NNtG: Shivers #21: A Waking Nightmare

It's time for yet another trip into Shivers, which means load up the gun with the one bullet. It's the Russian Roulette of kids horror! And this time we have monsters and bad dreams aplenty. Or, I guess more specifically what goes down while the protagonist is dreaming. What awaits us in this one? Is it a dream come true or are we sleepwalking into disaster? Let's not snooze on A Waking Nightmare.

I like this cover a lot. A strength to a lot of Shivers covers is how detailed they can be and this is definitely up there in terms of detailed. What with the destroyed shelves and the kitchen being a mess. I also love the design of the beast of the story, with their freakish claw scratching at the fridge door. No hidden skull, at least none I can find. But I guess cow magnet is equivalent exchange. Great stuff.

Our protagonist Martin wakes up to the sound of his mom screaming at him. There's a mess in the kitchen and given it involves peanut butter, then she believes it must involve Martin. And that he must have been throwing plates like a frisbee. Oh god, don't tell me this is going where I think it's going... But Martin has no clue what's going on. It couldn't possibly be him. He was asleep and certainly not having any nightmare of the waking persuasion. She tells him to not eat anything after dinner without telling her first and then punishes him despite his best attempts to explain himself. He refuses to clean up the mess and gets sent to his room. Martin remembers when he had his younger brother Farley take the fall for Martin trying to drive his dad's car and running over their mom's bike, and that's like their last notable interaction before their parents got divorced so yeah, what wonderful family memories.

Martin lives with their mom in Maine while Farley lives with their dad in Arizona. He and Farley still spend vacation time with one another, which is what's going on right now, so Farley is visiting. Martin reads a book about Australia and how it was colonized by criminals, which is a neat little "Mr. Educator" moment. Martin apologizes for getting Farley in trouble, but Farley is like "It's been a year so no harm no foul". Farley also cleaned up the mess so I guess he's just really good at being subservient. That and Farley didn't want anything to ruin their big ocean trip. After dreaming about the ocean trip because he really loves Maine, Martin again tries to think about what was up with the mess. There's only him, Farley and their mom there. So how could there be such a big mess out of nowhere? So he thinks that maybe it was an intruder. You know. The intruders who enter your house to eat peanut butter. 

The next day arrives and, thankfully for Martin, no messy kitchen to worry about. But their plans to go on their ocean trip get dashed, or more specifically, slashed, as the tires to their mom's car are destroyed. She calls the cops, and the head sheriff, Sheriff Johnson asks if anyone would do this, namely her ex husband, which damn did that escalate. They then note that Martin has a Swiss army knife, which is now under the car. But, to Martin's mom's credit, she doesn't just sell him up the river and also believes this to be the work of some sort of prowler. But unfortunately for the family, Sheriff Johnson can't offer protection. So now everyone is on edge and Martin is still confused about what's going on. The next day, no issues this time, so everyone's nerves start to calm and they might be able to go swimming on their ocean trip the next day. So hey, progress.

That peace doesn't last long as there is once again another mess in the kitchen. But this time, Farley manages to find a pawprint of some sort of animal, and I don't mean their cat, the incredibly named Skunk. This causes their mom to faint in a comical yet "definitely a concussion" manner. But upon searching the house, there's no sign of the beast. Martin calls Sheriff Johnson, who doesn't believe him, mainly because he thinks it's Martin's doing, which, I mean, it's definitely looking that way. That night, Farley wakes everyone up saying he saw the beast briefly and manages to smash it in the stomach before it got away. Martin then notices his room a mess with a photo of his family destroyed. Also Martin notices his side is bruised, but we still have about 40 odd pages to put two and two together.

That night, Martin, Farley and their mom sleep in her room, in case any beasts should show up. But when Martin wakes up that night, he finally discovers that he's been the beast this entire time. Large and furry with sharp teeth and sharp claws. He panics, then decides that he has to leave as soon as possible in case he hurts his family. He runs into the forest and falls asleep. He wakes up the next day still a beast, and now the Sheriff and the other cops are after him, so he's even more on the run. However, he soon gets caught by the sheriff who mentions that he knows what's wrong with Martin. Cholera Metamorphosis. A form of rage so powerful that it can turn whoever has it into a literal monster. Oh thank god it's not "he was a dog all along". Also his dad's here too.

Then things get weird. I know, this book was the peak of sanity, but hear me out. He's taken to an area where he sees his mother in white, playing an organ. The Sheriff then tells him that there's a cure but Martin has to do it himself. And that involves taking a club and fighting another monster to the death, which Martin manages to do. Only, it wasn't another beast, it was a mirror. So monsteritis and now 40 years bad luck. Great. His dad then grabs him and forces him to look in the mirror and to stop blaming himself for everything and it finally causes Martin to break down. A few days pass and Martin realizes that the beast came out of him because of the guilt and anger for everything. That he was hurting himself and never wanted to hurt anyone else. The family have some fun before their dad leaves and we end the book with Martin much happier and less angry as they finally go to the ocean. Also he thinks he ate their cat Skunk, but turns out she just had kittens. So wow this might be the cutest ending of any horror story ever.

I honestly liked this one. And the reason I liked this one a lot is its message. And that's one of blaming yourself for everything and what that can turn you into. In this case, turning you into a literal monster. Which given everything with Martin, I can see how it caused this to manifest. How he let Farley take the blame, how their parents divorced not long after. And how he let his anger worsen, transforming him into a beast. Granted, I will say the ending is super rushed, and we just get a mild mention of something called Cholera Metamorphosis without any real explanation of how Martin would have this. Unless this is just a thing in this world and anyone can just turn into monsters. As such, it does leave us with less time with monster Martin than I'd have wanted, but I do like the message the book is going for.

Martin is a decent protagonist. You understand his plight, his anxieties, his anger over both being blamed for things and still blaming himself for things from the past. Gives me some Carly Beth vibes in that we have a character whose actions turn them into a literal monster until the love of their family manages to bring back their humanity. I don't think you get enough messages like this in books of this era, especially in kids horror. Let alone ones that get it done in such a right way that it doesn't feel preachy and also works to make the horror in the story stick. I also like the relationship Martin and his family have. That despite his mom's strictness and blaming him in the beginning, everything after has him, Farley and their mom feeling like a close-knit group. And their dad also comes off as a good guy, who despite the relationship falling apart, still comes off as a good dad to the both of them and is someone who will help his son when he's literally at his lowest. Goosebumps Parents would just mock him for being a whiny bitch nine times out of ten.

So, no bullet this time. I'm certain there's at least one more wild Shivers out there, but we haven't gotten to it just yet. But, when the book leaves me pleasantly surprised, I can't be mad either. I continue to look at Shivers as this interesting enigma that I've liked more than hated. To the point I might honestly be bummed when I finish this series. But we still have a few more to go before, I dunno, I finally start hating it suddenly. But for now, another decent book. Rushed as hell, but I can gel with its message. And usually that's all that it takes to appease me, so I can't hold any monster grudge. A Waking Nightmare gets an A-.