March 1, 2023
Bird Box --triumphant here offers five novellas, tied together by unsettling premises. A dying man reveals secrets more terrifying than the murders to which he falsely confesses, an upwardly aspiring couple are trapped by all the fancy gadgets they've purchased, and a murderer fails to realize that he's killed a triplet, whose remaining siblings play at haunting him to drive him mad. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2023 Library Journal
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from July 10, 2023
Bestseller Malerman (Bird Box) returns with a chilling volume of five horror novellas crafted with a perfect mix of intrigue, disgust, tension, and, of course, fear. Echoing such horror greats as Shirley Jackson, the opening tale follows a brother and sister from childhood to old age as the brother tries to make sense of his sister’s eponymous claim that “Half the House Is Haunted.” Malerman’s narratives succeed through not revealing too much—there’s no excessive gore, no jump scares or cheap tricks. Instead, he allows pressure to slowly build and refuses to let it break even when the stories conclude. This technique shines in “Argyle,” in which a man on his deathbed confesses to his wife and children that his whole life has been spent just barely restraining himself from committing brutal murders. It’s a classically engrossing horror story with a shocking twist. “Egorov” is presented as a true account in translation from the Russian of a murder and its unlikely consequences, while both “Doug and Judy Buy the House Cleaner” and “The Jupiter Drop” tend more toward sci-fi while still delivering plenty of scares. This is everything one wants out of a horror collection. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary.
August 1, 2023
A collection of odd tales by the author of Bird Box (2014) and other books. Returning to his made-up city of Samhattan, Michigan, Malerman offers five stories about pitiable lost souls. In "Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer(TM)," a bickering couple of considerable wealth tries out "the most luxurious item on the market," shutting themselves inside a large glass tube in their living room as the house and all its contents are submerged in miracle cleaning goop. As revealing letters and other secret items swoosh up against the glass, they contest their troubled past--and, unable to shut off the machine, panic over their immediate future. In "The Jupiter Drop," a rich man estranged from his family confronts his sad existence on an "interstellar thrill ride" that has him free-fall through Jupiter's stormy atmosphere inside a luxury apartment with transparent walls and a "virtual mom." "Half the House Is Haunted" charts the long-term psychological effects of an 8-year-old girl's ceaseless efforts to scare her 6-year-old brother in their creepy home. In "Egorov," the best of the stories, set around the turn of the 20th century in Samhattan's Little Russia, two identical 24-year-old triplets use their ghostly presences to find the murderer of their brother. And in "Argyle," a dying man celebrates getting through his life without acting on his murderous desires. "Is there any greater sign of a father's love than not drowning his children in the tub?" Malerman never runs out of wild premises or the knack for ridiculing the human condition � la Mad magazine. But these long stories reveal his tendency to drive his concepts into the ground. Most of them go on and on before petering out without a satisfying conclusion. Boldly imagined scenarios, disappointing payoffs.
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July 1, 2023
Malerman (Daphne) has woven together a quintet of strange novellas. Fans of fantastic fiction should find a story that speaks to them. That story could be about two brothers, once triplets, who concoct a bizarre plan to avenge their brother's murder. Fans of grim humor might enjoy the tale of a rich but boorish couple who pay for a very thorough house-cleaning service. Science-fiction fans will gravitate to the story about a trip through the planet Jupiter that evokes Ray Bradbury at his most terrifying. Malerman has shown himself to be a genre chameleon, going from the apocalypse in Bird Box to Westerns in Unbury Carol, and he continues to evolve with this wide-ranging collection. While Malerman tries his hand in different genres, he also utilizes fiction-writing techniques that could be used in any MFA classroom, such as how deathbed confession Argyle creates slow-burning tension or how the haunted-sibling tale Half the House Is Haunted handles multiple perspectives across a lifetime. VERDICT Malerman's collection is tailor-made made for writers studying the craft and readers who love to watch a writer flex their creative muscles.--James Gardner
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from June 1, 2023
Malerman invites readers to visit Samhattan, Michigan, home of Daphne, with five intensely unsettling and utterly original novellas: a unique brother-sister dynamic set creepily in half a haunted house; an uncomfortably thought-provoking psychological story where a man makes a startling confession on his deathbed; a dark satire featuring an awful, wealth-driven couple, one that also effortlessly implicates the reader in its criticism; an emotional tale of guilt cleverly disguised as space horror; and finally, an atmospheric, historical ghost story with a surreal twist. While vastly different in plot, each hooks readers by introducing unease in their first lines, taking on well-known tropes with fresh eyes, and pushing it all to the edge of expectation, sometimes even pitching it over the cliff. These are among the best novellas published yet this year. Malerman has been intentionally building his universe all along, and while new readers will enjoy this volume, fans will find terrifying joy in how his latest release calls upon everything he has ever published. Suggest to readers who enjoy authors like Cassandra Khaw, Paul Tremblay, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, masters at preserving their unique voice even as they stretch their stories across varied frames and tropes.
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