The Nightmares of Finnegan Quick draws the reader into the life and dreams of a teenage boy with a peculiar power to manipulate dreams. Finnegan is an average high school boy with whom young readers can easily identify. His struggles with school, teachers, and social awkwardness are textbook student struggles. The problems and dangers that come with his power to manipulate dreams are an entirely different matter. His adventures–or misadventures–leave a reader wondering whether it is actually a good thing when dreams really do come true.

Finnegan is joined by a small cast of characters, with two other high school students figuring prominently against a backdrop of people who are the literary equivalent of extras in a movie. This small coterie of characters allows for some intensive character development and strong dialogue that establishes a foundation for the reader to become attached to the characters. Throughout the book, the teens show concern for each other and for others rather than simple self-interest, which is another point that makes them very likeable for a reader.

The setting of this book is as varied as imagination, since a portion of the action is set within the dreams of a character. This allows for a creative license that the author uses well, while still having it make some sense and maintain a consistency with itself where it intentionally lacks a consistency with the real world. This style of storytelling is used to good effect when accentuating the creepiness of monsters, but at some points it makes the narrative seems disjointed.

This novel is filled with action, creepy monsters, and intense fight scenes. Some middle grade readers will very much enjoy it. For others, it may have a bit too much of a stream of consciousness feel. Many of the monsters are spooky, several are gory, and all provide an atmosphere of terror and even hopelessness that make a good horror story. Some of the visualizations are intense enough that they would normally be expected in a more adult horror novel, however, so it is difficult to recommend this book to a middle grade audience who may find themselves torn between wanting to discover the end of the book and wanting to put the book down because it’s uncomfortable to read. It is a good horror novel, but it may miss the mark with a fair portion of its target audience.

Review of an Advance Reading Copy provided by the Publisher

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 11 religious exclamations; 1 mild obscenity. Note: The word “hell” is used to refer to a place of eternal punishment.

Violence/Gore: A few fights with monsters without major injury; a few fights in which monsters are killed; a few creepy scenes in which teens are stalked or attacked monsters; few instances of a character being injured by burning; characters find a badly mutilated corpse of another character, with blood and bone described; a character has gory, bloody injuries from a past accident, with the wounds described as few times; a gross scene involving bugs and gore; a fight in which a monster is killed by partial decapitation and exploding in a gory fashion; report of a character killed in an accident; a creepy scene in which a pet is kidnapped; a scary dream sequence in which a character injures themself; a food fight; a car is vandalized; a character punches another; a bloody injury is described; a character licks monster brains from a weapon; a monster kills itself in order to wound other characters; teens are badly wounded a few times, with blood described, including one scene in which a finger is sliced off; report of an animal killed.

In the bonus chapter for the sequel book, included at the end of this one, includes: A report of animal and human deaths; a report of vandalism.

Sex/Nudity: A boy discusses how pretty a girl is; a girl makes a joke about she and a boy “sleeping together” when they are actually sleeping (in a fully-clothed, non-sexual way).

In the bonus chapter for the sequel book, included at the end of this one, includes: A boy admires how beautiful a girl is; mention of a game of “kiss chase”.

Mature Subject Matter:

Bullying; death of a parent; death of a pet; kidnapping; vandalism; age-related dementia; the book mentions a real-world book called the Malleus Maleficarum, from which teen characters in the novel attempt an exorcism, and this may give adherents of some Christian denominations pause when deciding whether their children should read the book.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

None