Hey there, fellow readers! I've got a spine-tingling tale to share with you. Before you dive into this chilling read, here are some friendly warnings:

First off, avoid reading this one late at night in complete silence. Trust me, I learned my lesson. It's best to have some background noise to keep you grounded.

Secondly, don't try reading it in a crowded place like a cafe or restaurant.

Now, let's dive into the spine-tingling tale:

Imagine a quaint town called Harrod's Reach, where something seriously eerie is happening. Corpses are appearing in an old train tunnel, each with haunting lullabies attached. To make things even weirder, a young boy named Sully Dupree ends up comatose after an accident in that very tunnel. When Sully briefly wakes up, he delivers a message from a nightmarish place called LaLaLand, where he's been trapped with other coma patients. In LaLaLand, malevolent mythical creatures lurk, trying to break into the real world and unleash terror on the town.

Now, we meet two key characters: Maddy, the sole coma survivor who's awake, and Teddy, who's haunted by a sinister voice that pushes him to commit dark deeds.

This book? It's a rollercoaster of horror, like a fusion of Peter Pan and Stephen King's "It." The plot keeps you on your toes, with more twists than you can imagine. You'll be gripping the edge of your seat through the entire second half.

Maddy's mission? To stop these nightmarish creatures from taking over her town. Teddy's mission? Well, you'll have to read to find out, but trust me, it's spine-chilling.

But, here's my only gripe: the ending felt rushed, leaving some questions unanswered. It seems to set the stage for a sequel, and if that's the case, count me in. I want more of this eerie world and these characters. If not, well, the hurried ending doesn't quite do justice to the rest of the book.

Overall, it's a compelling and absorbing horror tale that'll send shivers down your spine. I couldn't put it down, and it's got me in the mood for a spooky Halloween season. So go ahead, give it a read and brace yourself for a terrifying journey!

This was.. almost really good.
The premise was really interesting and definitely had that Stephen King's <I>the mist</i> vibes, but it was missing a lot. The genuinely interesting or complicated plot points were mentioned once and never touched on again, while explanations for trivial actions were extremely heavy handed. (Yes, we can assume that a man kissing another man is gay, it doesn't need to be stated 8 times in 3 chapters for the reader to understand.)
The ending was also abrupt and didn't make a lot of sense, while also being very predictable from the setup. The same ending could have been great if it had just been fleshed out more and didn't feel so rushed or incomplete.

There were some specific scenes that were creepy as hell that stuck with me, with a mix between the idea itself and some very well written horror.

Overall, the concept was creepy and interesting, but execution was poor. I had a hard time following the story and didn't really look forward to coming back to it between reads.
Being said, I will still at some point in the future try out some other of Market's works.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and J.H. Market for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5599951208

Loved the creep factor, definitely had some gore. The train tunnel as "otherworldly" - so well done. I'm never going near one again. I also enjoyed pulling in The Nightmare Man, as well maybe a title to another work from this author. Very creative.
These characters. The historical homes and locations. Use of coma patients - don't we all wonder what goes on.
Highly recommend.

This book reminded me a bit of Stephen King's earlier works. Small town horrors tend to work well as shown here.

I did find the different POVs to be a bit confusing and felt like sometimes the author could have merged some of them together but it didn't detract from the creepiness of the story. The beginning also dragged a bit but I know that may have been necessary for worldbuilding and character development.

I enjoyed the overall story highly but felt like it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. I had some questions in the end. I'm hopeful this means there's a sequel to come.

All in all, this was a solid horror and definitely a excellent addition to any horror fan's library

Thank you Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to review this book!

I absolutely loved this book! This was such a fun read to dive into after The Nightmare Man with the similar elements between the two stories. I enjoyed the small town aspect so much as well- I think J.H. Markert does an amazing job of immersing his audience in his books. Thank you so much for this copy! I can't wait to pick up my own copy!

“What if the make believe exists? What is that’s what we see when we dream…”

The perfect blend of horror, thriller and the paranormal. I was completely and utterly encompassed by this book from the first page. I devoured it as much as it devoured me. The concept of nightmares coming to life alone is enough to keep me from sleeping, let alone the rest of the horror in this tale.
The twists, turns and gore will leave your stomach weak yet yearning for more. The storytelling in this book (dare I say it) rivals Stephen King in the depth, detail and destruction of my brain which has left me with a sudden need for more J. H. Markert books in my life. In short, it destroyed me in the best way. I highly recommend.

Special thanks for the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC!

I’ve been sleeping on Markert clearly. I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy this as I had not read their previous book but I don’t believe it took away, and I’m on to that one next!

The synopsis of the book was real promising and I was really excited to read this during spooky season, but I ended up not liking this book.
There was way too many POV's to keep straight and then on top of that it kept going to past and present. It just got confusing to follow all of them sometimes.
It also took me forever to get into and I kept leaving the book every couple chapters. This book just wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley, Publisher and J.H. Markert for letting me read the ARC for an honest review. Available 11/21/2023

I really did not end up liking this book. Mister Lullaby has a lot of promise, bit falls flat. There are far too many POVs in this to keep the story straight and honestly its a bit dizzying. It also took too long to get into it. At this point the author is not for me, but by no means am I saying not to read it for yourself.



Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 2.5/5

I found this book to be a bit of a conundrum. The beginning dragged a bit, which I recognize was sort of necessary for character development, but when things kicked into gear, it felt a bit all over the place. The amount of POVs was a bit much for me and felt unnecessary for telling the story. The ending gave me whiplash - it came on far too suddenly and did not wrap up nearly enough of the questions. Overall, a good story with a creepy premise, but falls short just short of the finish line.

This was the scary story that I have been waiting for. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read it early!

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC!

Mister Lullaby was the perfect mix of Stephen King's It and Stranger Things vibes. The short chapters flew by, each one ending with new and intriguing information that kept me completely invested in the story. Despite having a rather large cast of characters, I found that I was never confused. I never had to go back and double check whose POV I was in.

For the majority of the book, I just knew that this would be a 5 star read for me but ultimately I deducted one for the rather abrupt ending. The conclusion will probably work for some but it unfortunately did not work for me. I would have liked another chapter or two to wrap everything up. But having said that, the story was so very interesting and fast-paced, which I loved. This was the perfect read to get me in the mood for spooky season!

Mister Lullaby by J. H. Markert is described as a horror novel but unfortunately I didn't feel the horror. I thought it was a book with potential that never delivered. It had a lot of characters. You had a veteran who was injured, a cop who wanted to be sheriff, a comatose boy, an attack victim, a mentally handicap man, and a whole lot of different murderers. All of these people are linked by a tunnel that leads to another world called LaLaLand. The premise of the story sounded great and the plot was reminiscent of Stephen King's stories but it just wasn't quite there. It built slowly and there was a good bit of character development. It was told in various different timelines from various different points of view which at timea got confusing. It seemed like it rushed to the end and never really finished. I think it would have been great if it were longer and the climax wasn't rushed, as the world building and character building were wonderful. The ending was also disappointing as it didn't really end and that left me frustrated that I spent all that time on a book without an adequate ending.
Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read, rate and review this arc which will be available 11/21/2023! All opinions herein are mine and mine alone.

It was okay. I was wicked confused throughout. The jumping from one character to another was annoying. The storyline wasn’t cohesive. Interesting premise but to me it fell short.

“Because that’s what Lalaland was, the land of colorful deception, the land of wrong, the land of make-believe, the land where if you could think it, you could make it so, the land of Mr. . . .”

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of this book.

SPOOOOOKY SEASON IS AMONG US!!! 👻

Warning. This book is creeeepy. Beware of reading it alone at night. 🔪
From the moment you open the book you will find yourself flipping through the pages way past your bedtime. This author creates such a chilling atmosphere and the details create such vivid and unsettling scenes.
My one thing is, I needed more of a resolution at the end.
All horror fans will love this and be prepared to lose sleep for Mister Lullaby🎶.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Mr. Lullaby as much as I did with Markerts first book, The Nightmare Man. This book read more macho, more violent towards women. Just wasn’t my thing. Thank you for the arc for me to read!

Sorry, this one was a DNF for me. The blurb sounded absolutely amazing but the actual story just kept gathering momentum without actually going anywhere.

The reviews I’ve seen to date on Mister Lullaby have been pretty favorable, so I might be in the minority of people who did not enjoy it. It took me a LONG time to get into it and, by the the time I finally did, it ended so abruptly and weirdly. I didn’t enjoy this one at all, although the concept behind it was good and the writing was well done.

Harrod's Reach is a small town that has plenty of experience with unexplainable phenomena. One source of strange activity is an old train tunnel that continues to fascinate local constituents both young and old.  Young Sully Dupree went into the tunnel years ago and never quite returned. He suffered an injury and now lingers in a comatose state. While Sully and others like him lie helpless in a state of endless sleep there is something sinister waking up and hunting them in the shadows.

This novel can be read as a stand-alone or as a follow-up to The Nightmare Man. Rarely can I say that I enjoyed a sequel more than the first book in a series . . . this book set this story aflame for me and now I’m begging for more.

If you enjoy horror or fantasy, add this to your cart. Trust me . . . this is your jam!

I'd like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of Mister Lullaby for my unbiased evaluation.  5 stars

It's an intriguing, creepy, small-town horror with an old train tunnel that seems to be linked with murders and unnatural occurrences. It was confusing to me at first because of the many characters' perspectives and the before and after kind of approach but in the end, I thought I really enjoyed reading it because of the overall eeriness. Also, the ending seems to be abrupt, hopefully a second book would come.