Daphne is a story about growing up, being part of a team, and what comes after high school when you are no longer part of that close-knit team. But it's also about an urban legend that, when told, slinks into your ear, burrows deep into your brain, and stops you from thinking about anything else but that subject, an ear-worm I believe it’s called, like a song you can’t get out of your head for days, weeks, or even months.

The main character, Kit, who suffers from panic attacks, is attending a night before the big game sleepover with the team when one of the girls decides to tell a ghost story about Daphne, that urban legend I mentioned. Daphne was murdered, or maybe she killed herself, but no matter what really happened to her, she is still roaming the town of Samhattan, looking for revenge. After hearing the legend, our main character Kit asks the RIM during the game: Will Daphne kill me? and makes the game-winning shot. The legend about the RIM is you ask it a question and if the ball goes in, the answer to the question is yes, and if it misses, then the answer is no. What follows is Kit’s accounting of what transpired afterward, but also about how she copes or tries to cope, with her anxiety and that nasty ear-worm she can’t seem to eradicate.

I have so many favorite quotes from Kit: “Anxiety is paranoia at its finest.” and "It comes unannounced, of course, Nobody hears a panic attack coming. Not until it's too close to dodge." This statement hit me like a punch to the gut. It’s the perfect way to describe a panic attack and how it rears its ugly head. I suffer from debilitating panic attacks like Kit does, and like her, I have medications to help when I feel one coming on, or when one hits me out of nowhere, but I try so hard to not take those meds because I want to stop the anxiety on my own. I went into this story just expecting a potentially supernatural serial killer who is hunting down each player on the basketball team, but I left finding a kindred spirit in Kit. As her teammates begin to be murdered one at a time, Kit must find out who is behind the legend and face her fears to do so.

While this book is described as a horror story, it is also a story about real life and survival. Kit talks and writes about her anxiety, how the first time she experienced it she called an ambulance thinking she was dying…yep, check that off my list too. Kit is someone that those with anxiety disorders can really feel for and understand her thinking, her mental state, and can root for her, while in the back of their minds, they have already lost faith in Kit living through the horror to come.

One part of the story that got me thinking was the fungi memory: …She remembers a documentary she watched about mushrooms. How mushrooms actually think, like people…" and the way she described how they send signals to each other, communicate underground, and she imagines that communication moving from player to player to player. This is scary to think about and it just so happened I was watching "The Last of Us" during the time I was reading the book and though I laughed out loud when comparing the two, I also felt that ear-worm digging its way into my own brain.

What I like most about Josh Malerman's stories that I’ve read so far, is they all happen in and around the town of Samhattan, so it really makes one wonder, just what the hell is going on there and why don't people hightail it out of there as soon as they possibly can. I loved the way the author portrayed the teenagers as they really are. If you don’t like cussing, ribbing each other, bullying, violence, etc. then this may not be the novel for you. But give it a chance because I am pretty sure you will like it. This is a story that will make your heart pound out of your chest, and have you cowering under the covers at night.

A group of close knit friends, the love of the game, and an urban legend meet in a fatal collision.

Kit and her friends, all high school ball players, gather round the night before the big game, telling stories, and generally being teens at a sleepover.

Natasha tells them the tale of Daphne, urban legend turned supernatural murderer. How does Daphne get you? Thinking about her. So don’t think about her. Definitely don’t talk about her.

Which of course means, it’s all anyone can do. One by one, the girls think and think about her more, until there’s a target on their backs, and Daphne comes to collect.

This is a wild, well told story that touches on the specter of anxiety and mental health, especially as it’s looked at in teens today. Each girl presents a different viewpoint, and each viewpoint illuminates things so often looked over. I really enjoyed this one, as I have all of his other work that I’ve read. Malerman never fails to bring the spooky!

Kit can't stop thinking about Daphne, the high school outcast who died suspiciously, and is now said to be out to get her revenge. If you think about her too much, you'll conjure her into existence. When teammates start dying, Kit tries to get to the source of the legend and save what remains of her team.

This book, as Malerman says in the author's notes, is "a love letter" to basketball, horror, and a "correspondence" to anxiety. The anxiety representation is done really well, and I think people who battle anxiety will identify with and appreciate it. Also, there is a lot of basketball, this is about a basketball team. If that's not your jam, you might wanna skip this one.

Personally, I'm a fan of basketball, and also deal with anxiety, so I really identified with this one. The plot is great. The pacing, while slow at first, really picks up and will leave you hooked. The main character is well done. We don't really get much of the teammates, though so they're quite one dimensional. My only real complaint, as small as it is, is the repeated use of the term "ballers." Maybe I'm just getting to be an old man, but I've never heard anyone use the term as much as Malerman does to describe basketball players.

Thank you to Penguin Random House-Ballantine, Del Rey, author Josh Malerman, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Daphne changes the game, and is not the wonderful redhead we know and love from Scooby Doo. Daphne makes you scared to even say her name, and this book hits a ton of punches, you feel like you're in a ring with a professional fighter. I was nervous to see how this was going to end because of the supernatural tones to it. I feel like if you enjoy horror, with multiple layers you will really enjoy this one. For me, I felt my own anxiety creeping through just from reading this one.

Oh how I love a new Josh Malerman but this one didn’t fly for me. Idk what was missing but no, just no. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review

This was unfortunately a DNF for me. The balance of sports to horror was not what I expected. I could see recommending this to people but it was not for me

Full disclaimer, I am a Malerman junkie. I have been obsessed with his writing since I read that babysitting ghost story (Danny) published in Scary Out There anthology. Man oh man; that one gave me full goosebumps experience!
I’ve read a lot of his books since then and I have loved all of them!!

Daphne is no exception - it’s a bit of a slow burn at the beginning but the crescendo ending is worth your while. I found the idea of Daphne absolutely terrifying. She’s like Bloody Mary, only you don’t even need a mirror and words spoken aloud to summon her, she’ll come for you if you as much as think about her! And she’ll crush you to pieces.

I love vengeful ghosts and curses, so this was absolutely 100% up my alley and I had a blast reading. I recommend it to you if you don’t mind some gore scenes and you enjoy books with an almost palpable sense of dread and inescapable doom.

I love Josh Malerman and I will always give him a chance but when it comes down to it this is a book about basketball playing anxiety-ridden teenagers and I simply cannot make myself be interested in this. I surrender, DNF.

A slasher movie in book form. I feel a little guilty about how much I enjoyed it! Horror is making a big comeback and this is a good entry into the category.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was excited for the book. It's definitely creepy and spooky read. It wasn't out of the park but it was still good. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Daphne is an intriguing addition to the slasher genre, introducing a terrifying character that haunts the girls' basketball team and appears when people think of her. Making Daphne into a representation of anxiety was a brilliant idea by Malerman and it made this book a definite recommend.

I'm not sure how I'm going to justify this to myself, but I like this story. Some parts didn't make sense, and I'm not certain where that ending even came from, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

DAPHNE by Josh Malerman
Published: 9/20/2022 by Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine - Del Rey

It’s the last summer before Kit goes away to college - hopefully. One of her basketball
player buddies tells a haunting ghost story about a previous student from their school . Her name is Daphne, and she’s a daunting figure of seven feet tall. She is virtually friendless and without family . Her attire usually consists of something denim with tacked on patches of her favorite bands. She’s somewhat goth with “Kiss” makeup. The story goes that she died of very mysterious circumstances …. Was she killed or did she off herself? No one knows for sure … but, she’s still out there ready to materialize when she’s merely thought or spoke of. Found inside her car in the garage .. car running with radio blaring and the garage door tightly shut. If you think about her, she will return from the dead, wearing her denim and Kiss makeup, and ready to kill you with her bare hands. No one dares talk of this legend! Don’t even say her name!
The main protagonist of this classic version of a slasher drama is Kit Lamb …. anxious and as meek as a lamb. She fights hard to deal with her anxiety and mental instability…. Her friends Natasha and Dana are a bedrock of support for her.
Malerman once again proves to a master horror storyteller as he weaves the many story threads with escalating intrigue and tension… which culminates in an explosive and terrifying denouement. Along the way he explores the themes of friendship, mental health- both anxiety and depression, along with acceptance and self actualization. This psychological thriller reads like a steamroller with the reader frenetically turning the pages.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine / Del Rey for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Do NOT talk about Daphne...don't mention her name. She died years ago, and she's NOT happy about it. A girls high school basketball team is the focus of her rage, and she gives them hell. This is a story where anyone can meet their end, and quite a few of our characters do (and brutally!) I remember hearing a lot of complaints about the "excessive" basketball in one of Stephen Graham Jones' recent works, and if you were one of those people then Daphne may not be for you. Malerman gives a lot of insight into the game, and we live through a lot of anxiety-inducing game moments through our protagonist Kit. There's quite a bit of b-ball talk, but it's balanced out with a very fast-moving story about a ruthless monster who will come for anyone who's got something to say about her.

Brilliant & unique take on the mythical serial killer tale. The description of the protagonist, , the process of selection of the kills & our heroine are all very different from your average horror novel, but, then again no book of Malermans. Is just average. He’s always able to pull you right into the tale from the first chapter.!!!

3.5 rounded up.

There was no one thing that didn't make this book work for me, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. Perhaps my hopes were too high since I love several of this author's other books. Stylistically, this one just felt different.

Josh Malerman slam dunks this book in and breaks the backboard with Daphne. The ball is left to bounce until it stops with nobody watching it come to rest as the celebrations take place.

Josh takes on the classic horror slasher genre with his trademark twists. It’s like watching an ‘80s horror film in your head, slowly people are picked off one by one. The backstory of how Daphne came to be, who knew the truths, who embellished and exaggerated the lore, and then watching comforts turn to fear as she visits them all.

To picture Daphne in your head, allows your imagination to run wild as we’ve all seen that person at some point in our lives or daily. To be torn apart by Daphne… well… just don’t think about her.

This was such a good slasher! I really liked how detailed and gory it was, it reminds me of the 80s!

So sad to say that this book was just NOT for me. I have loved Malerman’s previous work, but this fell completely flat for me. I think part of it is that I personally struggle with taking teenage characters seriously, so this may have been a me issue vs an issue with the story itself.

Josh Malerman has done it again! Every single one of his books has a certain vibe to it that I can’t really explain but if you know you know. His writing has a way of making me feel like I am actually in the story and not just reading it. Daphne was a very scary book and I’m pretty sure fans of his other works will eat this one up. What a horrifying tale! The character of Kit was amazing. Do yourself a favor and read this book, and then make sure to read his previous works. He is definitely my favorite horror author! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.