Frightmares

By: Eva V. Gibson

Narrated by: Barrett Leddy

A 2023 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel!

In a Florida tourist trap, a summer acting job turns into a real-life horror show when a cast member turns up dead—then disappears. This nail-biting story is perfect for fans of Fear Street!

Dave is spending his final summer before college working at Frightmares House of Horrors, a struggling haunted house attraction held together by malfunctioning killer clown mannequins, a cheap replica Annabelle doll, and a lot of improvising.

After a particularly disastrous shift ends in an employee walkout, Dave reluctantly takes over a role for his friend, however, he makes a horrifying discovery—a real dead body, hidden on set. But when Dave returns with help, the body is gone.

Though the killer covered their tracks, Dave realizes they must know what he saw. Could he be their next target?

©2022 Eva V. Gibson (P)2022 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Frightmares is YA horror at its best—voicy, thrilling, and wholly unique. Gibson’s quirky characters and whip-smart humor shine against the non-Disney-fied backdrop of Florida’s seedy underbelly. A spine-chilling book you won’t forget."—Jennifer Moffett, author Those Who Prey

"[A] propulsive thriller."—Kirkus

"Witty and fast-moving."—Booklist

I couldn't finish it

I don't think I've never just given up on a horror or murder mystery. Even if I'm not enjoying it, I'll usually stick it out, but I couldn't. I'm not sure if I could read through the rest on my own, but the narrator for the audiobook is kind of annoying, especially doing characters' voices. The over-the-top fake southern accent for one of the female characters is just off-putting. As for the story, I just cannot get into it. Nine chapters in and still no one but the main character even knows there's been a death. The main character's actions make no sense in any way. It feels like he's sitting on the information that their friend is dead for way too long - way longer than can be reasonably explained... and it isn't explained. At least play it off as shock, or fear/suspicion of who the killer is so he's not confiding in anyone... something that explains why this idiot just goes home after finding a dead body and then goes back and works an entire shift the next day. By the time I made it to chapter 9, it felt like a student who had to make their essay a certain length, so they're just padding it out as much as possible without really saying anything. I also don't quite understand the setup of the story and this haunted attraction. I live near a pretty major haunted attraction and they're only open near Halloween. Is there really enough of a demand for this attraction (that's repeatedly referred to as being terrible) to be open year- round or during summer months and apparently packing in full crowds every single night to the point that the main character has no downtime to report a murder multiple nights in a row? There's always some suspension of disbelief when it comes to these types of stories, but I just couldn't manage it with this one. Admittedly I'm not exactly the target demographic for YA, but I actually enjoy YA thrillers and can accept that they are written for a different age group. But this is written like it's aimed at older YA readers in the content and the way the characters talk, along with the ages of the characters (the main character having recently graduated high school). But the storyline and level of writing is more in line with a sixth grade level so I feel like it's not hitting the target demo regardless. I was super disappointed because the premise sounded cool.