This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
NightmareBethany House (July 1, 2010)
byRobin Parrish
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robin Parrish is a journalist who’s written about the intersection of faith and pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture.
He had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract with Bethany House Publishers. They contracted him for the rights to The Dominion Trilogy: Relentless (2006), Fearless (2007), and Merciless (2008). His science fiction thriller, Offworld came out in 2009. This summer debuts Nightmare, and he’s working on another for 2011. Robin and his wife and children live in North Carolina.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The Nightmare is Coming…
Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, offering state-of-the-art chills and thrills involving the paranormal. The park’s main ride is a haunted house that promises an encounter with a real ghost.
When Maia Peters visits during her senior year of college, she’s not expecting to be impressed. Maia grew up as the only child of a pair of world-renowned “ghost hunters,” so the paranormal is nothing new and to her most of the park is just Hollywood special effects. In fact, the ride feels pretty boring until the very end. There, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl Maia knows who disappeared from campus a few months ago.
Convinced what she saw wasn’t a hoax and desperate to find answers to Jordin’s disappearance, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin’s boyfriend–a pastor’s kid with very different ideas about paranormal and the spirit realm–Maia finds herself in a struggle against dangerous forces she never expected to confront on the edge of the spirit realm that try to keep the truth from emerging.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Nightmare, go HERE.
MY REVIEW:
Nightmare is a page turning, spellbinding tale that will keep the reader on edge until the electrifying climax. Written in first person from the point of view of Maia, the daughter of famous television paranormal experts, the narrative spans two time frames. Some chapters narrate Maia and Jordin’s experiences during the previous year as they explored sites famous for paranormal activity. Alternating chapters follow Maia and Jordin’s boyfriend as they frantically search for Jordin after her unexplained disappearance.
Because it features ghosts and the paranormal, Nightmare is likely to become one of those controversial books among Christian readers once word gets out about it. Although everyone may not agree with views presented in the story, they should remember that is is just that – a story. The book was well researched and gives the reader plenty to think about without drawing any concrete conclusions. Certain events in the story are obviously speculative and should be treated as such.
Mr. Parrish has penned a terrifying chiller without the usual blood and gore that is common in most books of this genre. That he has also managed to insert a wealth of spiritual truth without becoming preachy is a major achievement in my opinion. This book is not for everyone, but for those who enjoy a good supernatural thriller, Nightmare is well worth reading.
