I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of John Passarella’s new Supernatural tie-in novel Night Terror, in order to write an exclusive review for Hypable!

In short, this unseen adventure is terrifying, thrilling and terrific! A treat for all horror fans.

Getting a chance to review this book for the site was very exciting for me. I love Supernatural, and tie-in novels are basically official fanfiction. What’s not to like?

Night Terror tells a series of stories about various bizarre types of monsters bearing down on the unfortunate residents of a small town in Colorado, and of course Sam and Dean arrive at the scene and attempt to solve the whodunit before the place is laid in ruins. The story is for all intents and purposes canon, classified as a “previously unseen adventure” taking place in between episodes ‘Frontierland’ and ‘Mommy Dearest’ in season 6. But while this offers a great incentive for Supernatural fans to read it, it means that there can be no lasting mental or physical effects on the universe or its characters. Ultimately, this adventure has to be forgettable. It takes a real strong writing talent to tell a good story within this kind of restricted creative framework.

Night Terror is Passarella’s first Supernatural novel, although the author is no stranger to tie-ins: his bibliography includes both Buffy and Angel novels, along with stories set in universes of his own creation. Horror is clearly a familiar genre to Passarella; the stark, brutal ways in which he offs his characters stay with you in a way that even deaths on the show itself don’t. There’s something about words on a page that just communicate the terror of this genre better than visual representations, and in Night Terror, your imagination is pushed to its limits in terms of gory imagery. There’s everything in here from giant tarantulas and evil trees to serial killers and Nazi zombies (those were my favourite). In other words, don’t make the same mistake I did and try to read this while eating dinner!

The use of horrific imagery is probably a key reason why this novel works so well, despite its fairly uninspiring (though effective) structure. Ultimately, Night Terror reads like an extended episode of Supernatural: Sam and Dean arrive in a new town fresh from a previous adventure (traveling back to the wild west in ‘Frontierland’), save the day, and ride off into the sunset (to confront Mother Monster herself in ‘Mommy Dearest’). No real twists and turns, plot wise, and no big, game-changing surprises.

But what is so great about Night Terror is that within this framework it offers riveting, detailed storytelling and builds up characters you care about (for however short amounts of time you know them). The main focus of this story is not on the Winchesters, but on the different types of fears that plague humans, and the psychological implications of their physical manifestations. The stuff of nightmares.

Passarella also manages to weave in character exploration, which reveals how deeply familiar he has made himself with the world of Supernatural. Especially Sam’s recurring fear of his Soulless self is well incorporated into the story, and Dean fearing for Lisa and Ben is a recurring theme which influences his decisions and emotions in a very true-to-character way. But really, as the title indicates, this book is all about fear – and the fact that it is told through the medium of writing allows us to examine this fear not just through dialogue, screams and close-up shots of wide eyes, but through thoughts and dreams and memories.

Ultimately, this is a story which I’m surprised the Supernatural writers themselves haven’t thought up yet. It fits into the show’s style perfectly; all I was missing while reading it was a spark of the traditional meta humour which is so prevalent in the later seasons. Stylistically, Night Terror reads more like an episode from the early years of the show, but as a longtime fan I can appreciate this as well.

For anyone who likes the darker, more gory standalone episodes of Supernatural like ‘Bloody Mary,’ ‘Everybody Loves a Clown’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine,’ this book is for you!

Night Terror was released on September 16, 2011. It is available to purchase from Titan Books, RRP £6.99.