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I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
MY REVIEW:
Genre | Tropes: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Crime
Rating: 5 out of 5 ⭐
I was wildly impressed with this book… and here’s why. I’ve read plenty of horror books over the course of my almost 40 years now on this planet. My grandparents, who raised me, always had Stephen King novels laying around the house and exposed me to plenty of horror movies before I probably should have been. So I’m no stranger to old and new styles of horror writing.
But what was so different about this book was that it hit all the right terror elements. Even so much as having me checking over my shoulder or watching my kids a little closer when we were in public.
Plot and Setting
The synopsis will give you more detail, but this is a story about a family (Tess and Justin) who are suffering in their marriage and their daughter goes missing. The daughters kidnapping is related to something from Tess’s past and she must unbury her hidden memories to understand how she’s connected to the abduction of multiple children and the memory of a serial killer from her hometown.
Terrifying Antagonists
This story was not for the faint of heart as it depicts plenty of horrific situations of child abductions, psychologically distressed individuals, murder and other elements. The way the timelines are laid with a back and forth perspective slowly reveals the terrifying elements that played out in the past for the main character Tess, but also from different vantage points of the present including the antagonist. Good horror books provided a look into the mind of the antagonist and really help you see into their way of rationalizing their behaviors. It’s not an easy thing to look at, but Markert really dives into these characters and helps you see things from their own eyes.
Relatability to the Antagonists
While the antagonist was scary in his own right, abducting children and killing people that got in his way, Markert impressed me with his ability to make the character also seem human and relatable in a way that made me feel neutral to him by the end. But there are many main characters as part of the “antagonist circle” as I’m starting to call it, and each one has their own relatability and terrifying elements.
Psychology of Trauma
The main elements in this story revolve around trauma and how the mind approaches dealing with traumatic events. From the defense mechanisms of the mind where memories are sublimated and repressed, to the development of multiple personalities to the physical affects of trauma like the loss of eye sight.
These were the pieces of this book that really had me invested in all the antagonists a little more than the protagonist. Having studied Psychology as part of my own college education, I was absolutely fascinated by the way Markert weaved these traumatized characters together into a web of vicious feeding.
My favorite character of all was Noah. His story was deep and heartbreaking from a traumatizing home life as a child, to the development of multiple personalities to protect himself from that trauma, and the eventual assistance he tries to provide to the protagonists as they are looking for their kidnapped daughter.
Overall Feeling
I’d read this book again and again to see what hints and pieces I missed earlier on in the book. All of the characters were well written and provided key milestones to move the story forward. As I’ve already said, I was most impressed with the psychological elements of this story and how well Markert laid them out and represented them in a way that made me understand the actions of a damaged mind. By the end of the book, I kind of felt like, “Yea… I can understand his logic there.”
GET IT HERE:
The sole survivor of a serial killer might hold the key to stopping a new spree of murders in this propulsive thriller in the vein of The Black Phone and The Whisper Man.
Dark and twisting at every turn, fans of Catriona Ward will love this chilling new tale from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the “clear heir to Stephen King.”
Beware the one who got away . . .
Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his “House of Horrors,” they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor–a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane.
Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast.
The detective’s daughter, Tess Claibourne, is a detective herself, haunted by childhood trauma and horrified by the death of her father and the resurgence of Father Silence’s legacy.
When Tess’s daughter is kidnapped by the Outcast, Tess is forced to face her worst fears and long-buried memories. With no leads to follow, she travels back to Twisted Tree to visit the boy who survived and see what secrets might be buried in the tangled web of his broken mind.
With captivating prose and an old-school horror flair, Sleep Tight is a must-read, haunting tale from a true master of the genre.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Markert
J.H. Markert, the author of THE NIGHTMARE MAN, MISTER LULLABY and the forthcoming SLEEP TIGHT, is the pen name for writer James Markert, an award-winning novelist of historical fiction. James is a produced screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for 25 years, before hanging up the racquets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in History from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since. With a total of 10 published novels under his belt, James writes historical fiction under his name and horror/thriller under J.H. Markert. He has recently completed his next historical novel, RANSOM BURNING, a civil rights era family/crime drama that James calls “my best book yet!” James recently finished another horror novel called DIG, and is currently hard at work on his next novel, SPIDER TO THE FLY, which will be his next release with Crooked Lane in the fall of 2025!
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