The book started off great, but when I felt like it should be ramping up I realized I was only half way through. The midpoint is where in my opinion it lost steam and just kept circling around the same plot points; advancing the plot ever so slightly. Instead of a slow build it just took me out of the story. There was great world building, but it got too caught up in the mundane elements. Worth a shot if you're into twisty plots.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭; 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 - 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞...

This is an unforgettable tale of mystery and horrors. J.H. Markert’s writing is superb - astonishingly unique, gripping, tense, twisty, heart pounding, and deeply moving. A perfect nightmare.

My gratitude to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and J.H. Markert for the opportunity to read this frighteningly fabulous ARC in exchange for my honest and wholly independent review.

The Nightmare Man is a fantastic book and Markert crafted an original spin on familiar horrors. I couldn’t put it down and there were so many wonderfully creepy moments. I knew this was a real winner when I realized the plot centers around a horror author whose newest book is coming to life in his hometown several weeks before the book releases. So many interesting elements: Son-daughter detective duo, small town murder mystery, an eerie gothic family home tucked away in the woods with creepy rooms and sinister secrets. This one really kept me getting and the last 15% had me with my jaw dropped. Solid ending as well! If you’re a fan of small town horror with detectives solving a mystery then this can’t be missed.

'Scarecrow's scare. That's what they do.' Ben Bookman is releasing his new novel, The Scarecrow. He is nervous about the book's opening for many reasons but what happens at the book signing was not even a thought. After the book signing, he is still reeling from what occurred, only to find out that someone is acting out the scenes from his book. Someone is being The Scarecrow with murder in his mind. Ben soon finds himself being a suspect.
The Nightmare Man is a thrilling murder mystery with a horror twist. The story unravels quickly and intensely. It keeps you on the edge of your seat as you keep saying, 'just one more chapter.' It is gruesome and exciting to watch the scenes unfold piece by piece.The characters are fleshed out quite well. Some of them are directly out of your nightmares.
I enjoyed this book greatly and recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers or horror stories. Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane publishing for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

I am very sad to say this, but I really didn't like this book. I ended up skimming most of the ending.

Blackwood Mansion is where the Bookman children grew up. It is surrounded by woods overlooking the town of New Haven. Something unthinkable happened there when they were children and no one wanted to go back.

Enter Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist of stories that give you nightmares. Ben has his own nightmares and they are terrifying. When he has a bout with writer’s block, he heads to Blackwood and in one weekend has finished his book, The Scarecrow. And just as the book is ready for launch, someone is acting out all of the killings in the book. And Ben looks like a suspect instead of an author.

The killings are gruesome. A family chopped up and sewn into cocoons, very similar to the book. And then another family is killed in the same way and Detective Mills and his daughter are trying hard to find what links these murders to the book and the author of the book.

Ben becomes the only suspect. With his lapses in memory and odd behavior, even he isn’t quite sure he isn’t guilty. Digging into what went on in that house begins in the atrium. Where there are thousands of books with nothing in them. It would seem. But there is a much more chilling thing in these books and someone is letting it out.

Who doesn’t love a good horror story? And this one had me twisted in knots. It’s scary because it’s possible. Looking forward to the next one!

NetGalley/ January 10, 2023, Crooked Lane Books

First recommendation- do not start the book at night especially if you are alone.
Second recommendation- this book is not for the squeamish.
Third recommendation- it’s not necessary for the author to cover the same material multiple times just because a character is relating information to a new person. Many pages of ‘new’ could be covered with ‘I told so and so this and their reaction was a, b., and c.
Fourth recommendation- endless retellings keep the story from moving along. That, I think, is a major problem with this book. Gore can only get you so far. Repeated gore bogs you down. And makes the reader want to skim.

Ben Bookman is bestselling novelist and heir to Blackwood estate spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his lastest horror novel the scarecrow and now on the eve of the books release the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life and Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks and hung from the rafters of a barn eerily mirroring the opening of Bookmans latest novel when another family is killed in a similar manner Mills along with his daughter rookie Detective Samantha Blue is determined to find the link to the book
Totally recommend this chilling gripping psychological thriller which had so many twists and turns and great characters totally kept me in suspense throughout
Thank You NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books
I just reviewed The Nightmare Man by J. H. Markert. #TheNightmareMan #NetGalley

What an absolutely brilliant, scary, nightmare inducing read!
Worth all 5 stars plus more.
This is a book even Stephen King would be proud to put his name too.
Word of warning - don’t read it in bed at night with your windows wide open and a lamp on. I nearly had a heart attack when a moth flew in!
I absolutely loved this book, missing an entire nights sleep just to keep reading.
This being his entry level into the horror genre I seriously cannot wait for his next book.
Dark, atmospheric, spine tingling and oh so addictive. If you like Stephen King then you will love this.

What an absolutely brilliant, scary, nightmare inducing read!
Worth all 5 stars plus more.
This is a book even Stephen King would be proud to put his name too.
Word of warning - don’t read it in bed at night with your windows wide open and a lamp on. I nearly had a heart attack when a moth flew in!
I absolutely loved this book, missing an entire nights sleep just to keep reading.
This being his entry level into the horror genre I seriously cannot wait for his next book.
Dark, atmospheric, spine tingling and oh so addictive. If you like Stephen King then you will love this.

Nightmare man is an accurate title for this gruesome, terrifying read. This desolate, creepy tale is so unique and so horrifying you can’t put it down. Jaw droppingly gruesome at parts, this book conveys sheer terror. The plot is well written and full of twists and turns, with a family at the heart of the story there is a human layer in between the raw fear. Supernatural elements are mixed in to give this the perfect flair. A great read over all. Get ready for nightmares of your own!

A thrilling and engrossing story filled with realistic characters and haunting nightmares.

This was a very unexpected 5 star read. The characters were amazing, every single one was completely flushed out and unique. I felt as though I was watching a movie play out in front of my eyes.
I didn’t expect this to be such an enjoyable, thrilling, scary and ultimately awesome read.

I didn’t want this story to end and I really hope that there is further instalments of this! I can also easily see this having an excellent tv adaptation. I can’t wait to buy this when it is released and enjoy this a second time.
Posted on Twitter @readsgavin & goodreads

The premise for The Nightmare Man is quite clever and was something that held a lot of promise. A killer who dresses himself as a Scarecrow and terrorizes a small town? Chilling and literally nightmare fuel. Unfortunately we get less of the Scarecrow killer and murders and more fantasy elements instead. This isn't a scary book though it is riddled with purposefully gross and disturbing ideas and I wouldn't call it a horror novel. Instead maybe a fantasy thriller. I found myself more interested in Ben Bookman's series that is mentioned throughout the novel instead of the actual events occurring on the page.

The main issue with The Nightmare Man is that it suffers from “just one more” syndrome in which the author adds just keeps adding more plot reveal, character, or event. It reads as if Markert wanted to dazzle and shock instead of sticking to an actual plot. The result is a particularly convoluted story that loses its core in all the extra. By the ninety percent marker I found myself saying, “oh of course” because of course there would be another thing added that wasn't necessary.

My second issue with the story is the sudden genre shift from realistic thriller to fantasy thriller at the seventy percent mark. The book would've benefited from the reveal of fantasy elements earlier on instead of waiting so long. It left me feeling cheated out of what I assumed I was going into based off of the marketing.

I believe at the core there is a good story here and the first half of the book was very enjoyable. If you don't mind fantasy thrillers with things left up to the reader to determine, than you'll probably enjoy this. It just wasn't what I expected going in and I believe it could've been executed much better, especially by the seasoned author.

I don't have much to say on the characters which was a surprise. I honestly didn't resonate with anyone or feel as if I truly understood them. This is most likely due to the convoluted nature of the book giving so many unorganized flashbacks and interactions that it's hard to keep up with.

I'm also tossing in some content warnings down below because this book is riddled with them!

Self harm, body horror, murder, suicide, child abduction, child abuse, pedophilia, child grooming, cannibalism, drug use

I enjoy this book a lot. I found it extremely creepy, with a lot of twists and turns. My complaint is that this could have been two separate books, or at least a longer book. I felt somewhat unsatisfied by the ending. I would have liked more about the house and forest, and more about the protagonist's young life. His ancestry was discussed but to a small enough degree that I was confused a couple of times when they mentioned a name. And honestly, most of the characters in these books could have their own novellas and I think it would be amazing. This felt very unique, with the gifts given to some people, the atrium, the killer, the family, all of it. I highly recommend it.

This was creeptastically good! A unique story line full of horror, thrills and scares. The story really sucked me in and I had a hard time putting this down.

The Nightmare Man is clever. I loved how this story was put together. Super creepy bad guys, an amazing irrascable hero.

3 stars

It seems I am a member of a small minority. While this was a very good book, it had a few problems. The writing and plotting were good and the premise for the story was brilliant. However, the book read rather disjointedly because the transitions (between chapters) were so troublesome. This greatly slowed the pace of the novel as this reader had to figure out who was “talking” now.

I didn’t find this book to be all that scary, either. This author has a way to go to be up there with, say, Graham Masterton.

I did like the feisty and bad-mouthed Sam. She was a little impatient, but she got the job done and was a good cop. I liked Detective Mills too. Past retirement age, forgetful and a little spacy but the job is his only solace these days and he cannot even think of retiring. I wondered about the partnering of Mills and Sam Blue, they being father and daughter.

The individual backstories were wonderful and very well written. The reader was able to witness the experiences of the speaker.

I did enjoy the story and look forward to seeing more from this author.

I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

This book was a mind trip and a half. I am generally skeptical about horror novels, I love them so much, and the twists and turns in this book had me on the edge of my seat! I am utterly obsessed with The Nightmare Man, and now I have to do research to learn things about both nightmare monsters, and moths.

This is a haunting novel that will have you looking over your shoulder for months to come. This book took over my world and consumed every minute of my life while I was reading. I finished it in about a day and a half once I got going. I couldn't put it down and still have that creepy, unsettling feeling. I got sucked in and I could not tell the difference between reality and fiction. The characters are multi-dimensional. I love the flaws and the humanity that it shows. We aren't one-dimensional and all of these characters felt fleshed out and like they could be the folks living next door. Even the characters that weren't "main characters" were flushed out to perfection. The plot is narrated so well and keeps you guessing, and unnerved the entire time. J.H. Market's talent is immeasurable and is now an instabuy author for me.

The Nightmare Man and everyone he encompasses are going to be haunting my nightmares for a while now.

JH Markert is the penname for James Markert who has been writing historical fiction since 2010 and promises in the endnotes that anything further which is “contemporary and horrifying” will be published with this alternative. I haven’t come across any of his other work but imagine The Nightmare Man is a startling change of pace and for a debut horror/thriller, which is a complex read throwing everything at the reader except the kitchen sink. It certainly had me on the hook and I did not guess who the killer was until around 80% of the novel was done!

This is one of those thrillers that you must read very closely as there are multiple perspectives told in the third person, past and present timelines and revelations and plot twists that are dropped liberally throughout proceedings. For the most part it cleverly disguises whether there is anything supernatural going on or not (no spoilers from me!) and you will enjoy hanging around for the big revelations which come late in proceedings. If you are a fan of straight-forward police or detective procedural thrillers The Nightmare Man is significantly more far-fetched than that (probably too far for some), ridiculous it might be, but it still a lot of fun and a good old-fashioned page-turner.

Horror/thriller Ben Bookman, with a drink problem, is the first of several main characters and for the most part remains very unlikable and obnoxious for most of the book, so much so I hoped he would meet the same fate as some of the characters in his bestselling novels! When events kick-off he is doing a signing for his latest hit ‘The Scarecrow’ and a fan in the queue shoots themselves in front of Ben when he reaches the front of the line. Around the same time and in the same town a second major character, veteran Detective Winchester Mills, is investigating the murder of a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks and hung from the rafters of their barn. It is quickly revealed that this murder scene uncannily resembles the opening murder scene in Bookman’s latest novel ‘The Scarecrow’.

It would have been easy to write a thriller in which a copycat was the central theme but The Nightmare Man is significantly more complicated and it quickly expands into other plot directions. Ben Bookman might be the obnoxious, mentally tortured, and prime murder suspect, but other characters and their relationships provide more than satisfactory distractions. Winchester Mills has a daughter (Samantha Blue) who is also on the police force and they have their own family problems, as does Bookman and his heavily pregnant wife, with a whiff of infidelity in their recent history. In many ways families lie at the heart of the story, and the question of how difficult it is to leave the past behind, especially when there are secrets behind every door.

The ’before’ storyline concerns Ben’s childhood, teen years, and the family home of Blackwood Mansion, which is seen as a place of unhappy memories from which Ben’s little brother disappeared thirteen years earlier. There are also other dark shrouds and unanswered questions regarding Ben’s psychologist grandfather who built and managed his own asylum on the estate, whose speciality was helping children who had recurring bad dreams. Nightmares play a big part of the book and thread through the various characters and storylines and very cleverly connect the strands together.

There is a lot going on in The Nightmare Man which nicely blends horror, thriller, suspense and mystery whilst throwing in some psychology. Where do nightmares go you might ask? This story has some off-the-wall theories and once you read this it is very easy to see why scarecrows can become personal boogieman.

This book will be the cause of many sleepless nights to come. I read this book continuously as to find out what happened to the ‘mares’ from the books. The idea to place peoples nightmares in a book sounds plausible but the ability to let those nightmares loose at any times is horrific. What might be helpful for one poor soul might be a complete disaster for another. And what a burden to place on someone the ability to ‘take’ night from someone into one’s own psyche. You would have to be exceptionally strong to do this service. I am glad this is a fiction book….but wait is it?