Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant
Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant is a terrifying glimpse into what happens when your worst nightmare falls into the hands of a serial killer
My book review rating: 5 stars - Considering how I nearly gave up after the Prologue this turned into a top read!
I’ve never been a fan of horrors - in movie or literary form - so when Sarah asked me to read Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant I was reluctant, but since she’d sent me so many great books this year to review I decided that it was time to step outside my comfort zone and give it a try.
I settled down with the Prologue and almost gave up right away - the book kicks off with a girl scratching all the skin off of her skull because she believes that insects are crawling inside her head :shudder:
In chapter one we’re introduced to the main character - Dermot Nolan - an award-winning author who is now suffering from writer’s block. Coming home one day Nolan finds a down and out stuffing a dirty envelope into his mail box - and envelope containing a novel filled with grisly murders - which the author wants Nolan to publish.
Just as I was starting to become intrigued chapter two brought more gruesome murder, with spiders and scorpions…
At this point I admit I gave up - and started reading Stephenie Meyer’s The Host!
Now if I had bought this book from the store, or borrowed it from the library - I would have taken it back. But as I was sent it to review I felt obliged to do just that, and I can’t really review a book based on a prologue and two chapters, so I decided I had better get stuck back in.
At this point I need to confess to Mr Briant that I figured out that in the early chapters every other one saw someone meeting a grisly end at the hands of the Dream Healer - so I started to skip them! I have nothing bad to say about the story or the writing - those chapters were just too scary for me to read!
By chapter 13 Nolan’s wife was trying to get him to pass the down and out’s novel off as his own piece of work - and I was hooked. [And back to reading every chapter ;)]
If you can get handle the terror chapters this book is fast paced and full of twists and turns. Briant keeps you guessing all the way through about the identity of the Dream Healer and the origins of the grisly novel. I figured out ‘who did it’ some way before the end - but Briant still managed to throw in some twists that I didn’t see coming.
I have to say that if this is what Briant comes up with for his debut novel I can’t wait to read his second (although thinking about it, it might be more scary than this one!). I’d be willing to wager that it will be appearing on a movie screen near you in the not to distant future too.
If you’re willing to be kept awake at night then you definitely need to read Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant - treat yourself to a copy today!
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