The Brave Bookshelf Dispatch
Books, brave conversations, author news, writer advice, and one internet thing I’m probably overthinking.
Hi Bookish Friends! 🎃📚
Halloween has changed.
And maybe I notice it more because I grew up in the ’80s.
When I was around ten or eleven — maybe even younger — I remember heading out into the neighborhood with my friends to trick-or-treat.
No parents walking ten feet behind us.
No location sharing.
No group texts asking where we were.
No phones at all.
We just… went.
House to house.
Street to street.
Probably farther than we had any business going.
And somehow, at the end of the night, we made our way home with pillowcases full of candy and absolutely no photographic evidence of where we had been.
Which, looking back now?
Feels a little wild.
Halloween Then vs. Halloween Now 🎃
The Halloween I remember from the ’80s felt much more kid-driven.
You met up with friends.
You wandered.
You decided which streets had the best candy.
You dared each other to walk up to the creepy house.
You stayed out until someone’s porch light went off or somebody finally said, “We should probably go home.”
Today, Halloween can feel much more organized.
Parents are more likely to walk with younger kids.
Some families choose trunk-or-treat events, community celebrations, or designated neighborhoods.
Phones make it easier to keep track of everyone.
And Halloween itself feels bigger.
There are elaborate yard displays.
Entire stores devoted to Halloween.
Movie tie-ins.
Licensed costumes.
Matching family costumes.
Halloween décor that starts appearing when it still feels like summer.
I’m not saying one version is better.
But it definitely feels different.
And for a thriller writer?
That difference is fascinating.
In my research, I found even more thriller-worthy material hiding in Halloween memories from the ’80s.
PopSugar.com brought up the Tylenol scare, and I don’t know if anyone else remembers this, but it changed the way a lot of parents looked at Halloween candy.
There were stories about tampered medicine, razor blades hidden in candy, and other scary rumors about people putting dangerous things into treats meant for kids.
I remember coming home from trick-or-treating and immediately dumping all my candy onto the floor so my mom could inspect every single piece.
If the wrapper looked torn, crinkled, opened, or even slightly suspicious?
Into the trash it went.
And honestly, from a thriller-writer perspective, there is so much you could do with that idea.
Maybe someone really is poisoning the Halloween candy.
Maybe a predator is targeting one neighborhood.
Or maybe someone is experimenting with a strange formula that turns unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into zombies.
See?
One childhood Halloween memory and suddenly we have three new thriller plots.
Why the ’80s Were Perfect for Kid-Led Thrillers
Think about it.
No cell phones.
No GPS.
No texting a parent.
No security cameras on every other porch.
No instant internet search when something weird happens.
If you were twelve years old and saw something suspicious?
You had to figure it out yourself.
Want to know who owns the creepy house?
Bike to the library.
Need to call your parents?
Find a landline.
Think someone is following you?
Good luck checking their social media.
That lack of instant communication gives writers so much room to create tension.
And the kids had freedom.
At least where I grew up, we were outside.
Unsupervised.
Riding bikes.
Exploring woods.
Cutting through yards.
Knocking on doors.
Going places our parents probably assumed were much closer than they actually were.
That is basically a thriller setup waiting to happen.
Why So Many Horror Stories Keep Going Back to the ’80s 📺
I don’t think it’s an accident that so many horror and mystery stories keep returning to this era.
Stranger Things may be the most obvious example.
Kids on bikes.
Walkie-talkies.
Parents who don’t know where they are half the time.
A mystery the kids have to solve themselves because the adults either don’t believe them or don’t understand what’s happening.
Then there’s Paper Girls, which begins on Halloween morning in 1988.
Four girls are out delivering newspapers before dawn.
By themselves.
Already, you have a premise that would be much harder to create the same way today.
A few other stories that use the ’80s particularly well:
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Set in the late ’80s, with teen friendship, horror, possession, and all the wonderfully strange cultural details of the era.
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
A coming-of-age story set in the 1980s involving kids, ghost stories, urban legends, and the mysteries adults don’t always explain.
Summer of 84 a film by RKSS on Apple TV
A group of teenage boys begin to suspect that someone in their neighborhood may be a serial killer. Naturally, they investigate.
Because apparently the official hobby of fictional ’80s kids was:
“Adults aren’t doing anything, so I guess we’ll solve it.”
And then there’s Totally Killer, which sends its teen protagonist back to 1987 and plays with all the differences between being a teenager then and now.
Not all of these are technically middle grade or YA books, but they tap into the same storytelling advantage:
Kids had space to get into trouble.
A lot of space.
Writer Aha: Take Away the Phone 📵
One reason the ’80s are so appealing to thriller writers is simple:
You don’t have to explain why the character didn’t just call someone.
That is a real problem when writing modern suspense.
You put your character in danger and immediately have to ask:
Does she have her phone?
Does she have service?
Why doesn’t she call 911?
Can someone track her location?
Did the security camera catch it?
Did anyone screenshot the message?
Technology gives characters more tools.
Which means writers have to work harder to take those tools away.
Set the same story in 1985?
Your character gets on her bike and rides into the woods.
Nobody knows where she is.
Done.
Terrifying.
Convenient.
Thank you, 1985.
And Halloween Makes It Even Better 👻
Halloween adds another layer.
Everyone is wearing costumes.
People are outside after dark.
Strangers are walking up to houses.
Masks are normal.
Someone screaming might be joking.
That person standing at the end of the street?
Probably another trick-or-treater.
Probably.
And if a kid came home in the ’80s and said:
“I think someone followed us tonight,”
there wasn’t necessarily a doorbell camera waiting to settle the question.
That uncertainty is thriller gold.
The Brave Conversation 💛
But there’s another side to all this nostalgia.
More freedom also meant kids sometimes had to handle things themselves.
Today we talk much more openly about supervision, bullying, stranger safety, mental health, consent, and when kids should ask adults for help.
That’s a good thing.
So I don’t think the interesting question is:
Were the ’80s better?
I think it’s:
What did kids gain from that independence — and what risks came with it?
Maybe that’s why the era still feels so powerful in fiction.
Kids had enough freedom to get into trouble.
And not enough technology to get out of it easily.
For a thriller writer?
That’s almost irresistible.
What I’m Reading 📚
This week, I’m sharing Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.
About the book:
Horror fan Mara enters a contest hosted by legendary producer Jack Stanley, hoping to win $100,000 by spending the night on the set of his cult slasher Asylum. But what starts as a dream for horror lovers turns deadly fast. Trapped with four other contestants, Mara must fight to survive until morning—and face just how ruthless she’s willing to become.
What pulled me in:
Ryan Douglass delivers again! I loved Mara’s badass spirit and the unique personalities of her brother and best friend. The fast-moving plot kept me hooked, while the vivid gore and terrifying spider things had me checking under my bed. After loving The Taking of Jake Livingston, I was thrilled that Night of Madness brought more unforgettable scares.
Five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for this creepy, action-packed read!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the book and my honest review.
You can read my full review here and get the book:
Now I Want to Hear From You
If you grew up in the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s:
How old were you when you started trick-or-treating without your parents?
And do you think you’d let a kid that age do the same thing today?
Hit reply and tell me.
I’m especially curious to know how far everyone wandered.
Because I have a feeling our parents thought we were three streets away when we were actually halfway across town.
Warmly,
Kim
P.S. Thriller writers: if your plot gets stuck because everyone has a smartphone, you can always move the story to 1987. Problem solved.