"Beach Nightmare" by Steve Foxe and Alan Brown is a suspenseful and gripping horror novel that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The story follows a group of teenagers who go on a weekend trip to the beach, only to find themselves stranded and hunted by a mysterious and malevolent force.

The writing is crisp and engaging, and the pacing is just right - the tension builds slowly but steadily, until the story reaches a thrilling and satisfying conclusion. I particularly enjoyed the way the authors explored the characters' fears and vulnerabilities, which added an emotional depth to the story that is often missing in horror novels.

One minor quibble I had with the book is that some of the characterizations felt a bit cliched at times - the jock, the popular girl, the nerdy outsider, etc. - but overall the characters were well-drawn and relatable.

Overall, "Beach Nightmare" is a well-crafted and entertaining horror novel that I would recommend to fans of the genre. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're in the mood for a spine-tingling read.

I think I went into this with too few details, for example that this is a children's book!
The artwork is lovely - clear and colourful and at the end there are some comprehension questions and a glossary which would be sweet for a kid.
The age old story of a haunting from a restless spirit is given a fun twist in this tiny comic.

This was kind of fun kind of strange. If you are looking for a practical story this isn’t for you but if you like crazy unique plots then pick this one up.

This was not exactly what I expected but that's ok. I like surprises. It was shorter and more for elementary or middle school aged kids. The plot, writing, and art was simple, and there were a few mistakes. However, this is a great way to introduce younger children to graphic novels of the horror genre, especially if they scare easily. It was essentially the equivalent of a short story but in comic form--it had just enough substance to be entertaining and it was a quick and easy read. The premise was interesting and the ending was ambiguous. I liked it enough to encourage my 13 year old read it after me, and she ended up liking it too. So if you are a little timid, or you have a child who wants to dip their toes into the horror comic genre pool, this is a good book to go for.

this was a great comic book, the art was great and I really enjoyed the story in the book. It kept me interested and I enjoyed reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the review copy!

This was fun and short. This story is solid and was told great. It has it spooky moments but as i said it is short so not much getting into it but I loved it. Emma looses her phone and when she gets it back there is a spirit inside. I got so many goosebumps feels from this and i loved it! I think the artwork was so great and very easy to follow!

I highly recommend this read!

Emma loses her phone in the ocean. It returns but begins flashing underwater images and when the phone rings there is nothing but crashing waves on the other side.

The book is really short, but I did not feel like I was missing anything from the story. I think being only 40 pages is a big selling point for my students. The art and story are super creepy and I would love to see more of these stories getting made and then compiled into a larger volume. I will definitely be looking up more books in this series.

At the end of the book, there are questions. These are worded so well and have complex answers that can easily be added to my classroom discussions.

4 stars

Creative Team:
By Steve Foxe
Illustrated by Alan Brown
Published by Stone Arch Books

Emma loses her phone in the water. When it's returned, there's a spirit inside as well. Think The Ring but for kids or a Goosebumps comic. The ending made no sense whatsoever which is why I only gave it 2 stars.

This was so spooky! I love horror involving modern technology, ghosts, or underwater tragedies - and this had all three!! This is perfect for a younger audience (not too scary, nothing very brutal or offensive), and even as an adult, definitely enjoyable to read. I do wish this were a bit longer - it would benefit from being a bit more developed, I think! Still, lots of fun, recommended.

A gorgeously drawn graphic novel with an interesting narrative, plot, and concepts. Definitely recommended for fans of this genre.

I can't say as I found this book especially frightening. It fails to create a spooky atmosphere and the choice of moments doesn't really lend itself to jump scares. The progression of the haunting doesn't work especially well either. We don't get a good explanation of how or why the ghost is haunting this particular girl. Without that explanation and with no real character development, there's not much to sell me on this book. If you're looking for a child friendly scary story, I recommend looking elsewhere.

Beach Nightmare is a short graphic horror novel. It's an interesting story about a girl who drops her phone in ocean which is later returned by a ghost. It also has a twist ending. It's a perfect story for fans of Goosebumps.

Beach Nightmare by Steve Foxe and Alan Brown

3 stars

Emma has the worst luck when her phone falls into the water at the beach. It mysteriously reappears and strange things begin to occur. Emma just didn’t get her phone back, but the spirit of a girl trapped in the waves. This is a horror story graphic novel targeted towards younger audiences. I would compare it to Goosebumps in tone and severity of horror. It’s not grotesque or above age range. It was also really cool to follow a POC (never specified) main character in a horror graphic novel. POC are not represented enough in the genre and if they are it’s through stereotypes that the genre has set up, so it was cool to see a younger take be the starring role of the story. It ends on a much darker note than most horror stories do, but I find that it sets up young readers to be more aware that the horror genre does not always have a nice, neat bow and a happy ending. I would recommend this to younger children (fifth grade and up) who are interested in graphic novels as well as horror.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

Character Scale: 2.5

Plotastic Scale: 3

Art Scale: 3

Cover Thoughts: Creepy and spooky.

Thank you, Netgalley and Stone Arch Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love the synopsis and the illustrations, But then, I didn't understand the end.

As for the target audience, I definitely think this suits kids and tweens. Highly recommended. Plus the scare factor could most probably make them think twice about ignoring signs (fingers crossed!)

I want to understand the end. I want to get what the creators were getting at. I guess, I'm going to go back and mull it over 'til I get it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for letting me read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

On her last day of vacation Emma decides to make it a day not to forget. She climbs rocks to take pictures with her phone. Almost falling on the slippery rocks, she manages to not fall but loses her phone in the ocean. Emma tells her dad. Disappointed they go back to the hotel where to Emma’s delight, her phone is being held at the desk. Emma can’t believe it. When Emma opens her phone, there are unusual pictures and noises coming from it. Emma is surprised. Late at night her phone rings, she answers her phone but doesn’t understand what is happening. Later, she sees a ghost who wants her to do something. What does it want? Is Emma afraid? What will Emma do?

The story is well written with a scarey plot. The illustrations are perfect for this. While it is a ghost story that is somewhat creepy, I think kids for ages nine to 12 years old won’t get nightmare. It’s a good story that will let you know that all ghosts ar not friendly.

Whoa. Ok author, I was totally with you until that last panel. That was a twist! Overall this is a cute, but very short graphic story (because it's really way too short for me to call it a graphic NOVEL) with solid art.

Beach Nightmare was a really intriguing horror graphic novel!

Emma went to the beach and lost her phone in the water. Luckily someone returned it! But now there's some strange pictures on it... much scarier than before. Suddenly everything is going wrong and she's being called back to the beach.

This gives me Goosebumps vibes but in a graphic novel! It's quite the read and is great for young horror fans (and older ones!). I think it's a great addition to horror lover bookshelves everywhere! There's mystery and suspense in this book in combination with the absolutely amazing illustrations.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

While I understand that this graphic novel is intended for younger readers, I'm afraid it doesn't show much widespread appeal. The characters are flat, basic tools to keep the standard ghost plot humming along. The art is okay, but I expect far more from a haunting like this. I feel like the style is more suited to comedy than a spooky story like this.

All in all, I don't recommend this comic for anyone past elementary school age.

I received an e-copy of Beach Nightmare through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beach Nightmare is a quick and easy horror comic that I think is great for younger readers but that doesn't really work for older readers. The art is very fun and the coloring is great but the story is very simple and not really engaging. The biggest problem for me is the pacing especially near the end just felt rushed and didn't make that much sense definitely could have been a bit longer. The other thing was the dialogue it felt off and just very adult trying to write as a kid.

All in all this is a fun and spooky story that has a lot of potential but sadly just fell flat.

Quick read. Definitely would identify this as a young readers comic/ graphic novel Great plot definitely had a good goosebumps like vibe to it. . It was also light and airy and perfect for young readers. The discussion questions are great for thought provoking and teaching children about comics.