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The Boogeyman's Intern

Matt Betts (Goodreads Author)

3.66 · Rating details · 29 ratings · 12 reviews

Not everyone lands their dream job.

Take Abe: He’s bottomed out as an Imaginary Friend and has to find a new job before his bosses assign him a truly crappy one. Just as he’s about to resign himself to a life of making toys in a workshop, he’s given a reprieve—of sorts.

Now he has the opportunity to be the first policeman on the Hill and solve an impossible murder. For assi ...more

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Kindle Edition, 218 pages

Published June 1st 2018 by Raw Dog Screaming Press

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Average rating 3.66 ·

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· 29 ratings · 12 reviews

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May 19, 2018 Kimberly rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, confessions-review, horror-after-dark, pages-read-challenge

3.5 stars.

THE BOOGEYMAN'S INTERN, by Matt Betts, is quite an original novel which crosses over into the thriller, fantasy, psychological, comedy, and even crime genres. In the land of "Imaginaries", where thing that humans dream up stay until they're needed, an "imaginary friend" named Abe is having another bad day. Just before he can be re-assigned, the impossible happens--one of the imaginaries, dies.

". . . Ira couldn't die. Yet Ira was dead . . . "

A meeting with none other than Mother ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Sci-Fi & Scary rated it liked it

Shelves: request-author

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author for review consideration.

I knew when I accepted The Boogeyman’s Intern that there was a strong chance I wouldn’t end up liking the book. I even told the author up front that I was concerned because it was the type of book that sounded very hit or miss for me. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, and I actually did like the book. However, that doesn’t mean the read went without problems.

The first half of The Boogeyman’s Intern went swiftly. It

The first half of The Boogeyman’s Intern went swiftly. It was charmingly weird, definitely unique, and I enjoyed seeing how things were being laid out. Matt Betts created an interesting world, and the effort he put into the story was obvious. I couldn’t wait to finish it….and then, suddenly, I could. Over the course of the next ten percent of the book, I lost the desire to continue reading it. That was, needless to say, a bit strange.

Part of the issue is I do feel like the book drags a bit in the third quarter. For a while Abe is kind of spinning his wheels, and while it’s realistic, it just doesn’t make for exciting reading. It was also a bit too obvious who the bad guy was and at least some of what was going on with Abe. However, I’m going to say that some of my lack of desire to continue the read was probably due to the fact that I just wasn’t in the right mood for it.

However, though, the last fifteen percent or so of The Boogeyman’s Intern re-ignited my interest. Things start coming together, bad guys are revealed, secrets are aired. All the good stuff I love to read.

Overall, it was an entertaining read, even if I wasn’t exactly the type of reader it was made for. While the pacing seems a bit wobbly, the characters were fun, and the dialogue was fitting. The sheer oddity of the setting and how that world interacts with our world was awesome. There were also some thoughtful remarks about how fear (and society) is evolving. If weird fantasy fiction is your thing, definitely check it out.Initial thoughts: A very unique premise, mostly solid writing, and a somewhat expected but still nice ending.

...more

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Jun 03, 2018 Reading Reindeer 2021 On Proxima Centauri rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018_4-seasons_ha, 2018_reads, 2018_space-out-sci-fi_june, 2018_sci-fi_readathon_june-1-14, 2018_sf-vs-f-_bingo_challenge, 2018_let-s-read-indie_challenge, june_2018_reads, 2018_sword-and-stars_challenge, a1-i-own-books, 2018_new-weird

Review: THE BOOGEYMAN' S INTERN by Matt Betts

I think this book will be very appealing to readers of fantasy or traditional fairy tales, if you like tradition turned on its head and knocked for a loop. This is NOT your grandfather's fairy tale. I was reminded of Sir Terry Pratchett' s SMALL GODS, as THE BOOGEYMAN' S INTERN deals quite a bit with lack of belief and how that affects deities and other non-worldly entities, including Imaginary Friends, the category into which our feckless protagonist ...more

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Jun 21, 2018 Nev Murray rated it really liked it

Shelves: 200-300-read, 2018, confessions-comp, review-pending

Review Pending.

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Jan 24, 2019 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, 2019

I have a list of authors who I'm annoyed with because they came up with ideas that I wish I had thought of.

You can add Matt Betts to that list.

The Boogeyman's Intern takes place partially in our world (ironically called the Otherworld in the story) and also an alternate world filled with Imaginaries. These represent everything from the Tooth Fairy to Bigfoot, from your Imaginary Friend to the Boogeyman under the bed. Time, Mother Nature, Death...all imaginaries living in this world. Some take jo ...more

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Jun 14, 2020 Shawn Remfrey rated it it was amazing

This is one of those few books that's going on my reread shelf. There aren't quite a dozen books on this shelf, but I faithfully go back and read them once a year. Minimum. These are the stories that I can't get enough of...the ones that feel both brand new and like a comfortable blanket each and every time.

If it weren't for the language, and a scene or two, this could be a young reader story...at least on the surface. As with Betts' other work, it's far deeper than it first appears.

The biggest ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 Jason Meuschke rated it really liked it

Very cute story, lots of fun. I like the way the author blends so many characters together from different genres. Imaginary, legendary, fairy tale, heroes, and from Norse Gods right down to the tooth fairy and the boogeyman, they're all together in one universe with tongue firmly planted in cheek. ...more

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Jun 02, 2018 J.L. rated it really liked it

Shelves: june-2018

Disclaimer: The author is a friend, and I reviewed this novel as part of the publication process. I look forward to purchasing a hardcopy version of my own.

This was a weird book set in an even weirder landscape. Betts proves that the supernatural creatures created as part of all human cultures are very similar to the humans that they support/stalk/haunt. Despite his paranormal origins, Abe is just a guy. When he's swept up into the first murder mystery his world has ever known, that's when thing ...more

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May 25, 2018 Yvonne Davies rated it really liked it

Shelves: a-million-more-pages, kindle-read

As a child, did you have an imaginary friend. Did the tooth fairy visit you when you lost a tooth. These and other creatures all live together on the Hill, rubbing shoulders with the Gods from the ancient beliefs.
Abe was an imaginary friend, good at his job until he got bored. On his final strike, the committee gave him one more chance, find out who killed one of the elite, the boogeyman Ira. Being the first policeman on the Hill, he puts together a team involving his friend Zane another boogey As a child, did you have an imaginary friend. Did the tooth fairy visit you when you lost a tooth. These and other creatures all live together on the Hill, rubbing shoulders with the Gods from the ancient beliefs.
Abe was an imaginary friend, good at his job until he got bored. On his final strike, the committee gave him one more chance, find out who killed one of the elite, the boogeyman Ira. Being the first policeman on the Hill, he puts together a team involving his friend Zane another boogeyman and career counsellor Brady. One big problem, he did not know where to start, so had to rely on his connections in the otherworld.
Living in a land of imaginaries, you come across quite a lot of weird and wonderful characters and it is not often that you read about Norse Gods rubbing shoulders with tooth fairy assistants. Ade was a comical character who relied a lot on his quick comments. Coming across as sarcastic he did rub quite a few people up the wrong way. One of my favourite characters was Brady, who reminded me of one of those aging hippies who would be at camp singing Kumbaya.
I enjoyed how the author brought some of the human world into the Hill, Zane’s obsessiveness over a police badge and Ade would fall back on police TV shows he watched when he was an imaginary friend. What starts out with a mysterious death soon turns into a matter of life and death. The story was a quick read and I really got into it until about 50% as Ade was shown into a cave housing all sorts of strange creatures. This stopped me in my tracks as I could not understand where the story was going but as I kept reading, it became clear the reason for that particular journey. Throughout the story you find out more of Abe former life and his relationship with the human boy Truman. There are some laugh out loud moments thanks to Ade and a unlikely character of a deranged Tooth Fairy, and there were times when you felt sorry for the life Ade had and the troubles he had to overcome. The story reminded me of Monsters Inc. for adults as like the film, the imaginaries relied on children to believe in them
This is the first book I have read by this author and I am interested in to reading more of his work. If you like your fantasy read with a difference than pick up this book.
...more

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Jun 19, 2019 Amanda rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, dnf

DNF 50% When I first opened this book, I literally read 50+ pages in one sitting (which is very unusual for me) because it was so funny! I was loving the world building in the city of imaginary friends, tooth fairies, big foots, boogymen, etc. However, once Abe is assigned to find out who killed a boogyman by Father Time et. al. I started to become bored with the book. And then Father Time takes Abe on a Very Long journey to all of these bizarre locations while all I wanted was to get back to Ab ...more

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Dec 08, 2018 Jd rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, print

1/2

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Apr 10, 2020 Ben Brackett rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I kept wanting to like this but the execution never really came together.

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About Matt Betts

Matt Betts

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I've been writing for a number of years and had some good fortune in getting my work in print and online venues. I've also contributed as a staff member to a few magazines. I'm a big fan of pop culture. I love old movies; good ones, bad ones, doesn't matter. Actually, I sometimes prefer the bad ones.

My first book, Odd Men Out, was launched in the summer of 2013 from Dog Star Books. It has some ste ...more