Review: The Nightmarys by Dan Poblocki

I thoroughly enjoyed The Nightmarys by Dan Poblocki.

While not exactly a sequel, this book far exceeds its predecessor, The Stone Child. The author manages to create a more intriguing story set on a richer canvas with deeper, more realized characters.

This is intended to be a middle-grade or young adult story, but it kept my attention throughout. I even related to the emotions and thoughts of the main character, Timothy July. Timothy is well-rounded and the reader is able to connect with him. The added element of Timothy’s brother being a soldier wounded in the Middle East made this character more than a simple cardboard cutout going through the steps of solving a mystery.

The story itself had the tense supernatural mystery for which the author is known. Timothy July is assigned a special class project and is paired up with the new girl, Abigail, a loner. Their trip to the museum drops them into a decades old web of secrets. Soon the line between reality and terrible imagination becomes blurred as Timothy and Abigail struggle to find the truth. I liked that it was not a simple one, two, three easy-to-solve mystery. The characters had to work to discover the truth and that, to me, is always more satisfying.

There were also a few surprises that connected the world of The Nightmarys to The Stone Child. Also, the author appeared to put considerable effort into the mythology behind his plot. As in his first book, there is a lot going on with the supernatural elements that might be over the head of younger readers, but bringing my own background knowledge made it that much more enjoyable for me.

There are some genuinely frightening sequences that makes this story not for everyone. However, if you like to be scared, then The Nightmarys is definitely worth your time.

Mark Miller is the author of The Empyrical Tales fantasy adventure series from Comfort Publishing. Book 1: The Fourth Queen and Book 2: The Lost Queen are available now. Miller has also co-written A Prince in Trenton, Seriously? with Giovanni Gelati as part of Trestle Press's Author's Lab and is headlining the ongoing spiritual introspective series Mark Miller's One. He has a background in motion picture production and elementary education. Please visit www.MillerWords.com and follow his blog at EmpyricalTales.blogspot.com or find him on Facebook at Facebook.com/EmpyricalTales.