I enjoyed one half of The Nightmare, and got bored with another half.

First, what I like. The concept of Paganini contract and the reaping of one’s nightmares were very interesting. For a moment, I could even fancy a tinge of supernatural element in the plot. Though the killer’s movement was kind of unbelievable, even for a contract killer, like how he can go to various places in such a short times, I liked the whole chasing scene. I was sorry Viola and Stefan had to die through no fault of theirs though.

Saga was a nice addition. I’d like it should she and Joona become partners in crime solving. Saga had her temper while Joona was cool. Penelope also portrayed as a very admirable character. She kept herself and Bjorn alive as best as she could and didn’t give up the fight till the end. I’m glad she survived the ordeal and that she patched things up with her mother.

Now that the positive part is over, I’m going to talk about what I don’t like. The first reason is it’s me, not the book reason. I am never a fan of extremists, left wings groups, and illegal trafficking plot in stories, so since this book has plenty of that, I definitely got bored easily. Again, the fault is totally on my side. However, what I really can’t stomach is the romance scenes between Joona/Disa and Saga/Stefan. I mean, I read this book for the crime solving part, not the romance of characters that has no discernible meaning to the overall plot. Blegh. It would’ve been okay if the romance is minimal but that’s not the case. There’s also something that doesn’t sit right with me since I’ve read the third book. I don’t like that Joona has something with Disa. I don’t understand why he has to do what he did ten years ago if he can freely has a relationship with another woman. It’s screw up to say the least.

The Hypnotist started with an interesting, explosive plot. It captured my attention right away. Bestiality murders, mutilated murders, annihilation of a whole family, it was a hallmark of a thrilling read, in my humble opinion. And the, the plot got more chilling as it was revealed the only survivor of the massacres might have well been the very perpetrator! I was immediately hooked.

So…

Why then, did I rate this book one star?

After the initial excitement, the plot made a turn to a whole different direction. The serial killer which had captured my attention got sidetracked by a child’s kidnapping case and a stupid family drama. Oh, in fact, this book consisted *)% of endless, dumb family drama between Erik, his wife—Simone, and sometimes, their son—Benjamin.
I found Erik to be spineless and pathetic. At first, I thought he was someone gentle and just didn’t want any drama, but as the story went on, it became clear what a sorry ass he was. He loved his wife, but didn’t do anything about proving himself to her or even tried to explain her suspicions on him away. He just let it all be, acted oblivious and confused, and relied on his pills. Even remembering it all now, I wanted to kick him in the ass!

Worst of all was Simone. She was…my goodness, the most annoying character I’ve read in a while, besides Erik. (See, this two deserved each other) Simone was selfish, whiny and overall a bitch. She blamed everything on her husband—not that he didn’t deserve some of it—, never trusted him after he had an one night stand ten years ago, AND then proceeded to sleep with an artist she worked with while her son was missing. I supposed we were to see that as her way to cope with the stress but I called that utter BS!

There were lots of gaps in the plot and unnecessary fillers that didn’t have any discernible meaning to the overall story—side-eyeing the pokemon plot. I also disliked the use of flashback in the book. I’m not against flashback, but the author had bad timing. There were some instances when interesting events were about to occur and we were suddenly detoured back in time. Like, WTF!

The only thing that kept me going was the serial killer subplot. It was tragic and I still could not comprehend why it was only a mere subplot.. hmm

The book was only interesting at the beginning. I was wow-ed at the beginning, thinking “this book is witty, quirky, and quite possibly my new favorite book!” It also reminded me a little of Austen’s Emma. What’s with the main character trying to solve everyone else’ problems and thinking she’s smarter than them all.

Flora Poste, the main character, was okay. Her meddlings, though sometimes annoying, did not put me off from reading. She made me giggle throughout with her thoughts and commentary on other characters as well as her surrounding. It certainly didn’t help that the characters were all intangled with each other in a seemingly unsolvable web.

As Cold Comfort Farm was a satire, I understood the author’s need to make everyone seemed silly and represented various stereostypes. Therefore, it was important to not take things as they appeared to be. Nonetheless, the jokes quickly ran out of their steams and it simply got repetitive and boring. Another thing that made this book les enjoyable to me was that I didn’t understand the accent of the country’s folks. When I didn’t understand what they were saying, the whole plot got lost on me so...that’s that.

The title was completely misleading. I think instead of Private School Murders, it should have been Looking for James. The reference to the private school murders only took place in the beginning and the end of the novel. The rest of the time, Tandy spent her time to search for whatever information she could on James’s whereabouts. She didn’t even bother to help her brother until the very end.

Okay, to be honest, Tandy didn’t do much except stumbling on evidences that directly proved who did or didn’t commit the crimes. Her luck even went on as to enable her to solve all the mysteries in one night . That's completely an unbelievable thing, even for an Angel. But as long as good things came out of the coincidences, I was a happy camper.

The best thing that occurred in the book was the introduction of Jacob and Tandy’s grandmother (she’s dead but we get to know her from Jacob). The grandmother was an exceptional woman. She did her own things in her own way which was totally badass, in my humble opinion. Overall, she and Jacob were my favourite characters in this book.

2.5 stars!