Ronald Malfi

A landscape of frozen darkness punctuated by grim, gray days. The feeling like a buzz in your teeth. The scrape of bone on bone. . . Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims' graves, in remote Dread's Hand, Alaska. It's not even a town; more like the bad memory of a town. The same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago. As the bodies are exhumed, Paul travels to Alaska to get closure and put his grief to rest. But the mystery is only beginning. What Paul finds are superstitious locals who talk of the devil stealing souls, and a line of wooden crosses to keep what's in the woods from coming out. He finds no closure because no one can explain exactly what happened to Danny. And the more he searches for answers, the more he finds himself becoming part of the mystery. . . Praise for Little Girls "Best horror novel of the year." --Hunter Shea "Much more than a haunted house story." --Cemetery Dance "Takes well-known tropes and completely turns them around." --IHeartReading

Bone White

A landscape of frozen darkness. The scrape of bone on bone . . . Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims’ graves in remote Dread’s Hand, Alaska. It’s the same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago. As the bodies are exhumed, Paul travels to Alaska to get closure and put his grief to rest. But the mystery is only beginning. What Paul finds are superstitious locals who talk of the devil stealing souls, and a line of wooden crosses to keep what’s in the woods from coming out. The more he searches for answers, the more he finds himself becoming part of the mystery . . . Praise for Ronald Malfi and Bone White “An unsettling world filled with the kind of detail and insight that evoke early Stephen King. . . . an elegant, twisted, gripping slow-burn of a novel.” —RT Book Reviews, 4.5 Stars Top Pick “Creepy prose . . . with plentiful hair-raising enigmas and copious gore.” —Publishers Weekly “Ronald Malfi masterfully blends psychological terror and traditional gothic horror into dark delight.” —Dark Realms "Malfi's florid descriptiveness and taut writing style grip the reader right from the get-go." —Rue Morgue “Malfi is an incredibly talented writer." —Horror World

Heather Heaton

The atmosphere in this book is so amazing. Very creepy and cold out in the small town in Alaska. I actually got scared at moments and was very impressed with the build up of the story. The ending felt a bit rushed and I was a tad disappointed in that but otherwise it was great and I intend to try out more from this author 

Thanks Sassyquatch for bullying me into reading this ;)

This was super creepy!! I really enjoy Malfi's writing, as it's super atmospheric. I felt the cold and loneliness in backwoods Alaska, so he's a super effective writer. The story was really interesting, though some of the events and ways people reacted to Paul seemed a bit OTT in order to shroud the situation in more mystery. Overall though, I was mostly able to buy that the people in "The Hand" really were that secluded and unkind to visitors. (view spoiler)[Though I do have to wonder, why on earth would the dude who killed his son and then himself go on hunting trips in The Hand twice a year if the town is so spooky and the residents are so unfriendly?? Of all places to go... (hide spoiler)]

I did feel that there were some threads that weren't super nicely tied up, but I think the ending explained enough that I'm not too bothered by it. At one point I was worried I wouldn't get an explanation, which often annoys me in books like this, but I found that Malfi managed to explain things without holding my hand and walking me through it, so I feel mostly satisfied.

I do have a couple nitpicks though. I feel like the book could've benefitted from one more edit, as there were some things that were repeated too much. Things like Paul's dog bite were explained more than once, so that it seemed like he'd put in a reminder explanation far into the book, then went back and made other references to the dog bite earlier in the book. It was weird. Also, Erin's character and the whole manipura thing could've been edited out entirely. (Credit to Sassy for this explanation): it felt like Malfi liked the manipura idea and wanted to inject it into his story, so he shoehorned in this (presumably) Indian woman to add it to the story. After looking up manipura, I see the parallels to the story, but it felt a bit appropriative coming from a white author, which is never necessary imo. Finally, and this is a SUPER nitpicky thing, I truly don't understand why he insists on calling Advil "aspirin"!! It annoyed me more than it probably should have haha.

Overall, very spooky book! It's definitely worth the read!

Ashley Lock

benie

Melissa Bragg 

Theodore Kaplan

"Malfi is a master at horror." --RT Book Reviews A landscape of frozen darkness. The scrape of bone on bone . . . Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims' graves in remote Dread's Hand, Alaska. It's the same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago. As the bodies are exhumed, Paul travels to Alaska to get closure and put his grief to rest. But the mystery is only beginning. What Paul finds are superstitious locals who talk of the devil stealing souls, and a line of wooden crosses to keep what's in the woods from coming out. The more he searches for answers, the more he finds himself becoming part of the mystery . . . Praise for Ronald Malfi and Bone White "An unsettling world filled with the kind of detail and insight that evoke early Stephen King. . . . an elegant, twisted, gripping slow-burn of a novel." --RT Book Reviews, 4.5 Stars Top Pick "Creepy prose . . . with plentiful hair-raising enigmas and copious gore." --Publishers Weekly "Ronald Malfi masterfully blends psychological terror and traditional gothic horror into dark delight." --Dark Realms "Malfi's florid descriptiveness and taut writing style grip the reader right from the get-go." --Rue Morgue "Malfi is an incredibly talented writer." --Horror World