Nightmare

October 6, 2003
From the late Nixon (The Other Side of Dark
), a four-time Edgar winner, comes this middling murder mystery set in a summer camp for underachieving teens. An inexplicable panic overtakes 16-year-old Emily when she learns she is being sent to Camp Excel. Then, on the drive there, she falls asleep and has the frightening nightmare that has haunted her for years, of herself struggling to break free of tangled vines and then spying a body with eyes and mouth wide-open. Emily feels even more unsettled when her roommate urges her to choose one of the future-predicting symbols from her rune collection and Emily randomly selects one that warns that "forces of evil" are working against her. Readers receive extra clues: intermittent, brief chapters introduce the voice of an anonymous individual who obviously works at the camp—and wants Emily dead. Despite some taut suspenseful passages, Nixon's narrative relies too heavily on coincidence. And, despite some clever false leads, the whodunit's denouement is disappointing, as the villain turns out to be a character who has remained largely in the background. Ages 12-up.

October 1, 2003
Gr 5-8-Since childhood, 10th-grade Emily has had nightmares about a shadowy, slimy place where she is entangled with vines and sees a body lying in water. She is so petrified by this dream about the open-mouthed and blankly staring corpse that she is unable to confide in anyone. Her parents are upset because she won't let them help her and are frustrated because she doesn't take after her two brilliant sisters. They send her to Camp Excel, an experimental program for underachievers, where Emily has a sense of d j vu, and her true nightmare begins when she realizes her life is in danger. Elements of suspense and mystery are cleverly integrated with the teen's problems resulting from what she witnessed as a child. Readers will once again fall under Nixon's spell as they enjoy this page-turner.-Susan Cooley, formerly at Tower Hill School, Wilmington, DE

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2003
Gr. 6-10. The nightmare has haunted teenage Emily Wood since she was a child: a crumpled body lying half in and half out of the water; dead eyes in a pale, bloody face; a mouth open in a scream that no one can hear. Did it really happen? Whose body is it? Who was the killer? And who is now stalking Emily at Camp Excel, the summer camp for underachievers that her parents have forced her to attend? There's some heavy coincidence, but the late Nixon was a multiple award winner for her YA mysteries, and this one, published after her death, continues her inimitable blend of horror and whodunit, this time with a touch of shivery mysticism and a lively contemporary cast. Readers will rush with Emily to solve the puzzle, even as they shudder at the occasional terse statements by the killer, who is steadily getting closer to another victim. The climactic confrontation in a creepy cave in the Texan Hills is unforgettable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2004
Sent to a summer camp for underachievers, Emily discovers the cause of her recurrent nightmares--she witnessed a murder eight years ago, and now the murderer is trying to eliminate the sole witness. Nixon manages the tension well, shifting suspicion around among the characters and throwing in some brushes with death. Lovers of horror and suspense will be drawn to this tale.

(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)