Two thirteen-year-old boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, are next door neighbors. The two kids grew together and are best friends, although they are very different physically and psychologically.
On the 24th of October, a Carnival comes to town, bringing an authentic freak show. Will and Jim start relating strange events in town to the arrival of the Carnival, but the investigation leads them to a real nightmare. Their only help is Will’s father, Charles Halloway, who is the janitor/philosopher of the town’s library.
Something wicked this way comes, for its story, seems like a simple carnival horror story, but it is far more complex.
The writing is very expressive. Even the common life of Will and Jim, before the arrival of the carnival, feels a mix of awkward and creepy. The imagination in this novel is superb, even small details are very imaginative, which reminded me of a more recent novel, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by G.W. Dahlquist, where a reader, at certain points, would feel as useless to try to guess what would happen next, or how a situation would be solved.
Apart from the fantasy/horror in this novel, it has a strong philosophical component. As it is a story of good versus evil, it deals primarily with the dichotomy good/bad, and some nonsensical notions that come therein, like, for instance, how good can fight bad without being bad to bad. It also deals with the seductive power of sin and evil, and how it can treacherously lead to deeper forms of perversity and damnation.
Another subject largely discussed in this novel is the relationship between age and mental maturity, and the healthy need of assuming and living one’s age. A discrepancy between age and maturity may lead to the isolation and weakening of a person, who, ultimately, becomes an easier target for evil.
[...] – Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury (Der Wanderer’s Blog) [...]