Nightmares at the Asylum
Andy Holberry and D.L. Garvin
Independently published (November 5, 2025)
Reviewed by Nora B. Peevy

Nightmares at the Asylum is a quiet horror read where the reader is taken on a tour of the asylum, but there’s a twist, one of the people taking you on the tour is not who they claim to be and at the end of the book you learn the chilling truth about the individual. The characters are all very relatable to the reader. There is some gore, so be prepared for that. The characters are fascinating and their stories will sweep you away before you know it. As you go through the asylum, it is easy to switch places with them and picture yourself in their place.

Andy Holberry and D.L. Garvin use subtle storytelling techniques effectively, but they know when to use the gory elements. I really felt like I was the one on the tour visiting each patient and learning their story. Their writing style is clean, which moves the plot along well. If you’re looking for a fun horror anthology, pick this one up. Go on a trip to the asylum and see what you can scare up! If you’re looking for comparable books, I would say The Asylum Confessions series by Jack Steen are as close as I could find. They deal with confessions of serial killers on death row that tell their stories, as you get the patients’ stories in Nightmares at the Asylum.

About Nora B. Peevy

Nora B. Peevy is a cat trapped in a human’s body. Please send help or tuna. She toils away for JournalStone and Trepidatio Publishing as a submissions reader, is a co-editor for Alien Sun Press, the newest reviewer for Hellnotes, and has been published by Eighth Tower Press, Weird Fiction Quarterly, and other places. Usually, you can find her on Facebook asking for help escaping from her human body or to get tuna. Tuna is nice. Cats like tuna.