Ronald Malfi

Perfect for fans of Stephen King’s IT, a group of friends return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they first stumbled on as teenagers in this mesmerising odyssey of terror. An atmospheric, haunting page-turner, full of memorable characters and sublime terror, from the author of Come with Me For nearly two decades, Jamie Warren has been running from darkness. He's haunted by a traumatic childhood and the guilt at having disappeared from his disabled brother's life. But then a series of unusual events reunites him with his estranged brother and their childhood friends, and none of them can deny the sense of fate that has seemingly drawn them back together. Nor can they deny the memories of that summer, so long ago – the strange magic taught to them by an even stranger man, and the terrible act that has followed them all into adulthood. In the light of new danger, they must confront their past by facing their futures, and hunting down a man who may very well be a monster.

Black Mouth

 is the first of Malfi’s books I’ve read and, while it won’t be the last because I enjoy his ideas, I didn’t immediately connect with the writing itself. That’s not to say that the writing is bad; on the contrary, I found the prose and pacing solid, the characters and plot intriguing. However, I liked the building blocks and concepts of this book more than I liked the execution. I felt like Malfi, to go all English Literature class, did a lot more telling in his writing than he did showing. I’m not a fan of being spoon-fed, and I felt a bit of that throughout the novel. The characters’ motivations and thoughts and struggles and fears were all laid bare in the exposition instead of being revealed through their actions. Even though I liked most of the characters and found their back stories interesting, this writing decision kept them from feeling fully three-dimensional to me. 

This book gave me strong vibes of other stories. I was very much reminded of Stephen King’s 

, especially as regards a group of childhood friends who went through something horrible and supernaturally traumatic coming back together as adults when the dark source of that trauma resurfaces. I was reminded of Joe Hill’s 

, especially concerning the harvesting of children and the existence of a dark and impossible place hidden from the world but still, inexplicably, real. I was reminded of Ray Bradbury’s 

 with the creepy carnival setting and dastardly, otherworldly magician. And I was reminded of John Steinbeck’s 

 by Dennis, who I liked but who felt like little more than a mystic version of Lennie. These are all stories that I like or at least appreciate, and I didn’t feel that their use as inspiration here was too overt or mishandled in any way, but it made this particular story feel less original to me, unfortunately.

were those that were flashbacks to that life-altering summer the four friends shared as children. There was a nostalgia to the writing there that reminded me of what I loved most about 

 and other books like them. That nostalgia paints the past in rosy hues, even in the midst of horrific events, and I love that mingling of ideas that should be such polar opposites but which somehow instead complement each other in inexpressible ways. It also dug deeply into generational trauma and the breaking of those cycles, which added a power to the story being told that I appreciated.

 worked better for me in idea than in actuality, but I’m still glad that I read it. I’ve now been exposed to a new-to-me author with a backlist to explore, and I fully intend to do so. Because, while I might have not quite connected to his writing, I’m very interested to see if that disconnect was a one-off. I’m hoping very much that this experience mirrors my early encounters with Stephen King, whose work I once disliked but who is now one of my favorite authors of all time. And, even though I didn’t love 

, I definitely didn’t dislike it to that extent, so I think this is a promising beginning!

Celeste Richardson

Black Mouth is the first of Malfi’s books I’ve read and, while it won’t be the last because I enjoy his ideas, I didn’t immediately connect with the writing itself. That’s not to say that the writing is bad; on the contrary, I found the prose and pacing solid, the characters and plot intriguing. However, I liked the building blocks and concepts of this book more than I liked the execution. I felt like Malfi, to go all English Literature class, did a lot more telling in his writing than he did showing. I’m not a fan of being spoon-fed, and I felt a bit of that throughout the novel. The characters’ motivations and thoughts and struggles and fears were all laid bare in the exposition instead of being revealed through their actions. Even though I liked most of the characters and found their back stories interesting, this writing decision kept them from feeling fully three-dimensional to me. 

This book gave me strong vibes of other stories. I was very much reminded of Stephen King’s IT, especially as regards a group of childhood friends who went through something horrible and supernaturally traumatic coming back together as adults when the dark source of that trauma resurfaces. I was reminded of Joe Hill’s Nos4a2, especially concerning the harvesting of children and the existence of a dark and impossible place hidden from the world but still, inexplicably, real. I was reminded of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes with the creepy carnival setting and dastardly, otherworldly magician. And I was reminded of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by Dennis, who I liked but who felt like little more than a mystic version of Lennie. These are all stories that I like or at least appreciate, and I didn’t feel that their use as inspiration here was too overt or mishandled in any way, but it made this particular story feel less original to me, unfortunately.

I felt that the strongest portions of Black Mouthwere those that were flashbacks to that life-altering summer the four friends shared as children. There was a nostalgia to the writing there that reminded me of what I loved most about IT and Something Wicked This Way Comes and other books like them. That nostalgia paints the past in rosy hues, even in the midst of horrific events, and I love that mingling of ideas that should be such polar opposites but which somehow instead complement each other in inexpressible ways. It also dug deeply into generational trauma and the breaking of those cycles, which added a power to the story being told that I appreciated.

Black Mouth worked better for me in idea than in actuality, but I’m still glad that I read it. I’ve now been exposed to a new-to-me author with a backlist to explore, and I fully intend to do so. Because, while I might have not quite connected to his writing, I’m very interested to see if that disconnect was a one-off. I’m hoping very much that this experience mirrors my early encounters with Stephen King, whose work I once disliked but who is now one of my favorite authors of all time. And, even though I didn’t love Black Mouth, I definitely didn’t dislike it to that extent, so I think this is a promising beginning!

Black Mouth

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