Dark Halls: A Horror Novel

This story is not for the faint of heart. Pun intended......As a fan of Jeff's writing I have read every one of his books, so I was excited he was venturing into the paranormal this time. Dark Halls does not disappoint. His wonderfully twisted mind explained the characters and story easily, kept me reading and I found myself finishing the book within a few days-like every other one he wrote. It wasn't scary but more keeps you on the edge of your seat kinda story. I enjoyed it and hopefully he will write another paranormal story soon. Bravo Jeff!

Anyone who compares this novel to anything written by Stephen King, clearly has never read anything by Mr King. The characters are superficial especially the one embracing the ‘powers of evil’. All a bit silly really...

Super good book. Jeff Mebapace did a bang up job on this thriller. The guy is an amazing story teller. Have loved all of his books!. All his books are a must read!!!!

Jeff Menapace has done it again! Not since Stephen King has another author thrown me face first into total obsession with his writings. He brings the characters to life and I feel I am part of the “adventure”! His next novel can’t come soon enough!

This was much better than I was expecting. The premise is that Highland Elementary School had seen so many mysterious suicides and murders (of both students and teachers) that angry locals eventually burned it to the ground, but when it's rebuilt as Pinewood Elementary, the evil that drove so many to madness is still there. It's up to Ryan, an enthusiastic new teacher, to figure out what's haunting those halls before the school year starts and the terror begins again. He'll have the help of some old "veterans" who were around for all the chaos at Highland...but one of them might actually be responsible for it!Like I said at the start, MUCH better than I was expecting. The writing style is breezy yet effective, and all the characters--Ryan, his friends, and the eventual villain--are drawn out very well, and I found myself liking everyone I was supposed to like and hating the one I was supposed to hate. The way the mysteries of the school are revealed unfolds at just the right pace, neither too fast nor too slow, and there the building sense of horror is very effective. There's also some nice gore if you look for that in your horror novels. My only complaint is that I thought the reveal happened a little too quickly--just about halfway through the book you learn for certain who the villain responsible for the supernatural terror is. I wish there had been another twist before that, but ah well, not a big deal. Definitely not enough to take away from the 5 stars this was worth!

This was the first novel of Jeff Menapace I've so far read. And I will say I enjoyed this book, but it's not as good as reviews say it is.It starts off well, building suspense and trying to make the characters realistic and relatable. But the mystery element didn't really pay off that well and it wasn't all that original either. He uses a lot of familiar supernatural tropes and falls into the same trap a lot of modern horror writers find themselves in. In that he rushed his ending as apposed to trying to flesh out his story and add more depth to his characters while relying on too much violence and bloodshed instead of creative subtle scares.So in all this made for a decent weekend read but nothing about it is all that memorable, so it was good but not great.

**NO SPOILERS HERE**Another impressive book by Jeff Menapace! This is his first novel in the paranormal suspense horror category and he’s a natural in this genre. I’m crossing fingers and toes for a follow up with these characters in the near future. I’ve read all Jeff’s books and this may be my new favorite.It was easy to relate to the main character as a brand new teacher and the anxiety of starting any new job. Add to that the creepy past of his new school and odd incidents right from the start and it’s no wonder he’s questioning everything and wondering if he made a mistake by accepting the job.I enjoyed the dialogue and thoughts of the main character with enough sarcasm and humor for a few (for real) LOL moments. It’s creepy enough for suspense horror lovers like myself to make this a fun, quick read. But make sure you have enough time to ignore the real world as you will probably say “just one more chapter” until it turns into “screw it—forget sleep”.The cover is weird as hell and after reading it, I understand WHY and WHAT it is! I highly recommend this one and wish you a “good luck” on keeping your fingernails!

Having purchased all of Jeff's books, this is by far his best work. Move over Stephen King. There's a new master of horror and his name is Jeff Menapace.

I've been a fan of Jeff Menapace for a couple of years now since discovering Bad Games and for me he is the master of the lunatic psychopath. Dark Halls is a completely different genre of horror, a first for Mr Menapace and a massive success. He has got the supernatural horror down to a tee with witchcraft type spells, spooky alters, murder and of course the character you really love that is brutally killed off.Set in a small school with tales of murderous children and suicidal teachers adds to the atmosphere we love in a horror story and the twists in the storyline are becoming a natural part of any Menapace book.Jeff Menapace has been likened to many modern masters including King and Koontz, Dark Halls brought to mind another, the sadly missed master of British horror James Herbert which from me is high praise indeed.

This has pipped the Bad Games books to the post to become my favourite of Jeff Menapace’s books!!The supernatural has always been a favourite genre of mine and Jeff really knocked it out of the park with this one.It’s fast paced and such an easy read. I’ve never been a fan of authors that take an age to describe every little thing in minute detail. Much preferring to get into the meaty bits straight off the bat and this book certainly does that.If you like Jeff’s other books and also like the supernatural then you’ll love this.

Jeff has definitely done it again with this book, suspense all the way and a real page turner, took me a day to read this because I just couldn't put it down, very spooky in parts to the point I had to put it down put then had to pick it back up to find out what was going on, if you love Jeff Menapaces books you will love this, great characters and really well written, well done Jeff on this book fantastic read.

Very, very good. I'm normally in to crime fiction and thrillers, but this is something that has edged me into the horror side of things, certainly in an addition to reading crime in the future. The story is great - scary concept and believable. The way the characters speak to each and behave is second to none - very realistic and relatable. Being honest, there were times when I felt icy fingers crawling up my spine reading it. All round, a great novel and Jeff should be praised for this and his ability to write in such a vivid and clear way. Highly recommended.

Sorry Jeff. I'm a huge fan of all of your works but this book was a very amateurish attempt at horror. If it wasn't for the fact that I loved your previous books so much, I would have abandoned it within the first few chapters. It can no way be compared to the brilliant "Bad Games" and the subsequent follow up books.I wouldn't ever have guessed it was the same author 😔