THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN
by Glen R. Krisch
5*****

When Kevin Dvorak witnesses his father's murder, he starts having nightmares about "Mr.FreakShow". One of the scariest, ugliest, and most evil thing a ten your old can imagine.
Dr. Maury Bennett has past experience with nightmare creatures, and has the power to extract them from your mind. So you no longer are bothered by them.
What happens when these creatures get released into the waking world? How do you destroy these creatures? And is Maury able to do what needs to be done?

Mr. Kitsch had me on the edge of my seat. I found this book extremely enjoyable and slightly terrifying. He is at a level just below Stephen King with this book. ( )

Not nearly as dark as The Darkness Within. The Nightmare Within made me think of where our dreams come from, from what part of us, and the impact that they have on our lives. Born of trauma, or of lust, or the imagination or perhaps a replay of a beautiful or painful memory---dreams can almost have a life of their own.

I found the premise of a "dream museum" very interesting. If I have one complaint, I really wish that we had gotten an exhibit by exhibit tour. You know, where you put on the headphones and you get this great narrator telling us all the good stories behind the exhibits? I would have liked to have followed more of these dreams as they roamed our world too. There is alot there, I am sure, and I wanted more. To be sure, we got to know Freakshow very well in all his nastiness.

What I loved about this book was Kevin. That kid had heart. Not a false note there. He felt real and I was very moved by his story. And that really makes a novel for me. A good main character really drives the bus and Kevin is as good a main young character as Mark Petrie in Salem's Lot, and for me, that is saying alot. His story is heartbreaking yet he is courageous through it all.

Kirsch also drops some really good surprises in the last 20 or so pages of the book. I mean good in that when the surprise is unveiled and you nod your head and smile because all the clues were there. Sophie's story in particular was really well done. In fact I was very satisfied with the resolution of all of the story lines and that is actually rare for me. Whether the resolution was dark and destructive, or tender and heartwarming, Kirsch knows his characters and he isn't afraid to let them be themselves. ( )

What a premise! Imagine a guy who can pull your dreams(both good and bad) right out of your head. Then he can put them in a museum and you can watch them walk around. Pretty weird and kind of fascinating, right? But what happens when one of those walking nightmares doesn't want to be a dream anymore? Enter Mr. Freakshow. That's right, Mr. Freakshow. A big, bad, blue skinned Freak. (This story really strummed my Clive Barker nerve). How can a young boy on the cusp of manhood face down a monster like that? You have to read it to find out!
I would highly recommend this book to any fans of dark fiction or horror. ( )

Dreams and nightmares become real.

The premise of this book gives some hope to those that still believe in the horror genre. No reimagined, rehashed story here! The concept of a mentally disturbed psychologist being able to pull dreams from people’s minds into the real world was fascinating. The idea of a dream museum (named Lucidity, what a great name) in which to house these dreams was creative and unique. The dreams themselves were fabulous, ranging from a flaming cat to a sock monkey to Mr. Freakshow, the antagonist of the story.

Even though I enjoyed the book, I still have complaints. My comments probably make it sound like I don’t recommend the book, which isn’t the case. It was a cool story with lots of potential; I expect people who aren’t as picky as I am will enjoy it. I recommend this book to readers who like unique horror.

The character Kevin was interesting, but not very believable as a 10-year old. He seemed to have an unlikely understanding of adult relationships. I was also confused by the fact that while the dreams were supposed to be limited by their dreamers’ knowledge until they came into the real world, Mr. Freakshow knew things Kevin didn’t while he was in the boy’s nightmares.

The psychologist, Maury, was quite annoying, as well. I’m not sure if he was supposed to be a major character or if he started out that way and worked himself out of the story. The entire plotline of him falling in love with a dream woman was just plain weird, start to finish.

There were several other characters who left me wondering why they were even included, except maybe to act as the red-shirted ensigns/victims for Mr. Freakshow.

The nightmare, Mr. Freakshow, started out as a pretty good monster, sort of like a Freddy Krueger with demon wings. But seriously, how many times can we say his name? Truly, it was way overused, especially towards the end of the book.

About halfway through the book, elements started appearing that didn’t seem to make sense. Plot threads abound that go nowhere: the erotic dreams were gratuitous, adding nothing to the storyline; a serial killer on the subway who goes after a dream woman appears and disappears in a single chapter; a rat lady dream is followed into the subway station, only to have her disappear from the story.

Stereotypical, two-dimensional characters fill the pages, like the clueless but well-meaning detective, incompetent policemen who smoke too much, and the overweight mayor wiping sweat from his forehead. The dream powers were inconsistent, as well, both affecting the real world at one point, and having no effect at all at another.

The ending bothered me the most. No explanation was given for how the hundreds of rampaging nightmares all over the city of Chicago were dealt with. It mentioned that only those dreams that had managed to kill their creators were imprisoned. Did the government kill the other creators to destroy the dreams? Kevin is resurrected by some unexplained miracle, which was kind of annoying. Was this so his mother wouldn’t have to be alone? The pregnant dream intrigued me (what would be the result of the union between a human and a dream?), but how did she get pregnant when her whole existence is predicated on the fact that nothing in the real world affects her permanently? Dreams get shot and immediately heal, so wouldn’t pregnancy (if it happened at all) disappear as well?

On occasion, the story gets deep into the weeds. Characters ramble on about their past, with just a very tenuous connection to the plot, at best. We see this especially when Kevin returns to his hometown and reflects on every single thing he passes as he makes his way to his old house. This slowed the pace of the story that impacted the punch of the ending. I thought the ending dragged on too long. There was an entire chapter about the major characters making amends, “paying it forward”, so to speak, which wasn’t at all necessary.

The concept of the book is great, and for a first novel, it was pretty good, but it could have been executed better. ( )

My full The Nightmare Within review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

What a story! Growing up I had been plagued by bad dreams and the bogyman and was very happy that they were not real. I am not sure what I would have done if the people and creatures of my dreams could become real. That's what happened here, they were extracted and collected in to live in a real museum, categorized by their type; nightmares, erotic, ect. Gruesome and suspenseful at times, without the porn show that many horrors can become, and at others seemed long winded. However Krisch was able to create a unique horror story the likes of which I have never heard before. Well developed characters that have extensive histories to create very complex beings, I would argue that there was too much going on with them, at times I found myself saying "Just get on with it". As they battle it out in the classic good against evil with several shades of gray mixed in for good measure. All in all The Nightmare Within was a success and I strongly believe that Krisch will only get better as his career continues. ( )