There was something about this muted, vintage, comic book-esque cover illustration that drew me to this book and I do love a good, unique children’s horror story. It actually ended up being a little more than that, which I wasn’t expecting, so that was a nice surprise.

Finnegan Quick’s nightmares are so scary that they don’t just stay in his head -they make their way out into the real world too. But then he starts dreaming about a strange girl, Cass who helps him fight the monsters. When Cass turns up as a new student at school, Finn teams up with her and his best friend Squid to investigate the mystery of his missing parents amidst battles with an array of nightmare creatures.

I really enjoyed the personal touch that the narrative voice had. Finn was telling us a story from his own life and therefore, his voice had a very intimate, friendly tone. It was easy to get to know him and I felt like I was part of his gang, privy to their secrets.

There was a point where Squid consults an ebook that is actually an ancient manuscript that made me sigh. I get that it’s supposed to be a sign that we’re in contemporary times and ebooks are commonplace but for an ancient manuscript? I would have loved to have seen a dusty, magical old book once again being instrumental to overthrowing evil, so I felt cheated out of that.

The story also touches on grief and its relentlessness. Finn assumes that his parents are dead but he doesn’t know that they are for sure. In some ways, this is probably even worse than having that closure that they’ve gone but of course, he also lives with hope. That deep sense of sadness is undoubtedly something that readers young and old who have experienced grief will be able to understand.

The Nightmares of Finnegan Quick is an action-packed supernatural adventure with some gore without going over the top. The twist at the end suggests that the rest of the series will go down a slightly different path, which intrigues me but perhaps won’t be everyone who picks up this book’s cup of tea. It’s an engaging, readable introduction to dystopian/horror for children aged around 10 upwards.