We've all had those scary dreams where you wake up, sit straight up in bed, your heart pounding but can't remember what the dream was about, just that you don't want to go there again. This is how I view MISTER LULLABY, except the entire town of Harrod's Reach is having the dream and some can't wake up. These sleepers are the soldiers in a battle to keep the "monsters under the bed" from entering the waking world. JH MARKERT has taken bits and pieces of the worst collective memories and woven them into a story designed to make sure you stay awake at night. The story seemed to jump around somewhat but I'm not sure if that was design to keep the story edgy. It definitely made an impression on me. I'm hoping I don't meet Mr Lullaby in my dreams tonight.

Blown away be another book by J.H. Markert. This book moves at a quick pace and the tension slowly builds. The longer you read the harder it is to stop. There’s a lot going on and POV changes throughout. Great small town creep factor going on. I highly recommend this book for anyone you likes horror books (even if they don’t scare you anymore) because the story telling and buildup is worth the read.

Harrod’s Reach is home to a spooky-ass abandoned train tunnel that has fascinated the townspeople for decades. When the town’s most beloved little boy, Sully, is found unconscious in the tunnel and slips into a coma, the tunnel gets closed up. But then two people are found murdered right outside the tunnel and Sully briefly wakes up and yells “run!” We find out that Sully and other coma patients around the world are trapped in LaLaLand, which is not a fun place to be and Mister Lullaby (also not fun) is trying to break through to the real world. Sully and the others are trying to keep the borders firm, but everything is about to fall apart and they need help from those left behind in Harrod’s Reach.

The Nightmare Man was so good. And this is a solid follow-up. Both are super creepy and the dream and lullaby lore from different cultures is fun to learn about. There were a lot of characters and dueling past/present timelines which were at times hard to parse and the ending felt abrupt and rushed, but don’t let that put you off. Everything came together at the end and Markert is clearly a very talented storyteller.

Thank you @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the ARC! This book is out now.

I had a really hard time with this one. I’m not sure what was. Maybe the pacing and how many characters. I just couldn’t get invested. DNF at 66% The writing was great and the plot was interesting! I still plan to check out more from this author.

Unfortunately I was not able to finish reading this book, as the pdf version that I received on my kindle had a lot of formatting issues that made it hard to follow along with and took away from the flow of the writing. The first letter to start a new chapter would be on a separate line, some pages randomly had the author's name in all caps in the middle of the page, and other issues. I had the same issue with this author's other book The Nightmare Man last year, and tried to plod through the formatting issues but felt that it took away from my enjoyment of the book, so I didn't want my rating of this book to suffer for the same reasons.
I am very appreciative of the publisher for sending me a widget to read this book, but will have to read a finished copy post-publication to enjoy the story how it's meant to be read. Since these were formatting issues and not a problem with the story (for the few parts I did read), I will not be posting this review online.

Thank you to the author J. H. Markert, publishers Crooked Lane Books, and also to NetGalley for a widget of MISTER LULLABY. All views are mine.

This book is like NIGHTMARE MAN got a little older and tightened up its wardrobe. I like the progression in Markert's style, too. He's developed his narrative voice, this charry whisper, urgent and dire, lifting off the page in curling words. I'm eager to see what more he creates under this pen name.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. I love Beth's character and story trajectories. The book cares about her and gives her grace and respects her autonomy, even when, perhaps especially when she's not on page. It's some really good writing on Markert's part. She easily foils the absolute absurdity of the antagonist.

2. A noticeable improvement of mental illness rep. I can tell Markert put in the work to avoid stigmatizing in this book.

3. The horns are freaking great.😆

4. Okay Teddy and Brandy are my favorite power couple in a while!

5. In Teddy's sections, the subtle shifts in narrative voice, the tendency toward overconfidence and self-delusion, really makes his sections unique to him. Not to mention, a pleasure to read.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. This writer seems to favor scenes in which a character thinks while they are driving. These scenes are slow in pace and feel disconnected from the rest of the story, even if the information is plot relevant. I remember the same issue taking place in NIGHTMARE MAN.

3. I don't love everything about the midpoint turn, but I love Alu. Like the demon version of sleep apnea! Hey, that stuff's evil 😈

4. The last 20% gets convoluted, but I liked the ending. It wraps things up but leaves a possibility for more story.

Rating: 💤💤💤💤 bad nights of sleep
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: Nov 20 23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
⌛️ nonlinear timeline
🚇 haunted tunnels
💞 unlikely friends
🔪 serial killer stories
🛌 stories about nightmares

Do I have a complaint about this book? Yes, yes I do. I absolutely loved this book when I had a the chance to read an eARC of it over the summer. I loved it even more having just gotten a chance to listen to an advanced audio version. But I was struck with the same thought both times, I wanted more. There is so much going on in this book, so many wonderfully twisted things I would have loved for Markert to have expanded upon. I suppose he must ascribe to the old adage of ‘always leave them wanting more’! Either that or he just enjoys torturing his fans, lol.

So what is Mister Lullaby all about? Well, it’s classic small town horror…with wide reaching implications. I must admit I was not and am still not familiar with James Market’s novels. I keep meaning to check them out. I only discovered him when he first published The Nightmare Man back in January 2023 under the J.H. Market pen name. Mister Lullaby feels like Market has taken bit and pieces from some of the masters like King, Koontz, McCammon, and Hill and crafted them into his own special brand of horror. Evil from ‘the other side’ (known as Lala Land) is influencing some over here and also trying to find a way to come over as well. We have a busload of truly demented serial killers. ‘Special’ children in comatose states and simple/childlike adults acting as a defense against the rising evil, with their loved ones doing their best to defend them. As I said, I only wished he’d explored/expanded some areas/characters more. I would have loved to know more of the backstory to some of those twisted passengers we only passingly met from the Lullaby Express. Based on The Nightmare Man and Mister Lullaby I’m thrilled by the prospect of future adventures into Market’s wonderful imagination. I’d like to thank Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Mister Lullaby and Dreamscape Media for the chance to listen to the advanced audio version of the book. There is no wrong way to experience this novel.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2FOV69DT1F9VW/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

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.