She picked it up, flipped through some of the pages, and then started at the beginning.

J.H. Markert, from The Nightmare Man

REVIEW

Mister Lullaby by J.H. Markert

Parents sing lullabies to their children hoping they will sleep. They rock or walk their little babies while whispering, shushing, and singing to them. This book puts a dark spin on dreamtime, comas, and might have you questioning what really happens when you dream while sleeping.

What I liked:

* The plotting, pacing, writing, setting, and story

* The characters, good and bad, and how they made the book come alive * That the shift between past and present when telling the story worked seamlessly

* The link between lullabies and dreams/dreamland

* The historical aspect of the story

* Thinking about the ‘what ifs’

* Thinking about people I have known in comas and discussions I have had about “where they are”

* Growing to care about some of the characters and hoping that perhaps I will see them in a future book

* The hope at the end of the book…at least for some

* That the book ties in a bit with the previous book, The Nightmare Man

* Wondering what book will come next from this author

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Thinking about whether or not believing in something can make it real

Did I like this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

From J. H. Markert, the author Peter Farris calls the "clear heir to Stephen King," Mister Lullaby brings our darkest dreams and nightmares to life. In the vein of T. Kingfisher and Christopher Golden, the boundary protecting our world from the monsters on the other side is weakening—and Mister Lullaby is about to break through. 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. Before falling back into his slumber, Sully manages to give his older brother a message. Sully's mind, since the accident, has been imprisoned on the other side of the tunnel in Lalaland, a grotesque and unfamiliar world inhabited by evil mythical creatures of sleep. Sully is trapped there with hundreds of other coma patients, all desperately fighting to keep the evils of the dream world from escaping into the waking world. Elsewhere, a man troubled by his painful youth has for years been hearing a voice in his head he calls Mr. Lullaby, and he has finally started to act on what that voice is telling him—to kill any coma patient he can find, quickly. Something is waking up in the tunnel—something is trying to get through. And Mr. Lullaby is coming.

If you want to feel chills, if you want to feel that creepy feeling that makes you look around while reading alone, wondering what is hiding in the darkness, in the doorways... this book, ya'll!!!

Oh no. Just immediately, I was set on edge. A creepy train tunnel, dead bodies appearing in very not great ways. And just the nightmare fuel of this whole story had me in its terrifying grip! I'm not kidding. We all have different specific things in horror that we find scary, but for me, this encapsulates many different scary details and just ...I had no chance getting through this without feeling deeply scared at what is on these pages.

Really intense, scary read!

Out November 21, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Monsters and Minds

#BOOKREVIEW - Monsters and Minds - #MisterLullaby #blog

A small town’s old train tunnel, coma patients, murders, and strange occurrences are components in a rapidly developing convergence of nightmarish events in J. H. Markert’s Mister Lullaby. When the man those in Harrod’s Reach refer to as Simple Simon reports through his drawings two dead bodies outside the town’s old train tunnel to the deputy sheriff, Beth, a string of strange events with…

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Review: The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

Author: J.H. MarkertPublisher: Crooked Lane BooksReleased: January 10, 2023Received: NetGalley Book Summary: Ben Bookman has been hard at work on his latest novel, The Scarecrow. He even heads home – to Blackwood mansion – to get it written. Unfortunately, the events of his book seem to be coming to life, and that means the town of New Haven is in for a horrible time. Enter Detective Mills,…

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The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert Horror 336 Pages Expected Publication 10th January 2023 Purchase from | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Amazon UK | I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Actual rating of 3.5 Ben Bookman is called The Nightmare Man because of his ability to weave a horror story like no other. After struggling…

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MISTER LULLABY, by J.H. Markert

If the author and/or the publisher wanted to stress this novel’s “Stephen King vibes” by choosing a cover where a child in a yellow raincoat faces a dark opening into the unknown, reminiscent of the inciting incident in King’s IT, they managed to do so quite well. Mister Lullaby does indeed possess many of the qualities of King’s older narrative, while being at the same time its own story with an…

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new year...

...same old me.

It’s... been a little while since i last properly posted. hell, it’s been a while since i... did anything, really. It was a bit of a rough time, the end of the year, but thing are starting to round upwards, so that’s pretty nice.

But... honestly, i need to restart all my proper rituals to just get myself back on track. So, with that being said - let’s get that list, shall we?

Listo:

Laundry/cleaning, Reading, Watching, TTRPGThings.

Laundry/cleaning - Boxes need to get broken down, but things were sorted better.

Reading things - - Book: i am currently at 16 books for the year so far, with 1 DNF. Here’s what i’ve read, starting from the first of the year and ending with what i’m currently reading! - Tress of the Emerald Sea (The Cosmere) by Brandon Sanderson 5🌟 - Oh i dearly loved this book, it was so good! - Spirit Prophecy (The Gateway Trilogy #2) by E.E. Holmes 2🌟 - The Empress of Time (The Keeper of Night, #2) by Kylie Lee Baker 3🌟 - This  book disappointed me so deeply, the first book was SO good and this... oof. Not Good. - Spirit Ascendancy (The Gateway Trilogy #3) by E.E. Holmes 2🌟 - The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford 2🌟 - Critical Role: The Mighty Nein—The Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeleine Roux 5🌟Long may he reign... - Spells Trouble (Sisters of Salem, #1) by P.C. Cast 3🌟 - Omens Bite (Sisters of Salem, #2) by P.C. Cast 2🌟 - Redemptor (Raybearer, #2) by Jordan Ifueko 3🌟 - He Who Fights with Monsters (He Who Fights with Monsters, #1) by Shirtaloon 4🌟 - Bad Cree by Jessica Johns 3🌟 - Living Dead Girl by Rachel Vincent 2🌟 - The Wicche Glass Tavern (Sam Quinn #3) by Seana Kelly 3🌟 - The Hob and Hound Pub (Sam Quinn, #4) by Seana Kelly 3🌟 - Biergarten of the Damned (Sam Quinn #5) by Seana Kelly 3🌟 - The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert DNF🌟This was so... bouncy? Back and forth between groups, back and forth in time... just. No. No. - City of Nightmares (City of Nightmares, #1) by Rebecca Schaeffer 3🌟 - Wild Country (The World of the Others #2) by Anne Bishop 17%

 Watching things - - Anime: Haven’t started anything... yet. But i need to! i plan on it. Probably going to go with Lycoris Recoil.

#TTRPGThings - The sessions continue unabated, traipsing through this underground dungeon, it’s been a lot but also a ton of fun.

Other - Well, we got a new bed, it was very expensive but last night was the first good night’s sleep i’ve had in a while so, that’s pretty nice.

Food: A - Tasty Everyplate meals, very good. Liquid: A Pain: D - Migraine, left shoulder, wrists and fingers, just not great. Brain: C - A bit dissociatedey, floaty, but nothing too terrible.

Tomorrow: Laundry/cleaning, Reading, Watching, TTRPGThings.

Ever Onwards and Upwards!

WWW Wednesday: November 22nd, 2023

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme Sam hosts at Taking on a World of Words. The Three Ws are: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday. Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!! Happy…

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It's Monday: What Are You Reading---November 20th, 2023

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet and share what you have been and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book…

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November 2023 TBR

NetGalley: Indie Authors:

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my fall TBR---September 19th, 2023

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Every Tuesday, a new topic is assigned from the schedule below. Then, you take that topic and fly free with it. You can do as little or as much as you want to (I have…

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WWW Wednesday: January 4th, 2023

WWW Wednesday: January 4th, 2023

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. The Three Ws are: What are you currently reading?What did you recently finish reading?What do you think you’ll read next? Personal: I hope everyone had a great (and safe) New Year’s Eve!! I didn’t do much. BK made food, and we watched Hoda and Jenna’s New Year’s Eve special on NBC. We didn’t even stay up until…

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January 2023 TBR

December has flown by for me (I don’t know about you guys). I was stretched thin between my kids’ Christmas events, last-minute shopping, and the actual holiday. I hope January is less hectic and I can breathe again. Indie Authors/Publishers Novel Cause Novel Cause From Author From Author NetGalley

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Myth Manifested

#BOOKREVIEW - Myth Manifested - #blog

A horror writer’s latest book’s release coincides with the story unfolding in real life as he and the police try to prevent further devastation in J.H. Markert’s The Nightmare Man. Detective Mills arrives at a crime scene where a family have been murdered and bundled inside cocoons stitched together from corn husks and hung from the rafters of their barn and he’s unnerved by the scene before…

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Review: Mister Lullaby by J.H. Markert

Author: J.H. MarketPublisher: Crooked Lane BooksReleased: November 21, 2023Received: NetGalley Find it on Goodreads | More Horror Reviews Book Summary: Every town has secrets. Likewise, nearly every town has a location that everyone prefers to avoid. For Harrod’s Reach that place is an old train tunnel. It was always creepy, but it became downright alarming after a little boy was left for dead…

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