The Night of the Moonbow (1989)
by Thomas Tryon
Camp Friend-Indeed is a boys’ summer camp in the 1930s, where the promise of idyllic adventure gradually curdles into something more sinister.
Enter Leo Joaquim, a sensitive newcomer with a traumatic past who doesn’t fit in with a society that finds comfort in conformity.
Thomas Tryon charts a descent from youthful camaraderie to cruelty, as superstition, jealousy, and mob mentality take hold.
![]() |
| Thomas Tryon |
His prose is beautiful—lush descriptions of lake and forest conjure a vanished America—but beneath the surface lies repression and guilt.
Though the story’s pace may test some readers’ patience, the payoff is devastating: a portrait of childhood corrupted not by monsters, but by ordinary malice left unchecked.
This book is often marketed as horror, but the horror is social rather than supernatural, a reminder that cruelty thrives best in communities that prize obedience over empathy.
![]() |
| "Breeding Ground of Evil" (Dutch) |
Some readers may wish for a sharper narrative edge or a clearer sense of justice, but Tryon’s restraint serves his theme—evil, in this world, arrives not with fanfare but with a whisper.
![]() |
| "Black Summer" (German) |








Comments
Post a Comment