The Nightmare Man is well-named. Filled with plot twists and creepy characters, the reader becomes infatuated with the role of moths. The incorporation of famous paintings and classical music adds to the detail well-used in this spooky book. If you enjoy mysterious, haunting books with a psychiatric bent, this would be a good choice. I do imagine the reader might not sleep well at night both from wondering what the ending will be and because of the connections made between life while sleeping and while awake.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advance review copy.

A horror writer’s latest book’s release coincides with the story unfolding in real life as he and the police try to prevent further devastation in J.H. Markert’s The Nightmare Man.

Detective Mills arrives at a crime scene where a family have been murdered and bundled inside cocoons stitched together from corn husks and hung from the rafters of their barn and he’s unnerved by the scene before him, but the daughter of the slain family is shockingly alive in her cocoon, offering them a chance of a lead. Ben Bookman’s latest horror novel, The Scarecrow, has just been released yet the murder of that family is much too similar to what he’s written to be sheer coincidence, placing him once again under the close scrutiny of Detective Mills. Ben’s younger brother Devon had gone missing from their family estate, Blackwood, years previously and presumed dead but Mills has always had suspicions that Ben had more knowledge of what happened than he ever told; Ben can’t remember much from when he completed the novel in the Blackwood room of numbered, but empty, books forbidden to him by his grandfather, Dr. Bookman, but as he digs in to his family and the property’s history, he fears he may have unleashed something vicious that was trapped long ago. When a second family’s murder occurs that again closely mimics the series of events in Ben’s book, he quickly becomes the prime suspect; Mills and Detective Samantha Blue, his daughter, are determined to find out the link the killer has with the book, before the chilling climax of the novel has an opportunity to come to pass in their small town.

Told from the perspectives of Detective Mills and Ben Bookman, with interludes from before from both of them that slowly fleshes out context for the characters, the narrative of investigation of the brutal and frightening murders occurring unfolds while also delving in to personal histories and relationship conflicts. In balancing the multiple narrative threads, the writing was adept at placing the Bookman family at the center of suspicion and providing clues, repeatedly, for readers to piece together the role that Dr. Bookman had and theorize about Devon after going missing as a young boy. As the story came closer to the conclusion, there was a rapid growth in action as chaos ramped up, propelling the narrative forward through the various twists as realizations finally revealed the previously obscured truths; however, there are still some more practical questions raised from what was revealed that weren’t addressed to an adequate degree to satisfy curious minds. The underlying premise of life imitating art was explored in an intriguing way, beyond a book within the book driving action, through the incorporation of dreams, or more accurately nightmares and the lore surrounding them; the prevalence of dreamcatchers, the concept of dream eating, and sleepwalking within the narrative’s small town setting seemed a bit far-fetched, but provided an explanation for the oddities occurring as myths and the fantastically monstrous were made real in their lives.

Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very original story, and gripping. this will definitely keep your attention. A little emotionally heavy at times, and does have talk about suicide. But it gets pretty eerie.
Definitely one to check out. A nice twisted plot. I will say however the names of the characters could have been a little better.
Overall, very satisfied.

I loved this book. I felt I was reading a very original story. It took me places I usually don't find in books. There is so much to like here. The mysterious family mansion in the woods with the creepy room full of books and the insane asylum next door kept me guessing until the end. I liked the mystery aspect, and the characters of the detectives. Ben was a good protagonist and I was never quite sure if he was innocent or not. I liked how the book delved into nightmares and the mythology behind them. The image of the moths covering the dead twisted trees will stay with me awhile.

I received a free arc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I have to say: I've been so pleasantly surprised by the number of good "horror" books (if that's a genre title we want to use anymore) I've been reading lately. This one will make you feel unsettled and unbalanced.

Much about this one hits the sweet spot for me. It's a book about books. The protagonist, Ben Bookman, is just about to release his latest novel when . . . events from the book start to happen in real life. And the events are pretty horrific. As the murders start to pile up--and with a hard-boiled detective on his tail--Ben has to try to figure out what is going on. That means he has to explore some things from his past that might better remain buried.

I liked this a lot. My only complaint is that the book seems to go into narrative labyrinths sometimes that might work better if uncomplicated to some degree. I read this over the period of a rather busy time at work and maybe this wouldn't have bothered me so much in a quick 1-2 day read. At any rate, this was a great start by a promising new horror writer. I can't wait to see what Markert does next.

Thank you to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for an ARC of this book.

Ben Bookman is known as "The Nightmare Man" for his bestselling horror novels, but his latest novel The Scarecrow hits a little too close to home when a pair of murder scenes mimic details from his book. Even more baffling is that a few of the murders occur before the book even releases to the general public. Bookman becomes a suspect of father/daughter Detectives Mills and Blue not only because of the book's similarities to the murders but also because of Bookman's past involving the childhood disappearance of his younger brother Devon. It was a case the veteran Detective Mills remembers quite clearly. It's up to Bookman to clear his name or leave a trail of clues for the detectives to only suspect him more. Twists and turns aplenty!

For a first time horror novel, The Nightmare Man was sewn together quite well (almost like a corn husk cocoon). You get two narratives, one from Bookman and the other from Mills, and both give a nice opposing perspective at just what is happening. This isn't a straight-up horror story where the writer's fiction comes to life. There's a deeper plot involving the history behind Bookman's grandfather and Blackwood, his childhood home. So, I appreciated when this book took me on a different ride than I was expecting. There's plentiful gore and more than one killer to contend with. The characters are mostly solid -- I enjoyed our father and daughter detectives -- though, Ben could be frustrating at times.

Backstory is divulged slowly, so you get little bits here and there. But it all gels together quite nicely when you learn the full story behind everything.

This has to be the most gruesome and scary book I have ever read. From the first page I was absolutley gripped. Ben, an author was brought up by his grandparents in Blackwood Mansion alongside his brother and sister. As a child his grandfather would take him into the Atrium where there were hundreds and hundreds of books. Ben was never allowed to touch them but his grandfather would tell him stories which led Ben onto becoming an accomplished writer of horror stories.
Just as his latest book is about to be released the murders Benhas written about start to actually happen. They are replicated exactly so Ben becomes under suspicion. The characters are all believable and are easily pictured in the readers mind.
I do not want to write spoilers as this book needs to come alive to the reader. It is brilliantly written, scared me to the point of not wanting to sleep but at the same time I was unable to put it down.
I would love this to be made into a film. If I could give this more stars I would. A great work of fiction. I look foward to reading more by this author.

DNF'd.

I think the idea of the book is great and I wonder who was guilty of the murders. However, the chapters alternating between characters and also the past was too confusing for me, it really slowed me down. I also think that there were many unnecessary conversations that went on and on.

I'm a minority in my opinion I guess but I just kind of got bored.

Actual rating of 3.5

Ben Bookman is called The Nightmare Man because of his ability to weave a horror story like no other. After struggling with writer's block, Ben heads to the family estate in order to knuckle down and finish his current work in progress, he spends the weekend in his Grandfather's Atrium which is filled with thousands of numbered books that contain no words. Though he can remember little of what transpired over that time, he walked away with a finished manuscript. On the eve of his book's release, local detectives are called to a gruesome sight; a family slain, and sewn up inside hand made cocoons which were hung from the rafters of their barn. This murder strangely resembles the one at the beginning of Ben's newest release. When a second killing follows the same pattern, the detectives set their sights on Ben. As the killing's continue to mirror Ben's latest book, the police can't help but mark Ben as a suspect. Though as he delves deeper into his past and his family ancestry, he begins to realise that he may have unwittingly set something free that was trapped long ago. Now it's a race to learn the truth of Blackwood Mansion and of what lies in the Bookman family's past before more death follows, but will they be able to stop it before it's too late?

I've been on a bit of a horror kick this year, so I was pretty excited when I saw this one pop up on Netgalley. The premise intrigued me and I love the idea of a book within a book, and I'll say, it didn't disappoint, but be prepared because there's a fair bit to wrap your head around as the story progresses.

The story itself I felt was well written with a quick easy flow that kept the pages turning and me needing to know what was going to happen next. This isn't just a slash and hack horror story, though there is it's fair share of that going on, it's also a story about self discovery and finding one's self, I feel. I was super intrigued by the idea that there are murders happening based on a book that has just been released, even though, us as readers and reviewers know, many, many people can get their hand on a book prior to it's release date in above board manners, let alone the amount of ways that I'm sure people can find books online illegally. So don't let the premise make you assume that you know who is responsible for what transpires in this book, as I can assure you, it's not going to be as cut and dried as you think. I felt like the pacing was on point and it kept the story moving along at a steady pace. There is a fair bit that goes on as the story progresses, so at times it took a moment to wrap my head around how threads were connecting and where things were heading, but over all I found this to be a quick and easy read.

The characters I felt were really well written. They each had such distinct personalities and voices and I really enjoyed the well rounded cast of characters. I will say that, for being the protagonist, I did find Ben a little bit flat but I think it's because there was so much going on surrounding him that maybe I just didn't take as much notice of his personality as I should have. I really enjoyed the characters of Detective Mills and Blue; a father daughter duo with a lot of crap in their past that they need to work through. I feel like we got to see a lot of that work happening while the case was being investigated and I think they were my favourite characters. A lot of the killers we encounter in this story did come across as caricatures of stereotypes, in my opinion, but I feel like it really played in well with the vibe that the story was going for. I also loved the relationship dynamic between Ben and his wife Amanda, it was terrible, they were basically at the end of the marriage and that was prevalent for most of the book, but I enjoyed getting to see their relationship evolve again towards the end, the same with Mills and Blue's relationship.

I can definitely see why this story is marked as horror, but I didn't find it scary as such. Yeah there were a couple of creepy moments, and there were moments of uncertainty as to whether things were going to go the way I thought they would, or whether it would turn things completely on it's head a take a different route. Though I guess at some of the reveals, I could never have really guessed the full extent of the reason behind the entire story - The Nightmares. I loved the folklore that was involved with the Mare and how it came to be, I found this a cool addition to the story.

All in all, I feel that this was a fresh idea for the horror genre and I love what Markert did with it. While I did enjoy it, I didn't find it scary as such, and at times it did come across a little convoluted. So I guess I can say, I liked it, but I didn't love it. I'm definitely keen to see what Markert does next and I feel like we'll get some cool and unique stories from this author. If you like your horror with some gore, violence and some folklore added in, give this one a go.

It’s been almost a month since I finished this and I’m still thinking about it. The Nightmare Man will forever be in top 10 of my recommendations. I can’t wait to read more from this author and I’m so grateful and thankful I was selected to review an early copy.

It was sinister, thrilling, terrifying in some parts but wrapped up with a nice little bow for you to untie. I hope that there will be a sequel. Winchester was my favourite character and the relationship between him and his daughter Blue was fun to unravel. I probably wouldn’t have had this book on my radar but future books will for sure be added to my list. A superb book I would highly recommend.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to review this book and to NetGalley.

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Oh, lord. This was sooooo cheesy. Everything from the small town, the characters to the Batman references. The writing was not good. I guess if you enjoy cheesy cliches then this is right up your alley.

TW: gory scenes, suicide, language

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks, and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills, along with his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, is determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books. Thousands of books. Books without words.As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 336
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The plot sounded scary

What I Didn't Like:
• The names for the characters aren't good
• Confusing parts
• Most all the characters are named alliterative's
• The writing is cheesy

Overall Thoughts: First off what a great acknowledgment;
For The Fist, All five fingers, It’s been a fun ride, so let’s keep it going. I laughed at this longer than was needed.

Wow this town has had a lot of Batman sounding villains - Bad Cop, Lamplighter, and Boogeyman. So far 3 references to Batman in this book. How have they had these many killers in a town so small its compared to Mayberry?

Our main characters name is Ben Bookman and he's an author. Talk about on the nose. We've also met Amanda Blue and she's a detective (blue because cops wear blue). The boogeyman killer is Bruce Bagwell. Michael Meeks. The names in this book are just terrible.

So Ben's wife Amanda is mad because he didn't put out another book and procrasted. That part came off confusing a bit. I couldn't tell if she was mad at that or that he had a vice when he does work, since he likes to drink.

"I hope it gave you nightmares." Stupid line.😑

Pet peeve: when people say iPhone instead of phone.

Ah, Amanda is such a horrible character in a book. Does she even like her husband, Ben? The whole book she acts like he's not good enough for her and is annoying.

Most of the lines are beyond cheesy in this book.
“Someone read my book , Amanda. Some cruel piece of shit acting out some morbid—”
“Ben.”“Amanda . . .” He was almost pleading. “What?”
“Your book came out last week. The Petersons were killed almost three weeks ago.”
Like maybe his book was leaked? Maybe a publisher - editor is a murder, but stupid Amanda just goes to Ben being a murderer.



Sometimes it feels like Amanda is the one who is drunk. Telling the police every little bit about their lives. She's just terrible! Again, does she even like Ben?

Honestly about 30% into this book it feels almost like nothing is happening. The detectives seem to interview the same people and walk around to the same places.

I also didn't think this would be so detective heavy. I felt like I was watching a "ghost/horror" movie that was PG13

Final Thoughts: I had to dnf this book at the 50% mark. I wasn't enjoying anything about it. It was seriously a struggle to even pick this book up to want to read it. It was putting me in a reading slump. Maybe I missed something in this book that SO many other people saw in it. It's not scary. The writing is cheesy. The characters are boring. Nothing happens (for as far as I got). They interview the same people over and over.

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Creepy Murder Mystery

The premise of The Nightmare Man is interesting, a bit of horror and fantasy. A scarecrow is murdering people and leaving the bodies in particularly gruesome situations which follow the plot of the protagonist’s upcoming book release. The plot is hard to follow at times due to the repetition and switching characters, I found myself at times having to go back to figure out who was speaking. There seemed to also be a lot of re-hashing of events, which added length to the book without adding anything to the story. The interaction between characters Detective Mills and Rookie Samantha Blue, father and daughter, did add a lot to the story with their banter.

It was difficult for me to keep myself interested in this book. I would stop at the end of a chapter and then when I sat down again to read I would sometimes choose another book and read it before going back to The Nightmare Man. It was just not as thrilling and engrossing to me as many others have expressed. The writing is good, the premise is good, but the repetition was boring. It was creepy but in a way that didn’t keep me entertained.

Scarecrows scare, that’s what they do! I love this line!

Such a wild ride! Loved the character development, the old mansion, and the whole concept of this book. I won’t give anything away, but I loved it!!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read this fantastic book!

The Nightmare Man by J. H. Markert
This book definitely had my interest from the title and cover alone, then I started to read and didn't want to stop! Very well written story, excellent characters that are fleshed out and it's creepy enough that I needed to see how this would all play out. Was not disappointed. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book and leave my opinion.

Now this is a horror story! Imagine all your nightmares coming to life – you’re too afraid to go to sleep and when you’re awake you can’t tell fantasy from reality.

It’s written in present and past tense through flashbacks and this worked well in this novel. The character development was so thoroughly well done, I got to know each one of them intimately enough that I cared about what happened to them.

A murder-mystery with an horrific twist that you won’t be able to put down. But be warned: read it when the sun is shining. When you’re wide awake. Far from the woods.

#netgalley #thenightmareman #jhmarkert #crokkedlanebooks

Ben Bookman has a successful career as a fiction writer of horror books. Sure, he has some personal issues with his wife Amanda, and his sister Emily wants to sell their old family home(against his wishes), Blackwood Manor. He also maybe drinks a bit too much, but after the last year, he feels like he needs it. His latest book, The Scarecrow has just been released and it is part of an unresolved issue between him and Amanda. It seems like he wrote most of it in a fugue state at his creepy old home. What happened that weekend and how is he going to get his life back on track?
Pressing issues, am I right, but when the police show up, they will pale in comparison. Someone is killing people and the gruesome methods come straight from the pages of Ben's books. Is he the killer or is someone taking great pains to get his attention? Ben's past and present collide with nightmarish results.
As the body count rises, I was convinced I knew who the killer was, and miraculously I was correct! But, if you think that is the end, you would be dead wrong. There were still so many twists and turns and while I guessed some parts, I had no idea how much more was going on. If I thought the story was quite scary, the ending was a what moment! .4.5 stars.

This is an extremely well written horror novel, a genre I never read. It is about nightmares coming to life and the small cadre of people trying to stop them. The fact that I did finish it is a testimony to how very well written it is. Thanks to Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC for an honest review.

ARC thanks to Crooked Lane and Netgalley. This book gave me a weird sense of nostalgia, because when I was a kid, I was OBSESSED with Dean Koontz. This book reads so similarly to one of his novels. The author keeps you guessing as to what is real and what is dream, what is solid and what is some sort of evil magic until the end. It was scary enough to keep me up at night, so I had to read during the day.

Now for the negative, and the thing keeping this from being a five star horror novel: the ending was unbelievable and there was no foreshadowing that made it palatable. If they just rearranged the flashbacks, I would have had an easier time...maybe? It just sorta made me roll my eyes a little.

Ultimately, this was the right combo of supernatural chills, suspense, who-dun-it, and full out monster mash of a horror book and it was entertaining if not a little bit Stephen King Fanboy. ;-)

This story had me hooked from the very first page.
Even though it wasn't scary, I really liked the mystery of the Nightmare Man and the attempt to find out who he is.
The writing was good, the plot was great and I loved the lore.
There is suspense, action, and a lot of well-written characters.
A good recommendation for a quick read that keeps you on edge.