“Will Daphne kill me?” This is question that burns through Kit. The urban legend of Daphne starts by mentioning her, then thinking of her summons her. As Kit's basketball team begins being murdered, is it the ghost or something much more sinister?

*Special thanks to NetGalley & Del Rey Publications for this e-arc.*

This horror story follows Kit Lamb during her last summer before college. She's on her school's basketball team and on the night before the big game, one of the other players tells a ghost story about Daphne to the team. There are different versions of Daphne's story - some say she was murdered, some say she was a murderer - but the main theme is that if you think about her, she will come and kill you. After hearing this story, Kit can't stop thinking about Daphne. And once her teammates start dying one by one, Kit begins to suspect Daphne might be real after all. Now, Kit is determined to find the truth behind the legend and learn to face her own fears before its too late.

TW/CW: child abduction, child murder, cannibalism, suicide, anxiety, body horror

I've really enjoyed all of my past Malerman reads, but this one started out a little rough. Looking back, I just think the point he chose to start the story at was not the most interesting and ended up making the pacing feel really disjointed. However, once the kills start, they don't stop and this turned into a really great read. I did read an ARC copy, so there's a chance some of this could change in the final version. The story opens at the end of the big game and has Kit thinking about Daphne and her inner monologue does a great job at showing the reader how nervous and anxious she is about Daphne. Only one problem: the reader doesn't have any context to who Daphne is or why Kit is thinking about her. Now, of course, if you read the book description, you would have an idea but the lack of story context was really throwing me off. The reader then gets filled in via flashback but this pacing and structure just didn't work for me. Once we get past this awkward beginning, I really enjoyed the pacing and structure for the rest of the story.

I really loved the Daphne myth and how it evolved over the course of the book. Having it be a ghost story at a sleepover really made it feel universal because I think many people will have a similar ghost story in their area. I also enjoyed having the main characters be older and having this play between them thinking ghosts aren't real but also all sort of believing in them. At first, I thought this would just be a regular sort of vague ghost story, but I was really pleased with how detailed the story got and how we could see it change as it was told. Daphne's myth also got a lot darker than I was expecting which I appreciated.

Anxiety is a big theme in the book and I thought making Daphne be a sort of mirror for that worked really well. In the acknowledgements at the end, Malerman talks a bit about his own anxiety journey and how some of that is reflected in Kit. We see a wide range of Kit's anxiety and her coping strategies and the narrative style in these sections really reflects her mental state. These sections, especially her journal entries, feel very stream of consciousness but there's this constant reminder of Daphne that comes through and it really feels like she pops up in Kit's mind. I struggle with anxiety at times, but not at the level that Kit does and I think the narrative style choices do a great job of letting readers into that struggle who might not otherwise understand the feeling. There are one or two brief moments where Kit thinks that if she committed suicide that she wouldn't have to live with this anxiety anymore so that may be upsetting to folks who

Despite these characters being in high school, I don't think they necessarily read like they're that young. This book really has Malerman's voice in the prose and I really enjoy his writing style. However, for readers who really like the characters to feel very realistic and have distinct voices, I don't think this would necessarily fit that category. Because Malerman's voice is so present, it feels like the story is being told by someone watching these characters from above so there is a level of disconnect. While we do get some inner monologue and some of Kit's journal entries, I didn't feel like these differed enough from character to character and they had the same tone as the overall description narration. This is 100% a personal preference thing and while I do normally prefer when the author sort of disappears and lets the characters shine, I do think Malerman is one exception for me.

The kills in this were great and we get a good number of them on-page. There's a slight escalation with each death in either timing, place, or brutality that works really well to up the tension. As the story progresses and more bodies drop, there's this frantic aspect to the police investigation and town overall and it was such a great way to keep up the pacing.

The ending was a bit abrupt, which I normally don't like, but in this case, I didn't mind. It felt like the puzzle pieces came together early enough that there was sufficient time for the resolution to play out. I also think the main questions got answered enough that the usual post-climax reflection/info dump wasn't necessary. There were a few details that, at first, I thought didn't get fleshed out enough but upon reflection I could answer all the questions I had. There are a number of threads that come together really well at the end and I think they wrap the whole story up nicely.

Overall, this was a fantastic read. Got off to a bit of a slow start, but once the story picked up, it really went full speed ahead. Great myth, great kills, and excellent building of tension as the story went on.

Thanks NetGalley and Del Ray books for the ARC

Expected publication date is September 20, 2022

I'm not a sports fan but that didn't keep me from enjoying this book. It's scary. Really scary. The twist at the end was a shock. I didn't care for Kit's journal entries--they seemed to ramble on and didn't add much to the plot. *Spoilers Ahead* The town "curse" of ignorance about Daphne's existence/past was very interesting. Thinking about Daphne and the things she does to the ballers and to the kids before, it will give you chills. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC!

~ ~ ~

Don't talk about her. Don't think about her. Or she'll come for you.

During a pre-game sleepover, Kit hears the story of local urban legend, Daphne, from her friend and teammate Natasha. When Kit makes the basket that wins the final game, what should be a time of celebration is soured as thoughts of Daphne invade her consciousness. Then the first body is found, and crazy as it sounds, Kit is sure that Daphne is involved.

~ ~ ~

I could not put this read down! The first page was super compelling and just yanked me right into the story. I really liked Kit as a character. As someone who also deals with anxiety issues, I thought she was super relatable, and I enjoyed following her journey throughout the book. (Love a book with a strong mental health theme.) I also got a really strong nostalgia vibe with this read. I think most of us can relate to having a sleepover and doing all of the spooky things like Bloody Mary, the closet game, and telling scary stories. This read will definitely bring those memories back, ha ha.

Another thing that impressed me about this read was the sense of dread. Right from the beginning, you can feel it, and Malerman did a fantastic job building it up as the story progressed. There were a lot of really brutal scenes that had me actually breathless from the tension. I seriously had to put the book down a few times to recover. But I immediately picked it back up because I wanted to know what would happen next!

The only thing negative that I have to say is that the end was a little disappointing. Thematically, it made sense, but I wanted more answers. Some things felt very swept under the rug to me.

All said and done, I would really recommend this read. It was pretty fast paced, super tense, with some gnarly scenes that really made me squirm. Definitely a great read for spooky season!

2.5/5 stars - This book was not great. It was very much written like a YA/early teen Goosebumps "horror" with high school basketball at its core. Don't get me wrong, Goosebumps was my teen-jam, and I love YA, but I think it missed for me because I was expecting adult horror of a quality of writing and storytelling more like Birdbox, so I was disappointed. It also truly made no sense and we were given so little information to really fill out the lack of actual possible science that it didn't work for me. Most of it was boring teen writing in her journal or thinking obsessively about the same drawn out thing. Ultimately, a pretty boring read, would not recommend.

Oh, dear. I so wanted to get into this. Malerman's Bird Box is on my top ten and I keep hoping with each new book that he can match the excitement and story telling of that one (he has come close a couple times!). Daphne seemed more YA than anything with pages upon pages of teenage angst and basketball. I just could not finish. Perhaps this will work for some, it didn't for me. Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Daphne follows a basketball team who is haunted by a ghost-but not just any ghost. A 7-foot, murdering ghost who kills with her bare hands! And what makes it worse? The more you think about Daphne, the more likely she is to come haunt you.

I was genuinely at times a bit scared from this book. Daphne was surely on my mind, and I definitely had to keep my lights on because I would get freaked out. Daphne also had great anxiety representation, and I was really touched by the author's note at the end talking about Malerman's own experience with anxiety. Overall, a very solid book that definitely hits the horror feels!

I realize that my review will be biased, so I’m letting you know that from the very beginning.

I hate basketball. It’s probably the only sport I hate watching, playing, or hearing about. I just don’t enjoy it at all.

So, with that said… Daphne may not be a book about basketball, but a large part of it revolves around the sport. I tried to put my dislike for the sport aside, but there really was a lot of basketball talk mixed into the horror story.

It’s about a girls’ basketball team that asks questions of the rim when they make their free-throws. Ugh.

What I liked was the story of Daphne (which should have been the main focus in my opinion).

A freaky 7-foot ghost woman, with a killer backstory, who kills people who think about her? Yep! That’s my kind of book!!

Unfortunately, those parts were few and far between. Her story was told through (sometimes painfully long and boring) journals from Kit’s point of view, the detective’s distant memories, and other kid’s stories from around the town.

It was almost too obvious that this was an analogy for anxiety and/or problems we don’t talk about that tend to get worse because we don’t talk about them.

In short, I LOVED the horror part of the story and cringed at the social-emotional ideals behind it.

This was not a slam dunk for me, but it could be for you!

This was a slower moving, character driven horror novel that I absolutely loved!

Following a group of female ball players from a Michigan high school team, we get this mix of urban legend and pulse pounding fear and anxiety. There is a name they never speak of… a woman so wrapped in the city’s lore that she is collectively forgotten to keep the town safe. When this group of girls breathes life back into Daphne’s story though, that’s when she comes… and she is out for blood. Daphne is picking off the teammates one by one and none of them are safe.

This was paced in such a way that really ratcheted up my anxiety. The pacing was perfect and had me fully wrapped up. I enjoyed this strange collective conscience of the town to preserve itself by not thinking about Daphne… until it was too late. The death scenes in this book were graphic and terrifying. This was just so much fun to read.

I mean, who doesn't love slasher films? This book brought back memories of watching high schoolers get absolutely slaughtered in classics like Carrie, Texas Chainsaw, and more.

Josh Malerman has quickly become one of my favorite authors, his writing style really pulls the reader into the world he builds.
Daphne is a local urban legend based in the small city of Samhattan (for fans of Malerman's other stories, this is close to Goblin and Chowder). Kit is a 17 year old girl who suffers from crippling anxiety. As her friends are slowly picked off one by one, Kit comes to realize that the City’s collective decision to ignore their dark history may not be the best way to cope with the monster killing their young people, like her anxiety, certain threats are best dealt with head on. Will she have the courage to face what everyone else refuses to acknowledge?
I really enjoyed the way Kit was developed through this story. Thank you to Random House / Ballantine / Del Rey and Netgalley for the opportunity to enjoy this gripping e-Arc.

I'll be thinking about the gruesome deaths in this novel for a long time -- terrifying, especially when paired with the notion that thinking about the killer is what lures her out! I found the ending to be a bit rushed (par for the course with many twisty horror novels), but I loved the overall concept. Great depiction of anxiety, too!

Daphne is an urban legend that no one talks about in the city of Samhattan, Michigan. Daphne was a person who supposedly murdered and now her spirit kills people who think about her. But how does a person not think about something when someone/ something is violently mustering members of the basketball team? Can an urban legend be responsible for these gruesome deaths or is one of the residents of the city responsible for all of the unseemly deaths of the young basketball stars?

I enjoyed Daphne. It was a fun fast paced book that I easily could have read in one sitting had the responsibilities of life not interfered. Malerman does an excellent job of keeping the reader on edge throughout the book. I loved learning about Daphne and the concept of thinking something into existence like a thought tulpa. I also liked how anxiety was discussed throughout the book. I feel like people who have anxiety will appreciate having a character who has to be brave even when anxiety tries to interfere. I recommend this book for fans of creepy horror, urban legends, and basketball.

In Samhattan, Michigan, there is only one rule: Don't think about Daphne.

Kit Lamb is an incoming senior, and she's looking forward to a final year of making memories with her friends, playing one last season for the Samhattan High girls' basketball team. The night before the final game of their summer season, one of Kit's teammates tells a ghost story about the local legend, Daphne. Seven feet tall, dressing entirely in denim and wearing KISS make-up to hide her blue skin, Daphne was a student at their school many years ago, before she died. No one seems to really know the circumstances of her death, if she was murdered or if she, herself, was a murderer. One thing everyone can agree on, though, is that you can't think about Daphne. If you think about her, she'll appear, and she'll kill you. And soon, the girls on Kit's team begin disappearing one by one...

Daphne is an introspective, intriguing, nostalgic blend of coming-of-age story and horror fiction, the kind of book only a genius mind like Josh Malerman's could conjure. It's a novel that feels fresh and entirely its own thing, while also paying homage to the genre books and films that came before (it gave me strong Carrie vibes in a really good way). The book's namesake is a truly frightening villain, and Malerman's vivid descriptions bring Daphne disturbingly, horrifically, to life. There are several scenes that creeped me out on a visceral level, and the book oozes with tension and a sense of mounting dread as Malerman carefully, expertly, controls the pace.

Where Daphne really shines, though, and the thing that makes this book special, is in Malerman's portrayal of Kit and her struggles with anxiety. Through journal entries, we learn about Kit's mental state -- both past and present -- and it feels intimate and thoughtful and has a ton of narrative impact.

I haven't always loved Malerman's books, but I have always loved the way his mind works. He is one of the most innovative contemporary horror fiction authors writing today, and Daphne is one of his most riveting, horrifying concoctions yet.

4.5 stars

"I'm thinking of a blue raven. It flies from one end of my mind to the other and I can't hear it coming until it's already right up on me and I don't want to try any harder and I'm walking to the desk because I don't deserve this and Melanie and Tammy (and please NOT Kennedy please) DIDN'T DESERVE THIS and the bird is not going away, Jolly, the blue-jean raven is literally not going to go away, not so long as we tell ourselves: DON'T THINK ABOUT A BLUE RAVEN."

Once upon a time I had a book idea. I wanted to write something scary, something truly terrifying for me, a person with anxiety. And what's more scary than your own thoughts? The ones that come and become real and leak in like a cold, yellow oil and take hold and make death real and make every thing you think become a reality, and every thing you do into a question: will something terrible happen because of my next move?

"I saw questions in everything, Jolly. If the detective's shoe squeaked against the gym floor, then THIS will happen. If Coach Wanda calls my name, then THIS. If someone interrupts someone else, if there's a moment of silence longer than three seconds, if the power goes out, if Principal Taylor enters the gym, if the door opens, if Melanie coughs, if Emily swears, if THEN if THEN if THEN, yes no yes no yes no, over and over, until literally nothing was done or said that wasn't preordained by Fate."

These are the questions that plague me. My mind haunts me more than any monster. So my idea for the scariest thing that could possibly happen was this: what if a monster only came the more you thought about it? What if what you had to escape was your own mind? Your own fear?

And then Josh Malerman wrote that book for me. And it was petrifying.

This might be the scariest book I've ever read. It stuck in my brain like an earworm—Daphne—every time I thought about it, I was reminded that I would have been her next target.

And premise aside, the events of this book are mortifying. Every scene is laced with so much suspense, my face probably turned blue from holding my breath (ha, if you've read it, you get the reference). But seriously, when you have descriptions like, She thinks of Tammy Jones's face caved in, imagines her looking like one of those rubber Halloween masks when you toss them on your bed, when they fold up, how the eyes get closer together, the nose gets longer, how the ends of the mouth curl in a way to suggest inevitable speech, you cannot possibly claim this book will not haunt you.

On top of its success as a horror novel, I was astounded by its descriptions of anxiety and how exactly they match my own experiences with it. Malerman is able to reduce down the feeling of dread and panic so perfectly, I'm in awe of how he managed to capture it. Here are a few examples:

1. "I like to think I'm not alone on that front. I'm not the only one who lies in bed in the dark and worries that anxiety is gonna come squishing up the stairs like a worm, crawl under my door, crawl up my bed frame, into my bed, into my ear, into my head, into my mind, where it'll lay eggs and then there won't just be this one thought but a thousand of this one thought, these worms crawling around in the dark while I lie in the dark and the only thing I can do is to wait for them all to die. That's it, Jolly. The only real cure I've discovered at least. You just gotta wait for the anxiety to die."

2. "Think we'll win? I wanna say yes. And so, you know what? Yes. But if you say a thing, does that make it so? Or does that make it not so? Does it support it? Or does it jinx it? Sorry, Jolly. I'm a handful."

3. "And don't you know how it comes, Jolly? How it comes at you? There's no warning. Oh God, no sound at all. You could be laughing, really having a good time, and you suddenly feel this rubbery sensation, like either you're wearing a rubber suit or the person you're talking to is wearing one, and then you can't shake the feeling that we're all just floating minds in these pretend rubber suits and it makes you feel so small and helpless and like you're going to die."

Malerman has solidified himself as an author I will always read from, and I really need to get moving here and try Bird Box and Unbury Carol soon.

"I can't stop thinking of her, Mom. I can't stop thinking of the one person I'm not supposed to think about."

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House, for offering me an e-arc of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Daphne is a slasher/thriller following a group of teen athletes. Our main character, Kit Lamb, is fixated on the Samhattan legend of 7-foot-tall and denim clad Daphne. It is said Daphne, who was brutally murdered years before, kills anyone who thinks of her too much. I like how the author builds tension with recurring thoughts and fear of Daphne, especially as we continue to see Kit unravel throughout the narrative.Daphne has a presence without having to do much work. In the same vein as Freddy Krueger or even The Candyman, readers see how thoughts shape the perception of one’s own realities. The language flows in a natural and casual manner, making for a quick read. Many of the sections can easily be broken down into scenes as if they were a movie. My largest critique of the narrative would be that a lot of the action happened off the page and was up for interpretation/meant to reflect a general anxiety within characters that I just didn’t feel. Readers were quite limited by Kit’s perspective (and the other basketball players Daphne got to). Malerman’s Daphne was very reminiscent of Creepy Pastas in the early 2010s.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the digital advanced reader's copy.

Basketball, community trauma, anxiety, and a seven foot-tall murderous shadow.

Malerman does a good job creating suspense as the women's high school basketball team in a small town is mysteriously and horrifically killed one-by-one.

Kit, one of the star basketball players, is convinced it's Daphne, the ghost of a predatory woman from long ago, whom no one is to speak of, or even think about. In fact, most of the town seems to have forgotten about her entirely. After all, if you think about her, she will come.

The out-of-town cop isn't so convinced that whatever is happening to these young women is supernatural. She's convinced that someone real is behind these killings and is using the myth of Daphne to create fear and chaos.

Either way, the killing needs to stop.

I was intrigued by Malerman's depiction of anxiety and trauma. I found the idea of a community refusing to talk about the evil that had invaded their town compelling, as there are often so many things we don't talk about as communities and neighbors - sometimes because they are so awful and oftentimes because we have no explanations or solutions.

Malerman lost me a few times, as Daphne didn't seem to operate according to any particular rules or reason. Her backstory and mythology was fascinating, but her actions and abilities I found a bit confusing.

Overall, a solid horror read with some unique themes.

*graphic violence, language

The night before the big game, Samhatten's girl basketball team gets together for a sleepover. Natasha shares the story of Daphne, a 7-foot tall ghost who seeks revenge for girls on the basketball team for them murdering her years ago. So how can you stay safe from Daphne? Simple, just don't think about her. For Kit, who suffers intense anxiety already, this is impossible. She becomes consumed with thoughts about Daphne, especially after teammates start dying in ways that "only Daphne" could manage.

This was my first book by this author and unfortunately it was just not for me. I did not like the style of writing and it made it difficult for me to read without skimming a ton. There was too much repetition and nothing really happened until 27% through the book. The book is marketed as a horror and while there are some elements of the horror book, it honestly felt the book was equally horror, a PSA about anxiety, and a book about basketball.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

If there's one thing you definitely shouldn't do this summer, it's think about Daphne. If you do she comes for you, and when that happens, none of your limbs or basketballs are safe. Josh Malerman returns with the story of a shameful piece of town history purposefully lost from memory that resurfaces to wreak havoc on a high school girls basketball team. Star player Kit Lamb, fresh off a hospital visit after her first panic attack, hears Daphne's story from one of her teammates and finds herself unable to stop thinking about her. Soon, her teammates start falling like dominoes in mysterious fashion, and Kit must find the inner strength to tackle both her mental health and the Shaquille O'Neal sized ghostly slasher haunting her.

Pros:
- The description of Daphne is so overtly campy that it works on levels I wasn't expecting. She's described as over seven feet tall, hulking, wearing denim head to toe with metal band patches sewn everywhere, and sporting "Kiss" makeup. I can only assume that this "Kiss" makeup is actually corpsepaint and that Daphne is a huge fan of black metal. This is absolutely fantastic.
- Kit Lamb is a strong main character, burdened with anxiety and depression but doing her best to hold the world together around her despite that.
- Malerman doesn't get too bogged down into creating a very complicated backstory for the town or Daphne's history, so there's a lot left to the imagination (always a good thing in horror).

Cons:
- Basketball for some reason is huge right now in horror. Malerman makes it a big part of the story here, hot off the heels of Stephen Graham Jones famously doing the same in The Only Good Indians. It's entertaining sure, but a bit strange to read multiple detailed passages about basketball games.
- Slashers are also in vogue again...it'll just never be the preferred horror subgenre for me.

Four stars. While the horror here stumbles at times through some well-trodden territory, the struggle of the lead character with mental health strife is timely and relatable.

FFO: A Blaze in the Northern Sky, shooting hoops, slasher flicks.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley*

"Horror has a new name: Daphne. A brutal, enigmatic woman stalks a high school basketball team in a reimagining of the slasher genre by the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box.

It’s the last summer for Kit Lamb: The last summer before college. The last summer with her high school basketball team, and with Dana, her best friend. The last summer before her life begins.

But the night before the big game, one of the players tells a ghost story about Daphne, a girl who went to their school many years ago and died under mysterious circumstances. Some say she was murdered, others that she died by her own hand. And some say that Daphne is a murderer herself. They also say that Daphne is still out there, obsessed with revenge, and will appear to kill again anytime someone thinks about her.

After Kit hears the story, her teammates vanish, one by one, and Kit begins to suspect that the stories about Daphne are real...and to fear that her own mind is conjuring the killer. Now it's a race against time as Kit searches for the truth behind the legend and learns to face her own fears - before the summer of her lifetime becomes the last summer of her life.

Mixing a nostalgic coming-of-age story and an instantly iconic female villain with an innovative new vision of classic horror, Daphne is an unforgettable thriller as only Josh Malerman could imagine it."

This is Stephen King level horror here.