Run and hide. I’ll seek and play.
Not much more time before I get my way.
No one can stop me; I’ll get the right number.
Your world will be mine, I’ll escape from my slumber.

Your cries of pain, I love to hear.
The more you hurt, the better the fear. –The Seeker

Scared yet? In the spirit of Halloween, I’m back with my annual spooky story review. This time, we got ourselves a tale that’ll make your spine tingle with fear.

Today we’re reviewing Hide and Seeker, by Daka Hermon. You can buy it here. And you should, cause this is one chilling tale that’s perfect for Halloween. Hide and seek. Such an innocent game filled with mischief and plenty of running and chasing. But play the game wrong, and the Seeker comes for you.

With that, let’s see what we have in store.

Ready or not. Here it comes.

Zee had gone missing for over a year. Ever since he returned, he had never been the same. Justin, Nia, Lyric, and other friends decide to celebrate his return and play hide and seek to pass the time, however, when the mean girl, Clara, comes along to interfere, Zee warns them about breaking the Seeker’s game. One by one, they disappear into the world of Nowhere, forced to live their fears one by one. The only way to win? Finish the game they started, unless the Seeker gets them first.

I really enjoyed this story. It has the right amount of fear, enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and most of all, it was fun to read. The story’s fear revolves around, of course, hide and seek. What’s normally an otherwise innocuous and simple game is given a fearful and supernatural twist. A group of kids break the rules of hide and now are threatened with the prospect of vanishing to live out their greatest fears.

Games tend to rely on fairness, and naturally, horror stories geared towards kids like this have a moral lesson even if they have unhappy endings. Break the rules of the game and face the consequences. After all, no kid wants to end up like Zee and become addicted to madness.

While the story was solid, engaging, and had plenty to love, I wish it would have incorporated hide and seek into the plot more often. A majority of kids in Nowhere broke the rules of the game. It would have really been interesting to see Nowhere incorporate that into that specific realm. Have the Seeker stalk kids and if they’re tagged, they vanish for real.

I don’t think the stakes were high enough especially for a horror story. Sure living out their worst nightmares for all eternity and never aging (some kids in Nowhere have been there for at most eighty years) is a fate worse than death. Eternal suffering is never fun. Considering how dangerous this Nowhere world is, maybe losing a couple of the cast to the Seeker. It definitely would have made the world that more dangerous.

That was more or less a minor gripe if anything. The story was fantastically written and kept me engaged throughout. It had the right amount of fear to keep me wanting more. The characters had plenty of personality (even an autistic character, Quincy, who wasn’t portrayed as a dumbass, for once. Thank you, Ms. Hermon) and enjoyed them throughout.

Final thoughts

If you’re looking for a spooky story for Halloween, this is a good one to read. Scary, entertaining, and suspenseful. While the stakes could have been higher given the circumstances, it’ll make you think twice about being a sore sport in hide and seek. Unless you want to live your darkest fears for all eternity.

That’s all for today. Take care, happy Halloween, and remember, the inn is always open.