Hi gorgeous people and welcome to Reading with ABC's stop of the Nightmare City Blog Tour. This tour is hosted by YA Bound and you can find the rest of the stops here.
Published: November 5th, 2013 by Thomas Nelson Publisher
Source: ARC provided for the tour
Format: eBook
Genre: Contemporary | Horror | Mystery
Group age: Young adult
Grade rate: B-
What should have been an ordinary morning is about to spiral into a day of unrelenting terror. As a reporter for his high school newspaper, Tom is always on the lookout for an offbeat story. But from the moment he woke up this morning, his own life has been more bizarre than any headline could ever tell. The streets of his town are suddenly empty and silent. A strange fog has drifted in from the sea and hangs over everything. And something is moving in that fog. Something evil. Something hungry. Closing in on Tom. Tom's terrified girlfriend Marie says the answers lie at the Santa Maria Monastery, a haunted ruin standing amidst a forest blackened by wildfire. But can he trust her? A voice that seems to be coming from beyond the grave is warning him that nothing is what it seems. "Only one thing is certain: with his world collapsing around him, Tom has only a few hours to recover the life he knew - before he, too, is lost forever in this nightmare city."Find it Here: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo
My Review
Let me just start by stating that this book was not what I
expected. That’s not necessarily a bad
thing, but I think the synopsis is misleading.
All in all, Nightmare City is
a fast paced mystery with horror thrown in for good measure.
Tom is our protagonist and he is the star reporter of his
high school paper. He got in trouble due to a story that he wrote that has made
him mighty unpopular and open a can of worms in the process. Unfortunately, I
cannot tell you too much about the story because it has so many twists and
turns that you must experience yourself first hand and I don’t want to spoil it
for you.
There is horror in the book in the form of the ‘malevolents’,
hungry zombie like creatures. The beginning
of the book was quite confusing to me, but on the second part, as Tom figured
out what was going on, it all started to make sense for me too. I have no idea what I would have done in this
situation because Tom’s circumstances where horrible indeed.
Other characters of significance are Lisa and Tom’s
mom. Lisa is Tom’s editor in the paper
and a good friend, she sometimes act as his conscience. Tom’s mom had a really big blow when Tom’s
older brother died in Afghanistan, and she is a really good person. Overall, the characterization was good and is
the writing of the story.
The plot is, as I mentioned before, a little confusing. I promise that it will all make sense by the
second part though! Within the story
there are moments of pertinent flashbacks to give the reader insight about Toms’
life, his friends, and his dilemmas. Something
I don’t understand is why Tom felt that it was his sole responsibility to
expose what happened, in my opinion it was all much bigger that he could
handle. Just saying…
Nightmare City is
not a zombie story per se, but a story with a mystery, a story about right and
wrong, about perseverance, about questions and answers.
Some quotes for you:
“Tom’s curiosity began
to kick in – that eager electric pulse that compelled him to know more, to search
for the truth, to solve the puzzle. He
could never resist it.”
“Well… Just because something
is in your imagination doesn’t mean it’s imaginary”
“He felt afraid. Worse
than afraid. He felt hopeless. The fog was everywhere. The creatures were everywhere. He didn’t know
where he was. He couldn’t see where he was going. How could he ever expect to
escape?”
About the Author
Andrew
Klavan is a best-selling, award-winning thriller novelist whose books have been
made into major motion pictures. He broke into the YA scene with the
bestselling Homelanders series, starting with The Last Thing I Remember.He is
also a screenwriter and scripted the innovative movie-in-an-app Haunting
Melissa.
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Giveaway
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*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of YA
Bound Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author.
Although payment may have been received by YA Bound Blog Tours, no payment was
received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a
positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not
necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of
this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade
Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and
Testimonials in Advertising*
The book looks really good! I just finished If We Survive not too long ago and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI have that one too, but I haven't read it yet
DeleteSounds interesting aldeit a bit confusing...havent read any of his work yet, so i will definitely be scouting some stuff on goodreads..how are his other books???
ReplyDeleteThe confusion goes away after the first part. I have If We Survive, but I haven't read it yet though.
Delete