“I would find a such an unusual paradox of tremendous appeal terribly stimulating, if I were a sleuth.”

14. The Nightmare Man – J.H. Markert

Ben Bookman grew up with his grandfather, a prominent asylum runner and taker of nightmares who also had a lot of creepy aspects that no one in the family or the town really wanted to talk about. However, when Ben’s latest book, a murder in town, and a suicide at a book signing all come together with the same plot – it’s time to sort some things out. Things Ben doesn’t remember, like most of the writing of his last novel. His brother’s disappearance when they were young. The rest of the town’s disappearances. His marriage.

The local police force’s elder statesman and his daughter, Det. Blue, also have family issues to sort out while solving weird murders that come straight out of Ben’s latest book, and the father, Winchester, is in pretty bad shape despite his supernatural powers of helping people with their nightmares, so they need to do it soon.

A mix of horror and police procedural is always welcome for me and this one had a lot of twists and turns and thankfully did not spend tons of time on a skeptic character who won’t shut up and gets killed. It does seem strange that much of this would just be accepted, but part of that comes down to it being accepted because everyone knows there’s something weird and wrong happening in the town that’s been happening for ages and they’re just ready to get to the bottom of it instead of “I know it sounds ridiculous, but you’ve gotta believe me.” I liked that a lot and this was a fun, fast read for me.

 

Thorfy knows how to destroy his nightmare, i.e. fake trees and that poor gnome whose hat is visible.