just never caught on. No trick-or-treating, no costumes, no Halloween. But, Greg's a horror writer and since Halloween is nearly synonymous with Horror, he's done his homework and the result is this gem of a novella about events that took place and continue to take place on The Last Night of October.

Recommended and looking forward to Volume Four in the series.

Halloween Carnival Volume Three is published by Hydra, a division of Random House, and is available as an ebook. ( )