Book of Nightmares (Diadem: A Fantasy Mystery, No. 6) - Softcover

Peel, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590149660 ISBN 13: 9780590149662

Publisher: Apple, 1998

Synopsis

In the latest addition to an interactive fantasy mystery series, Pixel becomes trapped on a planet where nightmares become real, and in order to rescue him, Score and Helaine must face their deepest fears. Original.

About this title

About the Author

John Peel was born in 1954 in Nottingham, England. He attended Nottingham University and began his writing career as the editorial assistant for England's Apparel Production and Marketing. He later worked as a comic-strip writer for Marvel Comics in London, and was until recently the overseas television critic for England's Starburst magazine. Since immigrating to the U.S.A. in 1981, John Peel has worked as a contributing writer and editor for numerous media-based magazines. He now writes novels full-time from his home on Long Island, where he resides with his wife, Nan, their wirehair fox terrier, Dashiell, their orange, spotted tabby, Amika, and their miniature pinschers, Loki (aptly named after the Norse god of mischief and destruction), Bartleby, Shadow, Reggie, Tievel, Rocky, Anubis Princess and Lady Penelope.

He has just sold his first film script, Haunting Adrian, which is expected to commence shooting in the near future.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1
Score was very agitated,and it was difficult
for him to be still even for a moment.

The events of the past couple of
hours had been too much for him; one
thing piled onto another. He'd been attacked
magically, through a locket that
had once belonged to his mother. It
contained a lock of Score's baby hair
from his first-ever trip to the barber.
Using this, Destiny had managed to
drain his strength and had almost killed
him. Pixel and Helaine had risked their own lives to
save Score, and they had succeeded in recovering the
locket and breaking the death spell.

But it had left Score terribly weak. As much as he'd
objected to the delay in rushing off to help Pixel,
Score had reluctantly realized that he was in no shape
to help anyone. He'd been hungry and dehydrated,
and stopping for a very large snack and a couple gallons
of soda and water had been essential. He'd wolfed
down the food as if it were going out of style. Now he
felt a whole lot better, at least physically.
The trip to Earth had left Score with more problems
than ever. He'd run into his father again. That
was never a happy event. His father, Bad Tony Caruso,
was a crook, a bully, and a liar. But he'd also stunned
Score by wanting to train him to take over his criminal
organization. Score had naturally refused, but the
offer had startled him.

Being on the verge of death, Score had not been
afraid of his father-the first time in his life he could
ever have said that. The fear had been burned out of
him at last, and Score now realized that Bad Tony was
actually a pretty pathetic excuse for a human being.
Right now, he was back in police custody, where he
would hopefully stay for a few years. Score liked the
idea that he might be able to return to Earth sometime
without running into his father. But at least now it
was because he despised the man, not because he
feared him.

Score had come to realize that there were questions
about his mother to which he didn't know the answers.
Bad Tony had mentioned that she was a stréga, a wise
woman from the old country. She had somehow
known what Score was, and had prepared for his arrival.
She'd died when Score was young, and he'd always
assumed that Bad Tony had caused her death.
Now, however, he wasn't so sure.

Bad Tony had been cruel with his son because he
thought that would make a man out of Score. Bad
Tony's own father had treated him the same way. But
he swore he had not killed Score's mother, and Score
didn't think his father had been lying. Still, Score remembered
his mother as being constantly afraid.

If not of Bad Tony, then of whom?

Score knew he'd have to go back to Earth to get answers
to those questions. Who had his mother really
been? And who had killed her?

Edition details

• Publisher: Apple
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590149660
• ISBN 13: 9780590149662
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 164