Ghostwritten

Ghostwritten is comprised of four novellas, all relating in some way to the written word and stories themselves. I was very intrigued by the synopsis of this collection, but I was also a bit hesitant. I recently tried Malfi for the first time with his novel Black Mouth, which didn’t really work for me. But I hate to write an author off without giving them at least two tries, so I decided Ghostwritten would be our second chance, to see if we could mesh as artist and consumer. I’m happy to report that we can! While the collection as a whole was a 4 star read, two of these novellas are among my favorite horror stories I’ve ever read, and I can’t wait to read them again next October.

Below are my brief thoughts on each story.

The Skin of Her Teeth: 5 stars
Brilliant from start to finish. This is the story of a story that refuses to be altered, and I loved every minute of it. I think it might be one of my favorite horror shorts I’ve ever read. It’s definitely my favorite book-related horror I’ve encountered. I would buy a physical copy of this book for this story alone.

The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride: 4 stars
A story of a delivery trip gone wrong. And very, very weird. I actively disliked Tommy, but I think I was supposed to. It took me a little while to warm up to this story after having so deeply loved “The Skin of Her Teeth,” but it won me over. The un-rightness of the route followed on the trip was palpably creepy, and was my favorite part of the story. The book was also suitably disturbing, but I was in it for the abandoned towns and off-brand gas station snacks.

This Book Belongs to Olo: 5 stars
Olo is a very creepy child. Like, unbelievably creepy. And yet, the balance Malfi was able to strike with him was astounding. I was deeply disturbed by him, and yet I also felt an incredible amount of sympathy for him. His little homemade pop-up book was terrifying, and I loved everything about it. I also really loved Peyton; she was a powerful character, in spite of how little time on the page she actually had. This story is the reason I gave in and did indeed buy myself a physical copy of this book.

The Story: 3 stars.
I felt like this was the least original story in the collection. It was fine. The tension ratcheted up well, and Malfi evoked a great sense of impending madness and claustrophobia as the story progressed, but it seemed like a tale I’ve encountered multiple times before; it was just wearing a different dress, if you know what I mean.

I love all of the little details these stories share that tie them together. Those might be a shared background character, or a poem that crops up across stories, or a weird colloquialism used in multiple tales. Sometimes it’s a simple as a baseball. These touches and tie-ins made me unreasonably happy.

Overall, while half of the collection was definitely stronger, I found all of the stories at least somewhat enjoyable. I’m very glad that I gave Malfi another shot, and that this was the book I chose to try. I loved two of these stories so much that I immediately had to have a copy for my shelves, which says it all. I’ll definitely be reading more of Malfi in the future.