A dreamworld meets our world, or it does for Finn, who is so powerful in his weird talent that he can mistakenly force a nightmare to come true. So if, for example, a pale woman with wounds for eyes snatches the family dog, or Finn's mother or father, they're gone from our world to such an extent that only Finn is left with any memory of them whatsoever – all souvenirs vanish. His hapless but brainboxy friend knows nothing of this, but surprisingly the newcomer at school, the beautiful American Cass, is fully aware – and has already been seen in the better dreams of Finn's night-times. The unlikely trio will have to face no end of weird to find and reclaim Finn's parents (and dog), best the woman, and sort a lot more out besides – and all with the oddball talent of mutual, coming-true nightmares…

This was a clever dark fantasy, which often turns into full-on horror, by suddenly slipping in details of wounds to eyes, faces and suchlike. It does that in quite PG yet quite effective fashion, with the matter-of-fact bluntness one of the book's merits. The piece is also quite strong on the myth, too – although it never really convinced me how other people could enter dreams as if they were zoom meetings, or what happened if the dreamer left the dream first – other books have covered that, this ignored the issue.

Another minor hiccup is how a specialist is ignorant of the Malleus Maleficarum but a 'layman' character becomes an expert overnight – that's possibly married to the issue of the three kids being a year or two too young for what's in this. The other, much larger issue, is that you get to realise this is not self-contained a long way from the end, which always clouds my opinions somewhat. But that's not to say more from this world is unwelcome – far from it. There is invention, some level of chutzpah in the telling – and a repeatedly exploding goblin, and you can't tell me that's not a fun cameo to have. The message that we all have superpowers in our dreams, so think big to make things come true, is there, but worn lightly. I think the only thing in the way of me returning would be the lack of firm logic about it all where it was needed – many others will just not think of hesitating. From me, three and a half appreciative stars.

Read this to my 11 year old and we both enjoyed it.

It’s laugh out loud funny in bits and he enjoyed the relationship between Finn and Squid.

It’s the right level of scary and we will definitely read more if they arrive!

The Nightmares of Finnegan Quick is an entertaining, but undemanding, Middle Grade fantasy horror novel for kids aged 10+, which featured mild scares and is suitable for the top end of primary or lower secondary school pupils. Finnegan nightmares are so terrifying that they don’t just stay in his head -they can creep 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 pupil 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 monsters, creatures, goblins and a powerful ‘Big Bad’ lurking in the background.

The dynamics of the three characters were the major strength of this novel, as I felt the author could have come up with something more original that reheated goblins, which have been recycled continually since the days of Tolkien. I really enjoyed the shock of the two boys when the older Year 9 girl (Cass) comes to talk to them in the lunch hall and then deliberately causes a fight. Squid was great backup and Finn was a believable character, feeling guilt over his parent’s disappearance, whilst being pushed by Cass to shake off his fearfulness. We can’t all be heroes overnight! The dream sequences, living nightmares were well presented, and it was great all the characters had flaws in a story which balanced the supernatural with school. The action ends with potential for a sequel, which I would happily read. AGE RANGE 10+

Scary, bit gruesome, page-turner. Team Quick were easy to get to like and good to see something written from Y7/8 perspective. Nice reveal at the end too! Will look forward to the next one.

A perfect, gentle horror story to entertain readers around 10 and up. Larry Hayes has found the right mix of chills and thrills, with a dash of humour, friends, and nightmares to satisfy his audience. Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (Uk & ANZ) and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

The Nightmares of Finnegan Quick is a compelling MG book for older children.
The concept and the premise are interesting - Finn’s dreams and nightmares come true.
The trio main characters are fun to follow and the horror is suitable for children (who like fun horror with creatures and wars against the evil).

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.