August 1, 2023
A boy just wants his old life back, but the Nightmare King has different plans. Twelve-year-old Shane has finally recovered from a game of tag that went tragically wrong, landing him in the hospital with gaps in his memory and scars on his torso. He thinks things are looking up when he is finally cleared to play on the basketball team after having to take a year off. Unable to perform at his previously high skill level, however, Shane begins to doubt himself. To top it off, he starts having terrible nightmares, even worse than the ones he had after his accident. When Shane starts falling asleep at random times, coming to with fresh bruises and objects pulled from his nightmares, his twin sister, Sadie, and best friend, Doc, begin to worry about him. In this novel featuring a central cast that is cued Black, Hermon creates a middle-grade horror world that involves a Nightmare King who collects talented children. Unfortunately, despite the quality of the prose, the story takes a long time to build up to the parts that will get readers spooked. A lot of time is spent dragging out the details of Shane's accident and exploring his self-doubt; readers won't experience any significant creep factor until later in the book and might lose patience hoping for the scary parts to play out. Well-written, but there's a long wait for the scares. (Horror. 9-12)
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August 1, 2023
Grades 5-7 In this equally chilling sequel to Hide and Seeker (2020), 12-year-old Shane's determination to pick up his old life in the wake of spending a month in a coma after being hit by a car falls afoul of not only a bullying rival on his school's basketball team but also a weird and sinister "King" who seems to be continuing the game by stalking him through a series of daytime visions and exhausting nightmares. Or are those, along with Shane's memory losses and sudden fits of blind rage, just signs that his mind is far less healed than his scarred body? Hermon keep readers on the edges of their seats waiting for a clear answer as they watch Shane's personality deteriorate on the way to a hard-fought climactic confrontation in, yes, an otherworldly realm. Shane leads a nearly all-Black cast in which loving twin sister, Sadie, and staunch friend/comic-relief provider, Doc, play significant roles. Along with scaring the pants off readers, the tale highlights the value of loyalty and the importance of self-acceptance.
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