Published in 2014, Nightmares! is a middle grade horror novel by actor and writer Jason Segel and bestselling author Kirsten Miller. The first installment in the Nightmares! series, the book became a New York Times bestseller. The story follows 12-year-old Charlie Laird, who is struggling with the death of his mother and the recent marriage of his father to a woman named Charlotte, whom Charlie is convinced is a witch. Living in Charlotte’s eerie purple mansion, Charlie is plagued by debilitating nightmares about a sinister witch from a dream realm called the Netherworld. When the creatures from his dreams begin to cross over into the waking world, Charlie and his friends must find the courage to confront the source of his terror.

The novel draws on co-author Jason Segel’s personal experiences with intense childhood night terrors, lending an emotional authenticity to its exploration of childhood anxiety. The book uses its supernatural framework to examine themes of Redefining Family After Loss, Finding the Courage to Face One’s Fears, and Appearances Can Be Deceiving. Segel is known for his work in film and television, including writing and starring in The Muppets. His collaborator, Kirsten Miller, is the acclaimed author of several successful young adult series, including the Kiki Strike books. Shortly after its publication, film rights for Nightmares! were acquired by 20th Century Fox Animation.

This guide refers to the 2015 Yearling paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of bullying, mental illness, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

The first book in the Nightmares! series is set in the small town of Cypress Creek, where 12-year-old Charlie Laird has not slept well in three months. Since moving into a purple mansion with his father Andrew, his eight-year-old brother Jack, and his new stepmother Charlotte DeChant, Charlie has been tormented nightly by a witch who threatens to drag him permanently into a place called the Netherworld, a realm where human spirits travel during sleep. Charlie barricades his bedroom doors with boxes each night and drinks coffee to stay awake, convinced that Charlotte is somehow behind his suffering.

Charlie’s hostility toward Charlotte is rooted in grief. His mother, Veronica, died four days before his ninth birthday. Before she passed, she warned Charlie to stay away from the purple mansion and promised to explain its secrets when he was older. After Veronica’s death, Charlotte inherited the mansion from her grandmother and moved to Cypress Creek to open an herbalism shop. Andrew, who had become reclusive in his grief, met Charlotte when Charlie helped her move some boxes, and they were married 11 months later. Charlotte’s mysterious herbal concoctions, her cackling laugh, and a binder full of monsters she’s drawn all deepen Charlie’s conviction that she’s a witch.

At school, Charlie harshly criticizes his little brother, and his sleep deprivation causes him to humiliate himself when he gives a wrong answer in front of his class. His three closest friends—Rocco Marquez, the school’s star athlete; Alfie Bluenthal, a bespectacled genius; and Paige Bretter, Charlie’s best friend since kindergarten—try to support him. A new principal named Stearns, a towering bully who appeared at midyear, takes a pointed interest in Charlie and his friends. Meanwhile, the witch hints at a second nightmare lurking near her belfry in the Netherworld, one far more terrifying to Charlie than anything she’s shown him.

One night, Charlie hears the witch’s cat, Agatha, speaking in the hallway. The witch heads for Jack’s room, and Charlie knocks off her hat in the struggle, revealing red curls identical to Charlotte’s hair. When Charlotte appears moments later, Charlie becomes certain she and the witch are the same person and barricades himself in Jack’s room for the night.

Charlie’s protective hovering over Jack only further alienates his brother. After school, Charlie sneaks into Charlotte’s tower studio and finds it ransacked, with illustrations scattered across the floor. Among them, he discovers a drawing captioned “The Netherworld Mansion” showing the purple house painted black, and a poem about facing fears. He hides under the desk, falls asleep, and wakes to hear his father reporting him missing. Rushing to the tower, he finds one wall has been replaced by a dark forest. He sees the witch carrying a small body through the trees and follows her through the portal into the Netherworld.

In the Netherworld, Charlie loses the witch in the dark woods. A clown named Dabney rescues him from the witch’s walking house but is captured. Charlie drives Dabney’s tiny car through landscapes belonging to other people’s nightmares before it breaks down in a ruined version of Cypress Creek. There he meets Meduso, a gorgon whose snake-covered head and petrifying gaze are hidden beneath a hat and sunglasses. Meduso was sent by an unnamed benefactor to guide Charlie home through the portal. When Charlie refuses to leave without Jack, Meduso reluctantly agrees to help.

Charlie and Meduso discover a stadium where the realm’s self-appointed ruler, President Fear, presides over Alfie’s nightmare. Charlie realizes that the president is Principal Stearns. Fear traps Alfie in a Roman Colosseum with wild animals, and Charlie uses facts he learned from Alfie about the arena to find a trapdoor and rescue his friend. Meduso then reveals that Charlie’s fear opened the portal. The mansion’s builder, Silas DeChant, first opened it centuries ago when fear consumed his life, and each subsequent resident who surrendered to fear reopened it. President Fear intends to keep Charlie terrified forever so nightmares can invade Cypress Creek.

At the mountain cave of Medusa, Meduso’s legendary gorgon mother, the boys receive disguises and learn more about the Netherworld’s crisis. President Fear has convinced nightmares that retiring means dying, suppressing the truth that retired nightmares become dreams. Disguised, the group infiltrates a courthouse where Dabney is on trial. The president arrives and unveils a fear-monitoring device. Charlie is horrified to recognize Paige on a video screen, trapped in a dark room with a shadow creature called the Dark. After Charlie rescues Paige and Meduso frees Dabney, the children reach the witch’s abandoned lair. There, Paige and Alfie help Charlie realize the Jack’s supposed kidnapping was a ruse to lure him through the portal.

Each friend confronts the deeper meaning of their nightmares: Alfie’s fear of sports masks a fear of ridicule, and Paige’s fear of darkness masks dread of inheriting her mother’s depression. Charlie admits he feared Charlotte would steal his family but doesn’t voice his deepest terror. He then realizes Jack’s nightmare would center on having a mean older brother. He leads his friends to a nightmare version of their school, where dozens of real Cypress Creek children are locked inside. Rocco is outside the school, trapped in a nightmare where he must pass a series of multiple-choice tests to free the students. Charlie, Alfie, and Paige manage to reach Rocco, who promises to return for the other children.

Charlie enters the Netherworld mansion alone. Upstairs, he reads Charlotte’s poem and finally understands that Charlotte is not a witch and that her writings were always meant to help people confront their fears. The real Jack appears, confirming that Charlie has entered his brother’s nightmare. Charlie apologizes for his unkindness and promises to change. Through the portal, he sees Charlotte asleep at her desk and learns she sent Meduso to find him.

After Jack wakes up, Charlie must face his deepest fear alone. His friends lead him to his old house, where his mother waits in the yard. Veronica tells him the full history of the portal, confirms she and Charlotte adventured together in the Netherworld as girls, and reveals that Charlie and Jack have inherited the ability to guard the portal. Then she tells Charlie he must say goodbye because his refusal to let her go has been the force keeping the portal open. Charlie embraces her and lets go, and Veronica promises to become a dream he can visit anytime.

With his fear resolved, Charlie’s nightmare territory dissolves, but the portal closes too, trapping him. His friends return to the nightmare school to free the trapped children. Alfie conquers his fear by running an obstacle course and embracing the crowd’s laughter. Rocco passes an impossible test by using the exam papers to send messages to the trapped students, telling them how to free themselves. Paige enters the pitch-dark school alone to rescue one last student and overcomes her fear for the other child’s sake. Dabney arrives with rebel nightmares who defy the president, and Medusa turns President Fear to stone. Meduso announces his retirement and turns himself to stone by gazing into a mirror, passing into the Dream Realm with a smile. The portal reopens because Jack fears Charlie will never come home, and Charlie steps through to his family’s waiting arms.

In the Epilogue, Charlie and Charlotte work together to finish her illustrated book about the Netherworld. A portrait of Veronica painted by Charlotte now hangs beside Silas DeChant’s in a prominent spot in the mansion. As Andrew brings home pizza, Charlie shouts upstairs to Jack and “the stepmonster,” now using the nickname with affection.