A Review of J.H. Markert's "The Nightmare Man"

J. H. Markert’s The Nightmare Man gives you everything you want from the trope of the horror writer being trapped in a world of his own making, and then some. I remember watching In the Mouth of Madness as a teenager at the Sunset Drive-in when it was released. As far as I can remember, this was my first exposure to this trope. I’ve sought it out elsewhere as well: in horror films from the seventies and in other books. The Nightmare Man is packed not only with this classic trope, but so many others from across horror subgenres that it is an all-too-satisfying read, and I can’t wait for the sequel that is hinted at in the final chapter. 

Ben Bookman is our novelist. He’s (of course) also an alcoholic (a nod to The Shining) and is having trouble keeping his marriage together after an allegation of an affair with the nanny (classic, but it becomes even more twisted later). The novel starts at a book signing of his most recent story. There, a man shoots himself in front of Ben, claiming Ben stole his nightmare for the novel. This coincides with a family being found, murdered in exactly the way Ben has described in his book. At first, Detective Mills and his daughter, Detective Blue, think it’s a copycat killer, simple as that. But as the story progresses, we learn there is so much more going on, a tension that has been building for decades. And the climax? Absolutely worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, but I’ll leave it at that. 

I read and listen to a lot of horror. I write some myself. Rarely do I come across a novel that I find so absolutely nostalgic of the stuff I was reading in the early nineties. Titles I’d find at the local used bookstore. Titles that probably (and this isn’t a bad thing) originally came off a twirling wire rack at a Thrifty's or Rexall drugstore. The Nightmare Man delivers that nostalgia. As mentioned in the intro, there are so many tropes that appeal to fans of that older style of horror: an asylum, too many moths (for some reason), a cop in AA, a priest with a past, a big derelict house... And all the pieces fit together. At the end (and this isn’t really a spoiler), we get the child prodigy who is ready to start fighting the evil years later.

Overall, this is good stuff. It is a perfect summer horror read. I’m excited to see what this novelist is going to do next with his characters.