Super creepy thriller. Fast paced, terrifying story about an abandoned train tunnel that leads to the stuff of nightmares. Sully was injured at the tunnel site and left in a coma as a child, but he and other coma patients are still tortured by what is on the other side of the tunnel. Don’t read this book at night if you want to sleep,

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of Mister Lullaby. As a huge fan of Stephen King and Joe Hill, I absolutely loved this book. It was well-paced and surprising at every turn.

I liked this novel more than I did Markert’s previous effort, The Nightmare Man, by a small margin, because I believed The Nightmare Man suffered from a rather shaky, poorly-paced beginning, while Mister Lullaby doesn’t suffer from the same weakness. Instead, this book pops off right from the beginning, hooking the reader in and flinging them right into a disturbing, shaky, troubling situation that only gets more disturbing, shakier, and is downright off-the-wall nightmarish by the time act three hits.

It’s hard to describe the plot without spoilers, but you’ll get a clearly demarcated good versus evil storyline, questions about humanity, feelings of guilt and shame, reminders of how lullabies and nursery rhymes are about monsters and not happy things, questions about where you go when you’re in a coma, and when does a killer go from simply being a killer and become a living nightmare.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this while reading the book, but Markert also did quite a bit of work with color theory and imagery in this book. There's a lot of yellow, red, white, and black used in this book in descriptions regarding the “evil” side of things in this book, and all of these colors can be correlated with conflict, rot, and death. The vivid colors of animals that come from the other side in this book is also a clue they aren’t quite right, as we can see in one scene in act three. Don’t even get me started on the symbology of the seashells and what you hear when you hold one to your ear.

My only two complaints are the ending (I wasn’t totally sold) and that the timing on the two POVs (us versus them) didn’t line up a little closer to one another. Other than that, it was a great novel.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. This review was written without compensation.

File Under: Murder Thriller/Horror/Psychological Thriller/Supernatural Horror/Suspense Mystery/Thriller

I was provided both an e-ARC and an Audio arc of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I appreciated having both formats available as there is alot going on in this book. There are multiple points of view and alot of characters to keep track of. Having the e-book handy to clarify plot points.

This book is told from multiple points of view, and the audiobook is narrated by a male and female narrator who switch on an off depending on which POV. I think they both did a good job narrating their different parts and they did justice brining the creepy atmosphere that Markert dreamt up.

I jumped at the opportunity to read this early as I loved The Nightmare Man. This has that same creepy vibe and a balance of horror and thriller that I really like. If you are a fan of Stephen King like I am, I think you will really enjoy the way this novel is put together. While the story isn't a copycat in any way of one of King's novels, the way the book is constructed, the horror elements, the strangeness factor, etc remind me alot of some of my favorite King books. Why did I only give it only 3 stars you ask? The ending...the ending felt a bit rushed to me and unfinished. As we approach what I'll call the final battle, I had check if this was book 1 of a series because there was no way things could wrap up with only a small amount of pages left. While the book does end, I don't feel closure I like to have at the end of a book. Up until the last pages, I was really enjoying this book.

This follows Gideon after returning from a tour on active duty to his home town where strange things happen around the old train tunnel. Many a townsfolk have been maimed in and around the tunnel and no one can explain why. Gideon's own brother has been in a coma for years after entering the tunnel. Beth the local Deputy Sheriff is trying to explain the local uptick in violence in town related to the tunnel. Teddy hears voices that tell him to do bad things and along the way to do those bad things he collects others who do bad things. Teddy, Beth, Gideon and others who are all part of the story that culminates in the town of Herrod's Reach all have a part to play as the tunnel brings nightmares to life in this atmospheric and creepy story.

Overall, I thought the plot was unique and original. I really liked the use of the various creatures from mythology with relation to dreams an nightmares. The worldbuilding was well done and I enjoyed the interaction between characters. This is the type of horror book I enjoy where there is a sense of unease and a creep factor throughout. The only thing that kept me from giving this a higher rating was the ending. Perhaps there is more to this story, perhaps it was left more open ended on purpose for the reader to imagine what happens to the characters. I prefer to leave a novel with a sense of closure and I didn't get that here.

Mister lullaby by J. H. Markert.
The small town of Harrod’s Reach has seen its fair share of the macabre, especially inside the decrepit old train tunnel around which the town was built. After a young boy, Sully Dupree, is injured in the abandoned tunnel and left in a coma, the townspeople are determined to wall it up. Deputy sheriff Beth Gardner is reluctant to buy into the superstitions until she finds two corpses at the tunnel’s entrance, each left with strange calling cards inscribed with old lullabies. Soon after, Sully Dupree briefly awakens from his coma.
A good read. I did like Beth. 4*.

I enjoyed Nightmare Man, although struggled with the number of characters, and I found this one similar. I would enjoy it a lot more I think if the author were able to concentrate on the development of two or three of the main protagonists and their thoughts on the unfolding terror.
Thank you to netgalley and Crooked Lane books for an advance copy of this book

Well this took me back to the days of my youth - the mid 80s - when I lived and breathed all things horror - film and books. Masterton, Lumley, Herbert, and King. All before I was 18 - oops!
I do admit to having to take a wee while to get into this book, maybe the anticipation, but it just felt like I was having to have my wits about me rather than allowing the book to do its stuff automatically. But, once I was over that hurdle and things really got going, I was well and truly sucked in and powerless to escape. Even though it started to scare the bejiggle out of me. Not in a terrify way, I hasten to add, more an unsettled way... Chilling! Intelligent rather than just a gore-fest.
It involves an old abandoned railway tunnel where kids egg each other on to go through. A boy who was injured there and now lies in a coma, whose brother has just been injured out of the forces. There are others in comas, all around the country. And someone who is visiting them. And then there are two new corpses the Sheriff has to investigate. I say Sheriff but she's really the deputy but, well... she gets a promotion, let's just leave that there!
And then there's Lalaland - but I will leave you to find out all about that, wonderful, place!
I said this was scary but in an unsettled way rather than jump scares. It's definitely brutal and violent. Pretty much from the start. But it's not all about that. It doesn't rely on that to get the readers invested. It has some cracking characters that, for me anyway, kept me going as I bonded with them and so really wanted to know whether they would get through what was happening. I became fully invested in Beth, Gideon, and Maddy (who I will leave you to meet as the author intends) but also Teddy and his seashell voice...
Pacing was good once I got with the program which didn't take long. It's been a while since I read a really good old school horror book in my defence, probably the last was The Nightmare Man, a year ago, also by the same author, so it's probably more a me thing than anything the author did wrong. It was on the whole slower than I was expecting but that fitted the story, the confusion, the claustrophobic atmosphere. It did get a bit rushed towards the end though. The story itself was compelling and kept my attention all the way through, concluding mostly to my satisfaction.
All in all, a good solid read that I have no hesitation in recommending to fans of the genre. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Arc kindly provided by NetGalley!

I really, really enjoyed this one! I didn't read Markert's first novel, The Nightmare Man, and I don't think that affected my enjoyment of this one at all.

The story starts off pretty grim - Gideon, only recently returned from the army - returns home the same night things start to go bad at the tunnel in his home town. Murder and craziness ensues - it's one of those that I think it's better you go into it blind!

I do think the characters were well flushed out. I understood their motivations and purpose for the story. I do think, however, that the story itself could have maybe been a little more flushed out. I was a little confused as to what was going on part of the time, and the explanations we do get was a little surface level; It felt like I was supposed to just get what the author meant without anything being fully explained. I'm still not entirely sure I knew what it all meant, but I had such a good time, that I'm not mad about it either.

My biggest gripe with the story, and the reason I took off a star, is because of the ending. I didn't really care for it at all. I kept flipping the pages back and forth to see if maybe I just missed part of it, because surely it couldn't just end like that. It seemed like we got no closure! I'm hoping that there is another book in this series, just so I know what happens to a few of these characters.

Overall, I think this is a great horror book, whether you like the genre or not. It was entertaining, with quick and easy chapters. I do recommend!

MISTER LULLABY is a solid follow up to Markert's previous novel, The Nightmare Man. It adds on layers of creepy fantasy with a little paranormal suspense. At times I did get quite disoriented due to a variety of POVs and some subplots that meandered, but in the end everything felt right and came together. But if you think you are safe in daylight as a horror enthusiast, this book will change your mind!

TL;DR - a bunch of children in comas try to save the world.

I love any horror that mixes in the dream world with reality, and this one really hit the spot. Similar to his last book, this one is about the creatures of nightmares crossing over into reality and is rooted in different folklore.

At times, I found the book a little tough to follow because there was a lot going on and a lot of characters, but I picked it up pretty quickly. It was one of those books that I finished and immediately felt like I needed to start over from the beginning to pick up all of the nuances.

Overall, a really solid horror read.

After the eery 'Nightmare Man', the author gave me the opportunity to read and review 'Mister Lullaby'.
This book gave me chills!

We follow Gideon, Beth, and an array of characters as they try to save their town from Nightmares.
It was slow-paced, there were a lot of different points of view and I, as a reader, didn't like it. Someone else might like it, so there's that.
The characters are, however, well-written, but I would have liked to see more of them. Maybe we'll see them in another book?

The readers will also find the chapters divided between then and now, so they'll need to pay extra attention to that.

I love the add-ons of different lores about the nightmares. The book made me want to do my own research and read more about them and what every culture believes.

In general, it is a good book for those who enjoy a little scary time.

J.H. Markert's 'Mister Lullaby' is excellent small-town horror with an original twist! Nightmarish invaders from the realm of dreams try to take over a town, whose history is full of mysteries and urban legends revolving around a railroad tunnel, now out of work. The characters are all portrayed with great realism, in the right tone of voice, the dialogue is spot on, the situations truly frightening. Although it connects to Markert's previous book, 'The Nightmare Man,' it can be read and enjoyed perfectly independently from it. The writing is incredible: it kept me up trying to finish it as soon as I could. The ending is explosive, bringing everything together into an amazing face off between the evil invaders and the good defenders of the town. If you're in the mood for some well-plotted, intricate dark horror, I highly recommend it

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books | Alcove Press for an ARC of the book to read and review.

I wasn’t the greatest fan of The Nightmare Man to be honest, but this is a completely different kettle of fish. This one frightened me properly!

Very very fast paced, creepy, scary, the characters are likeable -well - obviously not all of them! The baddies are terrifying and gave me the creeps badly.

Excellent plot, excellent characters, excellent writing.

Just brilliant!

My thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books | Alcove Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this one had a lot of potential and a lot of interesting elements but it never really came together for me. This was a book that I had a hard time getting through and when it finally started to pick up for me it ended rather abruptly and a little oddly. The writing itself was good, but I thought they messed with time a little more than they needed to along with the perspectives and it left things just a little messy for me. Something evil is coming and the warning comes in the form of.mysterious and deadly happpenings at the creepy tunnel outside of town. Deputy Sheriff Beth, returned war veteran hero Gideon and a few surprise others band together to try to save not only this world but another beyond. But Mister Lullaby. Is gathering allies too and his allies are destructive and violent and all carrying their own nightmares, This wasn’t quite as creepy as I was hoping for and while I liked it I overall didn’t enjoy it as much as this author’s last book which was one of the better horror books I had ever read.

When a book uses dreams to haunt people this is the book for me to read. I found all the creatures that sprang from imagination to be frightening yet fascinating. I really could envision these creatures. The deer were probably the scariest. All the characters involved only made the story that much more plausible. Reading about the history of Lalaland was like having a whole other book inside of the main story. I also enjoyed these book because they were stand alone but also helped each other with the story. I was very glad to read the author will be continuing this story.

Book Summary:

Every town has secrets. Likewise, nearly every town has a location that everyone prefers to avoid. For Harrod's Reach that place is an old train tunnel. It was always creepy, but it became downright alarming after a little boy was left for dead in there.

The town wanted to wall off the tunnel. Deputy Sheriff Beth Gardner thought they were taking it too far....until two new bodies were found just outside the tunnel. Now, she'll have to race against the clock to discover what is happening in the dark.

My Review:

Confession time: I may have grabbed Mister Lullaby because that cover had serious IT vibes. That said, it feels like the sort of lingering horror novel that T. Kingfisher would write, so I'd go into this book expecting more of that kind of experience.

However, I should warn you that this book is legit freaky. Like, don't make the mistake of reading it at night levels of freaky. Speaking from experience here – you won't sleep well if you have Mister Lullaby rattling around in your head. (God, even that sentence is kinda horrifying, isn't it?).

This dark read will keep you on the edge of your seat, regardless of how late at night it is. So uh, yeah. Keep that in mind as well. I can tell you right now that I wouldn't watch the adaptation of this book (if it existed). Not because I think it'd be bad, but because I know I couldn't handle it.

Highlights:
Thriller/Paranormal Horror
T. Kingfisher Vibes

The small town of Harrod’s Reach has a history of bad things happening, particularly inside the decrepit old train tunnel around which the town was built. After a young boy by the name of Sully Dupree got injured in the tunnel and was left in a coma as the result, the town decided to board the tunnel up. Then things get really strange. The day that Sully's brother is discharged from the military and comes home to Harrod's Reach, two corpses are found at the tunnel’s entrance, each left with strange calling cards inscribed with old lullabies. Then Sully Dupree briefly awakens from his coma. Before falling back into his slumber, Sully manages to give his older brother a message. Sully's mind, since the accident, has been imprisoned on the other side of the tunnel in Lalaland, a grotesque world inhabited by evil mythical creatures of sleep. Sully is trapped there with hundreds of other coma patients, all desperately fighting to keep the evils of the dream world from escaping into the waking world. Elsewhere, a man troubled by his painful youth has for years been hearing a voice in his head he calls Mr. Lullaby, and he has finally started to act on what that voice is telling him—to kill any coma patient he can find, quickly. Something is waking up in the tunnel—something is trying to get through. And Mr. Lullaby is coming.

I read this author's first book and was excited to read and review this one as well. It did not disappoint. It had everything a great horror book should have - engrossing storyline, good character development, some gruesome parts, some spine tingling parts, some sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat parts. I was drawn into the world that he described and felt like I was right there in the middle of all of the action. This book is perfect for fans of Stephen King and Joe Hill. I highly recommend it!

I am a huge fan of The Nightmare Man. I was so excited to see J. H. Markert's next title, "Mister Lullaby." This stand-alone did not disappoint. I also love how he tied in Mr. Lullaby into The Nightmare Man's universe. This fan girl loved seeing that tie in. It appeased my love for TNM by expanding the universe while we wait for the continuation of TNM.

Since I received an early copy, I'm not sure how much editing was left to ho before final publication, but I will say that I did have difficulties with the timeline. I think there were too many back and forth during the present between different characters that I got confused a lot. Perhaps Teddy's story should have been it's own section leading up to the events. I distinctly remember a point where they are in Harrod's Reach, and then it's Beth's story. Going back to the past and the present at that point confused me. Then it gradually got worse until the last 10% of the book when everyone is in the present.

I'm hoping that got cleaned up a little before publication. Besides that, the story was excellent. I'm looking forward to whatever Markert has for us next.

I liked the author's previous novel, The Nightmare Man, and saw a lot of promise in his horror writing skills. However, Mr. Lullaby didn't live up to my expectations. I expected a scarier narrative and faster pacing. Instead, I got a slow paced convoluted story. The story just wasn't scary or creepy enough to keep me engaged.

Execution=wise, the plot just didn't flow. It seemed as though different scenarios were slapped together, hoping that they would stick and magically transform the narrative into a seamless scary and frightening story. That, did not happen.

There were numerous characters in the novel. And having too many characters can sometimes be a detriment. In this cast, it was. It got confusing as soon as the "extras" were introduced. The narrative then became a mixed bag and I lost focus on the whole plot.

Mr. Lullaby maybe just a one off so it won't deter me from reading other novels from this author. But for now, Mr. Lullaby was a somewhat disappointing one star -- a DNF at 45%

I received a DRC from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

The people of Harrod's Reach all know about the abandoned train tunnel. They've used bits of twisted metal from a long ago crash as rustic decor. They've played a game that dates back to the 1800s, daring each other to run from one end to the other. They know about the mysterious deaths in the tunnel, the severed limbs found just outside the entrance. Mister Lullaby by J. H. Markert feels like a Stephen King novel. It's got all of the right elements and the right language, it just didn't capture my imagination the way the author's last book did, maybe because there's so much going on in so few pages.