Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer (Nightmares Trilogy Book 1)

Genre:  Suspense thriller
Author: Demelza Carlton

Nathan is shot as he tries to save a brutally raped and tortured seventeen year old Caitlin. He promises to protect her and becomes her shadow. Six months before the dead body of his twin Alanna was found on the same beach where Nathan finds Caitlin. Nathan is far more tangled in Caitlin’s tragedy than it meets the eye. He was on a mission to avenge his sister’s killers, but now he is himself a suspect. He needs to win Caitlin’s trust both to protect her and find his sister's killers. Time is running out, and pressure is mounting!

Consisting of some 300 odd pages, the novel is fast paced and well written. Style is crisp.

“Sleep felt like a dream I barely remembered, while this was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.”

Chapters end with Caitlin’s ‘nightmare monologue’. It seemed a fitting way to flash the torch into a girl’s mind who spends most of the time in sedation, pain and disturbed wakefulness.

Nathan however evades our grasp, in spite of being the narrator. 

“If there were a wine with my name on it, what sort would it be? I didn't know enough about wine to imagine it. One with a high alcohol content that came with a hangover in the morning, that's for sure”,  is how Nathan describes himself.Assuming that adversity matures you fast, both Nathan and Caitlin behave like seasoned adults. However they appear stagnant and do not grow through adversities. It is not easy to portray a girl as damaged as Caitlin, but the novelist does a commendable job. 

Nathan’s narration of the hospital stay sometimes gets repetitious. To mention a few other minor glitches; 

• Caitlin is practically an orphan. Her life is in constant danger, but no kith and kin appear. Nathan’s parents are merely mentioned. Where are all the adults?

• Many a times perhaps due to the rapid pace at which the story progresses, we miss out on information. The book would have been far more enjoyable if it had been filled up properly on details.

• The ending is rushed and vague. Being the first book of a trilogy, anticipation for the sequel is justly created, but instead of providing a closure the ending trails off.

• We do not get to know the villains at all. Nathan and Caitlin though believable are not endearing.

This realistic page-turner will keep you hooked till the end. 

Other books of the trilogy: #2, 'Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller' and #3 'Afterlife of Alanna Miller'. 

Demelza Carlton lives in Perth, Australia.Find more of her books here.