The Nightmare People [Paperback]

Lawrence Watt-Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2005

Ed Smith thought he was having a waking nightmare when he saw a monstrous face at his window, but in the morning his neighbors were missing. The people who later turned up were not quite right, and gradually Smith realized they not only weren't his neighbors, but weren't even human. They were the creatures he had seen . . . In THE NIGHTMARE PEOPLE, Lawrence Watt-Evans has created a terrifying new monster in the classic tradition of Frankenstein and Dracula.

Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press; 2 edition (March 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587152010
• ISBN-13: 978-1587152016
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,439,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing fantasy for thirty years... no, my fantasy's been published for thirty years. I've been writing it since I was eight. It's what I always wanted to do for a living, and I've been very fortunate in that I've been able to manage that. I try to write fantasy with an element of common sense to it -- not so much mythic archetypes as sensible people.

Other than my job, my life's pretty ordinary -- a nice house in a quiet neighborhood, a wife, two grown kids, and an overweight cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true terror!!!, November 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightmare People (Onyx) (Paperback)

If you want a fright I recommend this book. The nightmare People is one the scaries story I have ever read in my life and I've read Lovecraft,Poe,King,Barker and many other of the great horror and supense novalist and this was like nothing I had ever expirence in reading a horror novel. I couldn't sleep for week after reading and for two days while reading it and since I have never read anything better or that can compare.

Thanks Larry

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Frightning Story, April 16, 2000

By 

Keeron (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightmare People (Onyx) (Paperback)

I first read this book years ago when my friend(who,like myself, has read many horror novels) told me that this book actually scared him. I, of course, had to read for myself. Never before in all my reading has a book given me the willies like this one. I had a hard time going to sleep for weeks afterward. This book was passed on to every skeptic (macho guys as well) and every one, to the last, was physically scared by it. Great read if you can find one. The original copy I had was lent out and never returned. Whenever I see a used bookstore,espcially when travelling, I always stop in to see if I can find a copy. No luck yet. I guess anyone who ever owned it knew not to let such a gem out of their hands. If you can, READ THIS BOOK! I guarantee you'll be scared (but loving every minute of it!).

4.0 out of 5 stars A new breed of monster is in town., February 5, 2011

By 

Peter S. Bradley "Peter Sean Bradley" (Fresno, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Nightmare People (Kindle Edition)

Suppose you knew that your neighbors had all been murdered and replaced by monsters, what would you do?

Contacting the police seems like it would get you nowhere further than a psychiatric hold. Telling other people what you knew would the quickest route to convincing everyone that you were insane. Bring in evidence of the monster body and you might be held for murder.

That's the problem that faces Ed Smith when he is wakened by the police because he is the sole occupant of an abandoned apartment complex. His neighbors soon return with the story of being scared out of the complex by a prank bomb threat, but Smith notices that there is something odd to his neighbors. There is also the fact that he had woken the night before to an eery face in his fourth story window, a face with many sharp teeth and glowing red eyes.

From that point on, Ed is faced with figuring out what is going on and what he should do when he discovers that this is a new breed of monster with its own powers, including wearing the skin of its murder victims, and its own unknown vulnerabilities.

The story is a fun read. It does take a few chapters to start moving. The characters are not well developed. But the flow of the story is compelling, the idea of the supernatural breeding new monsters to fill an ecological niche is interesting, and the final couple of pages were amusing enough to induce me to raise my rating of this book from three stars to four.