When you’re a kid it’s all about that allowance: it’s your salvation to the arcade, to the movies, to candy, and general having fun. In Hampton Heights, Dan Kois tells the story of six boys who just want to earn some cash, and instead end up having one of the most disturbing nights of their lives.
It’s a cold winter’s evening in 1987, but these six middle-school boys have an assignment: to get as many newspaper subscriptions as possible. There’s a reward of money plus dinner at Burger King. The boys are paired off into three groups and then set free while the organizer heads to the bar and ends up in his own bizarre Twilight Zone story.
Apparently the town has lots more to offer than possible new subscribers, such as monsters, old witches, and a creepy monster that steals memories. The boys will find themselves in deeper trouble than they bargained for.
Kois has created a fun little tale in Hampton Heights that has a great nostalgia feel of kids being kids and going on adventures, but at times crossing over into the dark and scary. Strong individual characters help carry the story along to a satisfying conclusion.
