I’ve been a fan of Malerman for a long time, so I was very excited for this re-release. Goblin is entirely different from Bird Box, Inspection, and Malerman’s other well-known titles, and really shows his massive range as a writer. Goblin contains six inter-connected novellas that share a setting and some characters. As with any story collection, I enjoyed some more than others. But, there were none that I disliked, and I loved the way they all worked together to create a bigger picture. Goblin seems like an experiment in style that really paid off, and I’m excited to see more from Malerman after this.

I was really excited to read this collection of short stories. I have been wanting to read more horror stories. I have to say that sadly this collection was a disappointment to me. I liked the set up and the spooky vibes when I first started reading but it did not last.

I can not remember most of the stories that I read. They were not really scary at all. Also, they did feel kind of unfinished. The start of the book did pick up and finish after all of the other stories had ended. The last story "Hedges" was one I did like. I could picture everything happening as I was reading the story and would have freaked out if I was the little girl. Overall, I just was left sad by this collection of stories.

TW: Murder, animal death, abuse, animal death, language, racism, domestic violence,

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:A MAN IN SLICES: A young man wants to prove to his long-distance girlfriend that they have "legendary love," better than Vincent van Gogh, so he sends her more body parts than just his ear in the mail. KAMP: A man so horrified of encountering a ghost that he sets up a series of "ghost traps" all over his apartment, desperate to catch one before it can sneak up on him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUNTER! Big game hunter Neal Nash leaves his own meat-themed birthday bash to go hunting for Goblin's hallowed (and protected) Great Owl. But the North Woods are unkind at night. PRESTO: In the pages of Presto magazine, a young boy reads that his favorite magician, Roman Emperor, is coming to town. Problem is, Pete doesn't know that Emperor's magic is real, and his latest trick involves audience participation... a little boy volunteer. A MIX-UP AT THE ZOO: Dirk Rogers works at both the Goblin Slaughterhouse and the Goblin Zoo, but the workload is really getting to him. Will he be able to separate the two jobs on the night he finally breaks down, or will the slaughterhouse and the zoo overlap in his cracked, dark mind? THE HEDGES: A young girl finally reaches the end of Goblin's biggest tourist attraction, The Hedges. But what she finds there sparks a mad chase between the owner of the Hedges and the Goblin Police, through the streets of the rainy city and into the terrible North Woods.
Release Date: May 18th, 2021
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Pages: 400
Rating: 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃

What I Liked:
• I love anthologies
• How the stories were tied together was interesting and didn't beat it over your head.

What I Didn't Like:
• 448 uses of the word Goblin or Goblin-like. After a while it is annoying reading the word.
•Each story felt so long and drawn out.

Overall Thoughts: Upon starting this book I just knew it needed some creepy fun music to set the mood. Something that highlight the weirdness as well as the scary parts. I put on the soundtrack for Southbound. In certain way it reminded me as though I was listening to Welcome to Nightvale. The book has The North Woods and Nightvale has the Dog Park. Each story reminds you of something else you've read or watched before but not in a bad way. Every story blends together. I just wish more stories had a common link then just taking place in Goblin. A perfect example if Trick R Treat. All the stories pass by one character and shows you a story from the others perspective.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed the short stories and I think the book is definitely worth getting. Plus that cover... Wow.

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*A Man in Slices - I loved this story. It was so good and creepy. The ending surprised me. 5 stars.

*Kamp - This one seemed to drag in for me. It started out promising but man did I struggle to get through it. He rambles on and it makes it feel so long. I loved the tie in moment here he sees Richard and Charles' car idling under his window in the rain. The ending wasn't good and came off a bit confusing. 3 stars.

*Happy Birthday, Hunter - I thought this story was an interesting one. I love the idea of woods that are haunted and evil that you can't go into them. Reminds me of Welcome to Nightvale where they have the haunted dog park. I hated the ending though. His wife killed the first owl but she doesn't even explain how she did it or anything. Nash had to figure out that the owls are attracted to the red coat but how did she snag one? Plus not once is it mentioned that she hunts too or even knows how to.

*Presto - I expected more from this story as it started out so good. I think the connection between the stories wasn't good. Also the ending left me wanting more. I felt it was luck luster.

*A Mix up at the Zoo - This story took so many twists and turns and then came out of a weird hole straight out of Alice and Wonderland. I would say I disliked the first half of the story and then it grew on me. I just wish it didn't end on such a heart breaking and sad note.

*The Hedges - I found this one to be my second favorite one. The cocky little girl and the mourning husband. It was sad how much he wanted his wife back. Very Westchester like that he kept building a hedge to keep his wife alive.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for this advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this book! This was my first time reading a novel from Josh Malerman and I get the hype now.

Goblin is a novel in 6 novellas and each takes you into what happened on a specific day in the town Goblin to different people. I think initially I had expected a story that was trying to scare me with monsters and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, but what Malerman delivered was much worse.

These stories are all about the human experience, the choices we make, the consequences we must face. When confronted with your own self and choices, will your story be a scary one? My favorite story was definitely Kamp because I felt it was the most human - the one that I can see happen to someone today.

Thank you so much Del Rey Books and NetGalley for my copy of this book.

Overall, I would say this is the best Josh Malerman book I've read. I didn't always agree with something of the plot choices (the animal death and violence in particular), but I did love this narrative style. I thought it was really original and ended up telling a great story. In particular, I loved the history of Goblin that was gradually revealed throughout the six novellas. The mythology was also so fun to follow along with. I had a bit of a concern that there was no way Malerman could pull the novellas together into something cohesive in the final story, but I think that's where he really shined. The final interconnectedness was what brought my rating up from 3 stars to 4. I would gladly read more Goblin stories if there was a follow-up.

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Goblin, Michigan, The creepiest town west of Derry, Maine.

Six novellas comprise the story of the town of Goblin. A small town in the middle of nowhere, yet somehow still on the map.

The story begins with a delivery of a mysterious single crate to a residence in Goblin with very specific instructions: Do not deliver before midnight. Recipient will not be home to receive before midnight. Do not deliver past 12:30 AM. Recipient will not be home to receive after 12:30 AM. If Recipient is not home (or does not answer the door) between 12 and 12:30 or if driver missed this window of time: DESTROY THE BOX.

First thoughts: What's in the box?!

Goblin is a tale of the unfortunate circumstances of a delivery driver to a small, yet unforgettable town in the middle of nowhere Michigan. Through the eyes of different townsfolk in the novellas, we get the present-day stories, as well as the dark history behind Goblin, its inhabitants & those drawn to it by pure circumstance.

What I Liked: Goblin is the main character & the townsfolk are telling the story. The town envelops those that live there & even those that just visit. Each novella tells an amazingly horrific story from the town's incorporation to its current inhabitants & those just visiting. Plus a weird alien-like police force that even the Goblin residents are terrified by & in a place like Goblin where the abnormal is normal, that is terrifying.

What I Didn't Like: 100% selfish reasons for what I didn't like. After each novella, I was left unsatisfied. I wanted more. While each story had a fitting ending to the featured Goblinite, I wanted to know the aftermath of the events that had just transpired.

Goblin is a terrifying story about the middle of nowhere USA. A town like Goblin could be just a few hours away from you.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and I am so lucky that I was given an ARC to review. I have absolutely loved everything Josh Malerman has written and this was no different. Although, some of the short stories in this collection fell a bit flat to me, I loved how they were all interconnected. The prologue was so strong that I was hooked from the beginning and read majority of this in 2 sittings. All the stories had their own creepy story and the build-up was really well done. They all start out with setting the scene and then slowly get creepier and creepier. Josh Malerman will always be one of my favorite authors of all time.

Creepshow was a horror anthology that I have always had a soft spot for, ever since I was a wee child watching it for the first time. Yes, I was absolutely the kid who was allowed to watch horror movies much too young, but I loved Creepshow. I remember vividly the opening shots to “Father’s Day” and the murky creeping in “Something to Tide You Over” with a fondness that some my age have for only Disney movies. That’s not a slight on Disney movies; I love those too, but Creepshow was a whole other facet to my childhood. It led me to love horror in the same way Night of the Living Dead did. (For those of you who don’t know me personally, Night of the Living Dead is the first movie I can remember seeing in my entire life as a very small kid.) I’m picky about horror because I love horror.
“The Crate” is what Goblin by Josh Malerman reminded me of the most. I think he is taking reference from Creepshow and other classic horror anthologies, but the bookend prologue and epilogue of Goblin is quite literally a “The Crate” reprisal. A harkening to 80s horror and everything that has come since.
The six novellas of Goblin all occur on the same night, with some history built in, between these bookend stories of Tommy, a courier, accepting a strange job with a mysterious crate and the drop-off that must happen between midnight and 12:30 AM or else be destroyed. Each story picks up a thread in the history of Goblin—either the founders with a historian who is deathly afraid of the possibility of ghosts and being scared to death in a literal way, or the local tourist trap hedge maze, or the wealthiest man in town who wants to hunt the founder’s prized owl species in Goblin’s version of the forbidden forest during his own hedonistic birthday party.
Goblin sets tendrils out to lead the reader through Goblin. Not all stories are homeruns—there were two or three that I found myself lulled into boredom (particularly the story “Presto” about a magician finding real magic in which only a few pages of the story actually interested me and the rest felt like a page requirement)—but I’ll admit to having a good time with Goblin.
I wish there had been some more specific edits in some of the lengths of stories and perhaps one or two added in to pick up on some threads that I wanted to explore more myself, but overall, Malerman does a good job at wringing through the night of a dreary, weird little town named Goblin. I haven’t read much of his other longer length works, but I would like to perhaps revisit Bird Box in book form, as I’ve only watched the movie, to see just how much Malerman has grown as an author. That alone says volumes about what I did like about his writing.

You can always count on Josh Malerman for a creative and creepy, atmospheric book, and Goblin certainly doesn’t disappoint in that sense.

The eponymous town of Goblin, about which this book offers six interconnected novellas, is an eerie place with a profound sense of wrongness that will send shivers up your spine.

In addition to the atmosphere, I liked the structure at least in theory, though the first half of the book is far better than the second half.

A Man in Slices, Kamp, Happy Birthday, Hunter!, and Presto are the best of the bunch, and we do get an epilogue at the end (a continuation of A Man in Slices, essentially) that pulls the whole narrative together. I wanted more out of Hedges, and A Mix Up at the Zoo was somewhat disappointing.

In all it’s a solidly entertaining, creepy book that I wish had packed a bigger punch at the end, but kept me entertained throughout.

Alright, I loved this book. I think some might not enjoy the premise of the separate stories instead of one long novel story but there are a couple tidbits that tie the stories together. As the book goes on the reader gets to know Goblin and it’s oddities more and more. I feel like this would be a perfect book to base a limited series off of. Cough @netflix cough. I want to know more about Goblin!
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Grab this one now.

I wanted to love this one because Josh Malerman is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately though, I loved parts of this book, but as a whole, it just never fully came together for me.

Malerman did an excellent job of delivering this book in a new style, which I appreciate. The separate stories each felt stronger to me if read individually than they did altogether.

Goblin is a town though that I'd love to see more about in the future.

Let me start this review by stating how much I like Josh Malerman, as a writer, but just as a person. When I first read Bird Box I was SUCKED INTO HIS IMAGINATION immediately; I read the entire book in one evening. I could not put it down. Then, my book club decided to read Malorie and we devoured that as well. Josh has an "easy-to-read" style and an incredible imagination. So, when I heard about the concept behind Goblin: six novellas all set in a Creepy-odd town named Goblin, I was so excited to go back into Malerman's dark & creative mind.

Goblin starts with an attention catching prologue (usually prologues are so vague/boring) but this one immediately makes you wonder: What is it about Goblin? Why is this rainy-creepy city so rainy & creepy? I mean, there are weirdos and creepers in all small towns, but from this prologue alone (but also the six novellas) you realize that Goblin is really "blessed" in the creeper department. The novellas that ensue have folks cutting off body parts & giving them to loved ones, practicing dark magic, confusing a zoo & slaughter house, obsessing over hunting rare animals, burying their deceased upright.....the list goes on.

As each novella started I was quickly drawn into the new story but as each finished, I was a little disappointed in the very "left open" style of the narration. I get it, he did this on purpose. At the end of each novella the reader herself must extrapolate what happened. Also, each novella is rather long (I am a fan of shorter chapters) so going back and forth between my book and audio was challenging. This is is just a personal gripe. I was pleased that the book itself ended with an epilogue that was directly connected to the midnight-delivery story of the prologue; that was the closet thing to closure Goblin would give. me.

I would love to see this made into a Netflix limited series -- would be fabulous. And perhaps under the director we may get more clues or closures to the novellas.

Thank you NETGALLEY & The Publisher for this ARC copy of Goblin. And thank you Josh Malerman for being the creative dark type you are.

This beautiful book (the cover AND the content) was unease personified.

The creeping dark tone fills my heart with gooey fear and pleasure.

The novellas are crafted with care for fans of horror and suspense.

Can’t wait to read more from this talented author. Very worth the read and would recommend (but not for the faint of heart).

The first book I read from Malerman had me under a spell. I devoured it quickly, was left stunned, and immediately wanted to read it again. This book?

I don't know. It's underwhelming. There's something unpolished in the writing. I frequently have to reread things that just don't flow quite right, and it's like he tries to use the proper name of the town, Goblin, as many times as he can; like he was doing a craft project with glitter and that sh*t went everywhere--Goblin, Goblin, Goblin, Goblin, Goblin.

The characters and their stories are super neat and freaky though. Malerman has a way of creeping under your skin. If only it didn't feel so clumsy and slow...

Thank you Del Rey and NetGalley for the ebook to review.

These stories were just ok. Nothing creepy really or even eerie. Felt a bit like the author was trying too hard to tie everything together and in the end it just didn’t work out for me. Found most of the stories too predictable in nature.

Mysterious small town, unreliable characters and dark atmospheric setting. What more do we need for a good horrific storyline.

Josh Malerman is a gifted writer who can not detail much about the characters, yet let them have a good depth just by surrounding them with a dark storyline. This is true for all the 6 novellas, each weird and dark in its own way with a commonality joining them all. All you need to do is read the prologue and let the story sink in. I liked all the novellas, Happy Birthday Hunter is my favourite!! Each story has one illustration of a particular scene amazingly done.

Horror lovers would take delight in reading this novella collection. 4.25/5

Thank you DelRey via Netgalley for the arc.

I have always been impressed by Josh Malerman’s ability to create an true atmosphere of dread with his words alone. Like his other stories, Goblin is dark, suspenseful, and creative. He manages to capture the town of Goblin in such a way that it feels like a living creature. A few of the novellas reminded me of my favorite childhood book series so they evoked a lot of feelings of nostalgia. I especially loved the shocking endings; yes, they were a little predictable at times but i still found them satisfying. While I enjoyed the overall collection, there were a couple novellas that just didn’t completely work for me. I found them to be a little too long and drawn out, which detracted from the sense of menace. That being said, I think there is something in here for everyone to enjoy and it would be a really fun read for Halloween!

I loved reading this book about a mysterious small town where creepy, mysterious things happen. I loved the format of the book, with the short stories that all intertwined. I had to keep reading to find out what happened to each character in each short story. Great, quick read with twists I didn't expect.

My interest was immensely piqued by the book cover and title GOBLIN, and I was instantly mesmerized by the Prologue. I couldn’t help but was constantly on the edge of my seat, devouring this devilishly delicious horror.
GOBLIN is a strange town that is persistently engulfed in rain and fog, seems like a perfect nurturing ground for six nail-biting, dark, and evil novellas that are entwined together to lure one into the twilight zone of unfathomable.
Indisputably, the phenomenal Josh Malerman once again masterfully crafted this invigorating yet heart-pounding GOBLIN that definitely serves to satiate avid readers of this genre.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Del Rey/Random House for this enjoyable horror completed with some interesting detailed illustrations.
#NetGalley
#Goblin

Of course this is five stars!!!! But I had better think about it for a minute before I settle in on a review.

So it’s been like four or five days since I’ve finished reading this… I’m finally not (as) creeped out by flipping topiaries now… Seriously, Josh Malerman has a talent for the ultimate creep out factor.

As we start, the first story, I started to get chills already!!! I have a fairly high tolerance for these things, but dang, it pulls you in so quickly. Looking over your shoulder and wondering what’s going to happen next!! Great first story, and then you move quickly into the next one. But hold that thought because you’ll get back to that first story eventually…

Oh Walter… a story of paranoia or is it?! This was such an interesting read that I’m not sure how to even get into it. Just get in there with Walter and read this one until the next story. Don’t stop or else you may catch that paranoid feeling too!

So the next story is great because there’s this jerk, the one that most people love to hate and he’s got it all. As it goes on, things just get creepier and creepier. And let me tell you… you’re going to want to know how that one ends!!! One of my favorites!!

Then things really get going!!! Seriously, I had such a hard time stopping after this point. Presto was absolutely fabulous. I mean, it’s creepy just thinking of people getting buried standing up. Right?!?!

A mixup at the zoo is the story that follows and it’s sure to hollow out your heart.

Finally the hedges, which is just spectacular!!!! The cops though!!!!! Wtf!!??!!??? And also, NOOOOO!!! You’ll see when you get there. This one was still a fun one too. Chillingly good time.

Last, but really first, the prologue where we circle back around. It’s just absolutely stellar!!! Like I said, this whole book is awesome and I love every minute of it. I’m not really doing it justice here. Just read it because of its awesomeness.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read this book for my honest and unbiased opinion.