The Nightmare Girl by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
That was a delightful little gore fest!
My first Janz but certainly not my last.
Originally published in 2015, The Nightmare Girl was recently re-released by Flame Tree Press. Thank you so much to them for sending me a copy to read and review.
As mentioned above, this is my first Jonathan Janz novel and I really wasn’t sure what to expect going in. I had a lot of fun reading this and definitely plan to pick up his other works.
This story follows our protagonist, Joe Crawford, a contractor and family-man who frequently loses out on jobs because he is too honest with his customers. Joe is an every man and I was drawn to him immediately.
When he witnesses a young mother abusing her toddler in a gas station parking lot, he can’t stand by and watch. He steps in and does something about it. Once the police are called, and the child ultimately removed from the mother’s home however, his fate is sealed, and it isn’t good.
Before you know it, Joe and his family are on the receiving end of threats and acts of violence from the young mother, Angie’s, family and friends. A pagan fire cult. Yeah, her family and friends are all members of a local pagan fire cult…
I really enjoyed the pacing and plot development of this one. One of my favorite aspects, Joe’s best bud, Officer Darrel Copeland. He was just such a fantastic addition to this story. I loved their time spent together. There was some great banter, humor and loyalty and while a lot of the plot elements were dark, I felt this relationship added a nice contrast.
There were some great fight scenes, a lot of gore that made me cringe and a satisfying ending. The descriptive text was so solid that I could picture these scenes playing out in my head like a movie. I would highly recommend this to any horror fan. Give it a shot, I don’t think you will be disappointed!