Saturday, July 4, 2009

Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant

I've heard and read a lot about Mr. Briant's first novel, Worst Nightmares, on several blogs. It sounded like something brand new and not your average suspense book. There is even a website that coincides with the book! I placed it on hold and picked it up a couple of days ago and read it today. It was good, and the ending really left me wanting more. I give Worst Nightmares a B+.

Inside cover:
Dermot Nolan is an international, award-winning bestselling author who seems to have it all- a successful career, fame, fortune, and a beautiful wife. Between the royalities coming in from his most recent book, and the revenue he has received from the film company that bought the rights, Dermot seems every bit the literary darling.
And yet, for the last year, he has suffered from a bout of writer's block and in the process has grossly overspent his income. So when Demont comes across an unsolicited horror manuscript stuffed into his mailbox from one Albert K. Arnold entitled My Worst Nightmares- My Delicious Memoirs, he cannot help but feel intrigued. It tells the story of the twisted, homicidal "Dream Healer" who snares his victims via his website worstnightmares.net, seduces them into revealing their innermost fears, and then kills them revisiting their very own nightmares upon them, magnified a hundredfold. And while Dermot is disgusted by the horror of Mr. Arnold's manuscript, he is also deeply intrigued, so much so that he seeks to solve his writer's block by rewritting Arnold's novel as his own.
Sweeping aside the threatening prospect of plagarism, Dermot begins to rework the novel while simultaneously researching Arnold's stories. In his search, he slowly begins to realize that the novel may not be entirely fictional, that these poor characters may have perished at the hands of the twisted torturer. Could the Dream Healer be real? Could these innocent cyber-surfers have fallen victim to a raving maniac? And could Dermot be writing his own ticket to death... his very own nightmare?

I loved the idea of this book, especially the idea of someone discovering your worst nightmares and then torturing you and killing you through that nightmare. Plus, I had to check out if the website worstnightmares.net was real, and it was! There is a mini trailer and also shows some of the characters telling the Dream Healer their nightmares and watching the Dream Healer talking to them. With all of that being said, I thought the writing was a bit choppy. It seemed to jump around a bit, and there was not a clear linear flow. I had a hard time feeling for Dermot and I really didn't like him, but at the end of the story, I was cheering on for him. Plus the ending really knocked my socks off and I am wondering what is going to happen next. I wonder and hope that Mr. Briant is working on his next novel. If you do read this book, go ahead and check out the website though as it is sure to send shivers down your spine.

I am not sure what I am going to read next, but yet again, it will be a library book. I have several more to get through and I think it will be another suspense. I know I have another book or two by Thomas Cook along with the sequel to another book I read last month, so it will probably be one of those. My husband is currently sitting by where I store those books, so I am going to ask him to select one for me. I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend and Happy Reading!

2 comments:

Literary Feline said...

This one sounds scary! I'll have to check out the author's website and the book.

I sometimes make my husband chose my next read too. :-)

Off topic, I was wondering if you would be interested in being a part of my Page in the Life feature this month, Kristie. It's very informal and all you have to do is answer a bunch of questions related to blogging and what you like to read. I'd be honored to feature you and your blog on mine. If you are interested, e-mail me at literaryfeline AT gmail DOT com. If not, that's okay too. No pressure. :-)

Kristie said...

Sure... I would love to! I am not the best and most entertaining person/reviewer in the world, but I would be honored to! Thanks for asking!