Pealing Back The Veil Of This World
Nightmare is the fifth Robin Parrish novel I've read, and his talent for creating a compelling story that taps into the spiritual realm inside of us keeps me coming back for more. Nightmare is the story of Maia Peters, the daughter of two well-known paranormal investigators. In an attempt to create a life of her own away from the world of paranormal investigation, Maia accepts an offer by Jordin Cole to take her on several paranormal investigations during school breaks from Columbia University. In return, Jordin pays Maia more than enough to fund her education so that she can pave the way to a career in law enforcement. However, Jordin has gone missing, and her fiance Derek, an aspiring pastor, seeks Maia's help to find her.
The story alternates between the present day where Derek and Maia are searching for Jordin and flashbacks of the year before when Maia and Jordin were going on their paranormal investigation trips. The alternation between the present and flashbacks seems slightly reminiscent of LOST, but I think it works really well.
I loved the characters. Especially Maia, since we spend the entire story inside of her head, so we really get to know her well. Jordin is interesting as well, as we're trying to figure out why she's trying to tap into the spiritual realm. Finally, Derek seemed like he was going to be a stereotypical Christian at the beginning, but as the story progresses, we see a character deeply grounded in his faith and his love for Jordin.
One of my favorite parts of the story was near the end when we see a very visible evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of some of the characters. I don't want to spoil the ending, however.
Although some Christians will find the subject matter of paranormal investigation uncomfortable, I think Robin Parrish did a very good job with it. In the end, I think the story pointed to God very well.
