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The Nightmare Man

By: J. H. Markert
Narrated by: David Bendena
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Publisher's summary

Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.

Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills and his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, are determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.

As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books, thousands of books without words. As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history, he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.

©2023 J. H. Markert (P)2023 Dreamscape Media
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What listeners say about The Nightmare Man

Average customer ratings
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Absolutely Loved It!!

I had no clue what to expect from this book tbh, I thought it was a simple story about an evil scarecrow but I was wrong. It is so much deeper than that. The world building is great. The writing keeps you hooked and weaves in information at the perfect time. I loved The Nightmare Man and look forward to the sequel, assuming there will be one. Highly recommend.

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10 people found this helpful

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What a wild ride!

Hang on for a wild ride with this one! Markert is sure to become one of the premier horror authors of our time. What an incredible, unique tale. I can't wait to read more of his work.

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1 person found this helpful

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Fantastic Read!

I don’t know what I was expecting. I read a few reviews and figured why not. This book was excellent. Drew me in and made me want to know how it would play out. No spoilers here. All I have the say is it was worth the listen and I hope the author continues the story.

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What a great story!

One of my new favorite authors! Finished it in 2 days so good can’t wait till he puts out the next one 😊

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Suspensions!!!!

Chilling descriptions, guessing game on suspects and interesting plot twists. characters from the book , compared to insane patients ,genius

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Creative and ominous

A story about the seasoned Detective Mills that's well past retirement, and the disquieting link that connects him with a local famous horror writer, Benjamin Bookman, and their town of Crooked Tree, that is bigger and older than all of them combined.

This leaned more into murder mystery than scary horror, and the town reminded me a bit of Gotham, and if Batman had been a detective instead of a superhero. I was able to see where the book was going at some parts, but what I enjoyed most is that there were multiple points within the spiderweb of this plot that wove themselves into a really well thought out story, so it did mostly keep me guessing.

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Mares and dreams, twists and turns

I loved how this story unfolded. Some great twist that had me Audibly saying “holy what???”
The character development was great. No forced shifts or schmucks becoming heroes. Grounded while being a supernatural esq story.
Bouncing between perspectives can be tough for some to follow, but this isn’t my ally!
Can’t wait to read more of this author!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Generally solid horror thriller

I enjoyed this overall, it's a solid horror thriller with some mystery elements. My main gripes were that the concluding material ran on a bit long, and it didn't always stick the landing with all the plot revelations that were going on towards the end. But that's about my most common complaint for horror novels, so it didn't surprise or disappoint me too much. Still a solid recommend if you're in a horror mood.

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3 people found this helpful

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⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kept me interested from start to finish. Listened to the whole thing in a weekend.

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1 person found this helpful

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Great horror story!

I listen to horror genre books once in a while (I'm mostly a psychological crime junkie), but this one caught my interest. I love books with lots of twists and turns...even if I have to back up and listen to something again to make sure I'm keeping up. I listened to this so fast that I want to start it over right now! Excellent story line, wild and entertaining characters. 5 stars!

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