I tried to get through this several times, but it is too weird, even for me. I kept getting the characters confused and would have to go back to re-read parts, and by then it just became mundane and difficult to continue. The writing style was good! It just isn’t my kind of story, and I couldn’t concentrate enough to keep me turning pages. This was the second book by Makert that I just can’t finish. I know he has a big following, so I will keep trying, but this one isn’t for me.

I have to say this one didn’t grip me as much as the first book did. I just loved The Nightmare Man. It took me quite some time to get into the story and connect with the characters. Also the beginning was a little confusing with the tunnel. It felt very paranormal although it wasn’t. Very atmospheric but the pace was too slow. The ending saved it for me.

Mister Lullaby by J. H. Markert - I ADORED The Nightmare Man. So what happened when I saw the advance copy for the authors next book pop-up? I begged. I sold a kidney. It wasn't pretty. But, hey, I got the book, and it was definitely worth it. I didn't love it AS MUCH as TNM, it definitely had way more supernatural elements than I was expecting, but the writing, the story, and the characters were amazing

This audiobook is narrated by David Bendena & Lauren Ezzo

•Thank you to @crookedlanebooks

With such a great cover, I'm so sad I didn't love this one more. But it just did not work for me

First, the cast was huge. Characters are thrown at you in quick succession, as a whole town and their connections, people coming back, and some guy with a bus all rush by. Then there is a girl in the hospital, a kid who sculpts wood, and the guy who pulls a gun at his bday party. It was. . .a lot. My head was spinning trying to keep them all straight and try to remember why one guy punched another.

Once I lost the characters as even more side characters were introduced, I just completely lost momentum in the story. The attacks and the serial rapist were interesting pieces, along with the dead-heads but I just couldn't juggle it all to love it. I wish I had, I loved this author's previous work. I'd definitely try another one, this one just wasn't for me.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

I'm a sucker for an interesting sounding horror book, and that's exactly what Mister Lullaby by J.H. Market was. It helped that its cover art caught my eye, but the synopsis is what really drew me to request a review copy of this one. It's also part of the reason as to why I held off reading it until the time was right. The other parts had to do with a great review I'd read, and an online post about how it was someone's favourite book of 2023.

I wish I'd liked it as much as those people, and am disappointed that I didn't.

Mister Lullaby had the potential to be an epic horror book the likes of something by Stephen King. I went in expecting a small town versus evil kind of thing, and mostly got that, but not in the way I expected. This wasn't as psychological a book as I'd hoped, and it was different from any preconceived notion I had about it.

Set in the small town of Harrod's Reach, Nebraska, this novel features multiple points of view and jumps between a couple of different timelines. I can't say a whole lot about the story, though, because this is one of those stories where saying much will risk spoiling things. Here are the basics, though:

Harrod's Reach is a troubled town, and was the location of a train derailment accident that took many lives many years ago. Since then, its railway tunnel -- which went through a mountain -- has been cursed. Kids have played games, where they've dared each other to run from one end to the other, bodies have been found nearby, and some have become stuck inside of this strange tunnel. Furthermore, there are those who've come out of it acting differently, while saying that they were possessed by a creature from dark mythology.

Within this town lays a boy named Sully, who's been in a coma for some time. His much older brother, Gideon, was blamed for the accident that made him that way, and went off to war to try to get away from it all. At the start of this narrative, Gideon returns from war, and pulls a pistol out during the beginning of a surprise party in his honour. This is quickly forgotten about, which I found shocking.

In Mister Lullaby, there's also somebody hunting what they called Dead-Heads, but are actually comatose folks. This man -- named Teddy -- has been receiving instructions from a blue seashell, which talks to him any time he's open to listing. During his travels throughout the country, Teddy encounters others who like to kill.

Meanwhile, there's talk about a place called LalaLand, where those who are comatose may be. It's said that there's some sort of battle going on over there, but the book doesn't do a good enough job of fleshing it all out, which is one of my biggest issues with it.

Told from multiple viewpoints, including those of Gideon, his cop friend Beth and Teddy, this is a bit of a jumbled narrative. If the storytelling were more concise, and had more depth, it would be a much better book. After all, there's tons of potential within this story. The execution stumbles, though, and holds it back, as does the lack of real depth to the talk of another world.

Another issue I had with this book was that it ended abruptly, and something that happened during the ending made no sense based on how the character had been thinking and acting. It bothered me.

The writing also feels a bit juvenile at times, like it's some sort of fan fiction. I respect the effort, though, because I don't think I could ever write a book. It just all failed to truly hook me like I had hoped, and perhaps I went into this thing with too high of expectations. It was quite hyped, or so they say.

There are also a lot of characters, so be warned about that. I've read reviews saying people had trouble keeping track, and I'll admit that I forgot about a couple of secondary characters, then remembered them when they were mentioned again. I didn't have much trouble though.

At the end of the day, Mister Lullaby by J.H. Market is a decent attempt at a horror epic. Its premise has a ton of potential, but the execution keeps it from reaching it. Still, there's a pretty solid book here that is worth checking out if it intrigues you. Just don't expect the best book of 2023.

This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided, by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. Receiving a free copy did not sway our opinion or affect our review.

I have become a big fan of J. H. Markert. Mister Lullaby is as good as The Nightmare Man.
We meet the characters from that novel before the events that changed their lives.
I love Beth Gardner and would love to read more about her.
J. H. Markert has been called the heir to Stephen King and I wholeheartedly agree and plan to read all I can get my hands on.
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I absolutely loved The Nightmare Man by this author so I was super excited to try this new one by Markert. Unfortunately, this story fell flat for me. I ended up putting the book down at the halfway point because I was having a hard time following the different story lines. The premise had me intrigued but did not live up to the billing for me. I would definitely give this author another shot and I encourage others to try this one. But the story was definitely not for me.

I absolutely loved The Nightmare Man so I was so excited to receive an advance copy of this book! Just like my first experience with this author, I was quickly immersed in the ominous vibe of Harrod's Reach and the history of the train tunnel and its victims. The chapters alternate between different characters in the book, letting you experience the horror from different perspectives and giving small hints to the mystery as the drama unfolds. I was a bit disappointed by the abrupt ending but the hint of a sequel has me excited! I have a new favorite horror author!
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books through Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own and given voluntarily.

Occasionally, I felt breathless as the book is so fast-paced. I loved reading Mister Lullaby because it combined horror and fantasy elements.
As you would expect from a horror story, there is blood, violence, and a lot of suspense.
This author did a good job delivering the story, never holding back and keeping me on my toes throughout.

This definitely earned it's horror genre. It's definitely creepy and makes you think about what you might dream about. I did think there was too many characters that were important to know. I really had to think about who was who while I was reading. I do want to read his other book, The Nightmare Man, since it sounds like they are connected.

4.5 stars

Mister Lullaby by J.H. Markert is a horror novel about nightmares that come to life.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Crooked Lane Books and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Deputy Sheriff Beth Gardner works in the small town of Harrod's Reach, a town with a history of the bizarre.  

When "Simple" Simon discovers two bodies just outside the old train tunnel,  Beth knows things are going to get worse.  That tunnel has a history, and it isn't good.  The entrances, once blocked up,  have recently collapsed.  Sully Dupree, a young boy, was injured in the tunnel, and left in a coma. His older brother Gideon, just back from war, is a little unhinged, and doesn't believe that the hero's welcome he receives is justified.

Theodore (Teddy) Lomax is listening to a "shell".  The voice coming from it has given him a list of names....telling him who to kill.  They are all "dead-heads" - coma patients, no longer quite in this world.  Teddy is obeying that voice, who he is calling Mr. Lullaby.

Maddy has awoken from her coma after being attacked by the Horseshoe Rapist, and is intent on reaching Harrod's Reach.  She wants to talk to Sully.  She knows all about Lalaland, which is where Sully is currently imprisoned.  Maddy knows all about the evil dream world that sometimes escapes into the waking world.  She too has a list of names, all coma patients, currently living in Lalaland.  Her mission is to save them.

Simon knows all about Lalaland too.


My Opinions:
First the yellow raincoat on the cover reminds me of the boy from Stephen King's IT, so this may have been part of the reason for choosing to read this book....that and I loved The Nightmare Man by this author.  Note that although similar topics, they are both stand-alone novels.

Again, Markert is writing about nightmares coming to life, and again using mythology from different countries to tell the story.  It's wonderful.  Basically the book is about the rather thin boundaries between the waking and the sleeping world.

The tale is told from different perspectives, one of which is a detective's journals from years ago.  I thought this worked well to show how long this has been happening.    The plot is intriguing, and the characters just stick with you (whether good or bad).  Be warned -- there are a lot of characters.

The overall tale is one of horror, and it does have blood and gore, but it is also a rather emotional read, dealing with patients in coma's and their loved one's anxiety.  Tension builds throughout, and I don't think we've heard the end of this world.  Well, if I'm honest, I hope not.

This author's imagination truly reminds me of Stephen King - powerful.

I have read several books from this author, both under this pen name and his other name. Mister Lullaby is definitely of the horror genre, with much gore and violence. It has a lot of adult content and profanity, both of which I usually stay away from when possible. However, the storyline was interesting and unique. There was non-stop action. It was hard to tell how much time had passed in the story -- maybe a couple of days? It was very intense and left me breathless in a couple of parts.
There were a lot of characters to keep up with, which threw me a bit, although I liked how the author connected them in the end. My biggest complaint was the major cliffhanger. From the author's note at the end, it seems that this is meant to be a series of sorts....but I really would have liked to wrap things up on the last page a little more.
I can see why people have likened the author to Stephen King. There is definitely a similarity in their writing styles. The world-building is one part of it, as well as the way that the characters are relatable, flawed people. I hope there is another book telling us what happens next because I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while!

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I loved the premise of the story and the world that was created. There was a lot of interesting imagery, I loved the colorful things from Lalaland and how things are so different. It was fun watching everyone come together to do what they were going to do. Some of the characters felt a bit off at times, but not enough to ruin it. Overall a fun read.

Creepy, and original this book had me hooked. I love anything that has to do with children going missing etc. It’s scary to reminisce on the days when we were children and had our own boogeyman. Definitely gave me NOS4A2 vibes.

If you enjoyed The Nightmare Man then you are going to absolutely love Mister Lullaby!
Murders, serial killers, monsters and the terrifying nightmares come to life, all combined in one small town, this is every horror fans dreams come true!
Things have been happening in the small town of Harrod’s Reach for years, terrible, unexplainable things, all centred around an old abandoned tunnel, and as with any old, scary tunnel surrounded by folklore the children are drawn towards it like moths to a flame.
One of those children was Sully Dupree who’s obsession led him to try running through the tunnel landing him halfway through resulting to him being in a coma ever since.
On the arrival of his older brother, Gideon back home, Sully suddenly wakes up and starts reciting names, names that have no meaning to anyone before slipping back into his coma. These names, they are names of other coma patients from all over the world.
One of these coma patients, Maddy Boyle, much to the surprise to everyone comes out of her coma with memories of being in a strange place, and a name, Sully. As she recovers from what put her in the coma in the first place she sets off to find Sully, unsure why, just that that’s what she needs to do.
What she, or anyone else doesn’t know is that these coma patients are all in danger. They are all being targeted by one Mr Theodore ‘Teddy’ Lomax.
Teddy has been hearing a voice from a strange blue seashell he found and this voice is sending him on a trip with a mission. To kill all the coma patients, or ‘dead heads’ along the way.
As good and evil come together in Harrod’s Reach the tunnel comes to life, letting through some of the nightmare creatures from Lalaland into the town with horrific consequences……
This book is packed to the brim with so much imagination, clever plot lines and unforgettable characters that reading it time just flys by and the rest of the world disappears as it transports you to Harrod’s Reach. As I’ve already said, this is definitely the best book I have read this year, if not longer.

A spiritual successor to The Nightmare Man, Mister Lullaby gives light to some of the worst nightmare creatures imaginable.
Harrod’s Reach has seen its fair share of tragedies with the majority of them centered around an abandoned train tunnel that the town was built around. Three years before the story begins, the tunnel takes its latest victim. Young Sully Dupree is injured and left in a comma. His older brother Gideon, being blamed for his brother’s accident by himself and his parents alike, joins the army and leaves his hometown. But he can’t run away for long and is sent back home after being injured in combat. Gideon arrives just as the police find two dead bodies posed by the tunnel. There are whispers on the wind of Mister Lullaby; a terrible being who will bring nightmares into reality. And somehow Sully is the key to these local events.
This book is not well written, and it took me a bit to get into it. But the slow burn that is the beginning pays off. J. H. Markert creates one of the most twisted tales I’ve read. The author doesn’t shy away from violence and deaths usually have meaning. There are random deaths, but he isn’t afraid to cut life short of characters that we know and care about. I even found myself rooting for a love story, with a somewhat of happy ending. And while that was unrealistic, I didn’t like what the author did with that arc.
I feel that Markert’s editor could have done better by this book and their client. Some places could have easily been tightened up and with the guidance of the right person, Markert could flourish and become a truly big name in horror. This story reminds me a lot of Dean Koontz’s Christopher Snow novel where the government is testing portals to other realities (wayyyyyyy before Stranger Things existed). While Koontz pulls back these days from straight-up horror, Markert takes this idea and goes full force making readers cringe in fear.
Mister Lullaby is a mixed bag: great and terrifying story but the technical aspects of his writing leave a lot to be desired. With a cover bringing to mind IT, Mister Lullaby is a scary look into the folktales of nightmares.

A soldier comes home and nightmares come to life in this title from JH Markert. I've been in quite the reading slump recently. I've DNFed multiple books in a row and have resisted starting anything new for a while. I'm incredibly glad that I picked this one up, as it managed to capture my attention and keep me coming back for more. So let's discuss what I did and didn't like about the book.

Liked (or loved)
- Character building. The character building was excellent. Truly. Markert did a wonderful job of making the characters into people not just tropes. As someone who reads for characters, this was a major bonus for me.
- The atmosphere. While the horror elements were a bit weaker, I did find that the atmosphere was eerie and unsettling enough to put me on the edge of my seat in spots.
- The writing style. Markert's style flows so beautifully. It's a joy to read.

Disliked (or hated)
- Multiple timelines that meet at some point. This is totally a personal preference thing so I don't hold that against the book. I just get easily confused.
- Pacing. I think this might be related to the timelines, but I found that the pacing was a bit sporadic. Too slow in one spot, too fast in another.
- The ending >:( there better be a sequel (pls)

I loved The Nightmare Man and this was a great second book from J.H. Market.

In a small town there is an infamous tunnel that always seems to have disaster and tragedy associated with it. It was collapsed in after a young boy, Sully Dupree, was injured and remains in a coma. We get introduced to some key members of the town that all have connections to Sully as well as some people that have never been to the town or even have met the boy but still have strong connections to him. As bizarre murders start happening and bodies are showing up at the tunnel and a brief moment where Sully wakes up with a warning members of the small town of Herrod’s Reach start to learn that there are two worlds and the sleeping world is starting to come into the real world.

This book is very entertaining but does take some concentration to follow along. There are a lot of different story lines that are all intertwined but it takes some time before you see how. As someone with night terrors I’ve always found folklore around dreams intriguing and especially loved the use of it in this book. If you read The Nightmare Man you would have already gotten a taste of this world from J.H. Markert. This book is a standalone though and you don’t have to have read The Nightmare Man to read this one but there are bits of the story that overlap and there is even a part where the setting and plot of The Nightmare Man is specifically talked about.

The way the book ended has me very hopeful that there is going to be a sequel where we’ll get more answers. If there isn’t then it’s a disappointing ending but an entertaining read.

Very good premise with multiple pov's to keep the story flowing. I really liked the inner workings of the discovery of the tunnel and the horror it inflicted when they came into contact with it at certain times. I did feel it a bit hard to keep track of all the characters and it felt like too much was covered in such a short time. Overall I did enjoy it and hope for more in the future.

*Awaiting amazon review approval

"In the vein of T. Kingfisher and Christopher Golden, the boundary protecting our world from the monsters on the other side is weakening—and Mister Lullaby is about to break through."

Imagine if Freddy Krueger lived in real life and not just nightmares, that's the kind of horror that @jamesmarkert74 writes. Terrifying, creepy, and so unique I absolutely loved returning to the Nightmare World in Mister Lullaby. Told through multiple POV's the story is complex and can feel a little confusing at first. The different POV's were so well written that I felt like I knew the characters, and the story comes together brilliantly as the characters gather for the final show down. My only complaint about this book is that I didn't want it to end - I need more of the Nightmare World!

I started 2023 reading (and loving) The Nightmare Man, started 2024 with Mister Lullaby, I cannot wait to see what @jamesmarkert74 has in store for 2025!

Thank you to @netgalley , @dreamscape_media and @crookedlanebooks for the gifted copy of this book.