R&R Book Review: The Null Dimension by John Burnett

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Goodreads Blurb:

"Don’t shut your eyes…don’t turn out the lights…you might run into the coolest person you’ve ever met!

Sixth-grader Stetson Oliver has a great life: a loving family, good grades, fantastic hopes and dreams. One night while drifting off to sleep, Stetson thinks he sees movement in the shadows; in the blink of an eye, objects around his room have mysteriously been moved. When he turns his head, Stetson is met by a dark, hooded figure towering above him…

The Boogerman has haunted and tormented numerous children (Stetson included) for many sleepless nights, only to find that he’s getting a bad rap—but he’s just misunderstood, he swears! With Stetson’s help, he wants to reshape his image and right his reputation. As Stetson and the Boogerman embark on a dangerous adventure, the stakes are raised...and Stetson soon learns that making a deal with the Boogerman is like making a deal with the devil—nothing is an even trade."

Review:

Thank you to Whitney Martin on behalf of the The Zharmae Publishing Press for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This, my friends, is what I call an onion book.  When Whitney described it to me, she made it out to be a middle-grade book.  In a sense it is but you can also choose to take it to the next level.  That's the whole reason I didn't become bored or exasperated with this book.  The Prologue was especially thought-provoking.

It was a bit slow in the beginning, but once I pushed through those first 30 or so pages, there was a nice flow going that carried me to the end of the book.  Speaking of the ending, I feel like it was a little glossed over.  I think the author either should have saved that part for the next book or simply expanded the ending.

Overall, I really liked the idea behind this book.  It tied in demons and parallel universes and all that stuff.  I've read so many demons and angels book but I've never read one that focused on the things that haunt us in our sleep.  Because, admit it, even adults have nightmares.

As for the characters, I did get a little annoyed with Stetson at times but he just acted the way a kid his age would.  His thought process did mature a lot throughout the book as expected (he IS involved in some important stuff).  I think Paris is my favorite character.  She kind of reminds me of myself actually.  I would like a lot more explanation about the whole powers thing.  That seemed to come out of nowhere and then all of a sudden they just dropped it.  In the next book perhaps?

The plot was very good.  It wasn't constant action but it wasn't constant speculation and talking either.  It did waver a bit between the Boogerman's reputation and the whole apocalypse thing but overall it was quite enjoyable.

The Final Verdict:

A pretty compelling read with a nice flow.  A variety of ages would enjoy it - go onion books!!  The characters were consistent with their ages  and the plot was good.  I do wish the ending would have been expanded a bit more and have more explanation about the powers.

3.5 stars