I wanted to love this book, but it never went there for me.
Things I did love the anxiety representation. I think Malerman always does that well. I loved all the references to town in his book. The fact that the town all were part of this and forgetting was interesting.
Problem is I am not a fan of basketball so that was not interesting for me to read. I didn't feel the characters were real which was hard to connect to them and care when all picked off. I could tell no difference from the teenage pov and the cops pov. It also felt like we never fully went with the legend, the history, and the towns parts. If that had been developed more I would have give this book top ratings.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for providing me with an Advance Reader Copy of Daphne.

Josh Malerman is a talented writer, but for some reason the three novels of his that I have read so far have not satisfied my expectations.

I enjoyed Daphne more than Bird Box, but the pacing was a bit too slow for me until the final act, and I didn't really relate to any of the characters.

Daphne is a slasher/local legend novel that borders on YA territory, but with a few gruesome scenes that probably shouldn't be read by young adults.

This is ultimately a novel about anxiety, mixed with love letter to the game of basketball.

This is not a bad book, but I doubt it will stick with me.

“Will Daphne kill me?”. The urban legend of Daphne starts by mentioning her then thinking of her summons her. As Kits basketball team begins being murdered is it the ghost or something much more sinister. This has to be my favorite since birdbox of his and was a thrilling ride that keeps you guessing till the end. Big thanks to Goodreads and Random House/DelRay for the ARC
4.5/5⭐️

This started off strong. Malerman has a way of writing that keeps a fast pace. But then somehow it quickly slowed for me. I felt there were too many unnecessary details that slowed the pace. I couldn't decide if this was YA or not because of the youthful parts but mixed with the dark parts. I loved the other books by Malerman that I've read but wasn't a fan of this one.

You know how when someone tells you "don't think about a pink elephant," you instantly think about a pink elephant?

Well, for Kit--buzzer beater star of the girl's basketball team--the pink elephant is Daphne. Once someone tells her not to think about Samhattan's unspoken urban legend, she just cannot stop. Only problem is... thinking about Daphne is deadly. And once Daphne is summoned, bloodshed is soon to follow.

A blend of It Follows, Candyman, and Malerman's unique supernatural horror, Daphne is a coming of age story about ghosts, anxiety, trauma, and basketball. Daphne is as heart wrenching as it is frightening, with honesty descriptions of anxiety attacks, intrusive thoughts, and the vast unknowing void of being a child on the precipice of what's to come.

Malerman is doing for small Michigan towns what Stephen King did for Maine, and I'm incredibly excited for how it all evolves.

This is a tough one to review. It took a long time to get into this one and I don’t think I ever really connected with the characters as a result. The idea/story line of a myth come to life was really cool and I did like the actual reveal of it as well - totally spooky and really classic too.

Also - the NIN Pretty Hate Machine panic attack was pretty rad -one of my all time fav albums (even if I don’t get how it could have inspired her to think: I can do anything? Has the author listed to these songs? I grew up listening to that music in the 90s and it’s hard to imagine that reaction for me).

Overall, great idea, but unfortunately I didn’t connect with the story and it didn’t really pick up for almost half the book but the ending was good.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for a review copy!

"Daphne" seemed to be disjointed to me. Characters and dialog were difficult to follow and keep track of who was saying what, and the story seemed to jump between scenes/locations without much indication. The story was interesting, but the style made it hard to keep up with.

Malerman has got to be one of the most uneven authors working in genre right now. At least, that’s’ been my experience with reading him and I’ve read just about all he’s ever written.
The man peaked with Inspection and Mad Black Wheel and steadily though variedly disappointed with most of the rest.
Thing is, I like his writing enough to just download his books off of Netgalley on name recognition alone, but now it’ll have to change. I’m gonna have to actually read the plot summaries. Because had I read the plot summary for this one, I wouldn’t have been so put off by being stuck with a YA book about basketball playing teens with anxiety.
And so, Daphne might be the Malerman’s most disappointing one yet.
Sure, it’s great that he gets to write about things he loves (basketball) and things he lives with (anxiety), but that just isn’t enough for a good book. And also, WHY THE F isn’t there a YA label on it? Because one can make more money by peddling it as a coming-of-age story, that’s why.
That’s also cheating. For this book, anyway. I’ve read plenty of coming-of-age stories perfectly geared for adult audiences. This one is geared for kids. Kids like the kids in the book, a bunch of fourteen-year-olds.
The structure of the book the writing, the short sentences and simple logistics, the angst and overall tone – it’s all YA. As in strategically dumbed down for undercooked minds.
Oh yeah, here’s the plot…a bunch of basketball loving kids or ballers in a small town are dealing with the possibility of an urban legend of Daphne (a seven-foot-tall denim clad local weirdo) coming to life to take her revenge. Is it something spooky and supernatural or a serial killer sort of thing? Well, read and find out. The book is, at least, short and because it’s YA, it’s easy and quick to read. Should you read it though? That’s another question altogether.
This one appears to have gathered quite a lot of good reviews on GR so far, so mine is a minority opinion, but there it is. You’ve been warned, readers. Thanks Netgalley.

What do you do when someone tells you not to think about something? Your brain automatically conjures up an image, a memory - something. If you think of Daphne, she’ll come.

Holy crap. Holy holy holy crap. This book absolutely blew me away. Following a basketball team in a small town, that like many small towns, holds a dark and disturbing secret. Daphne. A girl who was murdered for being different. No one speaks of her or even remembers her, until the basketball team has a sleepover and one of the girls tells the urban legend of what happened to the seven foot tall female dressed all in denim. Whenever the entire team start thinking of her, shit goes down.

I loved this book. It was gory, dark and disturbing and I couldn’t put it down. One of my favorite reads of the year.

Josh Malerman know how to write a unique and riveting horror novel! I devoured this one! Couldn't put it down and didn't even want to! I stayed up late to finish and boy am I glad I did! This is going to be the perfect pre-Halloween read! I highly recommend it!

Daphne is set in the same fictional universe as Goblin. Characters in the story make several references to the town Malerman fans became acquainted with last year. The two books, while very different structurally, bear a strong resemblance to each other in their content.

Goblin was a story composed of seemingly unrelated novellas that came together in the end, whereas Daphne comprises a series of seemingly unrelated character interactions interrupted by bizarre death scenes. The writing is just nowhere near as sophisticated or as effective as the author's best work in books like Inspection or Bird Box. While Pearl is suffused with B-movie flavor, it's still a clarion call compared to this muddled groan.

Tying together mental health awareness and a strange variety of horror movie tropes, Malerman fails to shed light on either realm, though the Author's Note at the end is as entertaining and interesting as anything in the novel. From a story about a town that collectively forgot one of its most notorious residents, you'll find yourself trying to forget Daphne, too.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF.

I’ve been looking forward to this book the moment I found out about it. Unfortunately this didn’t work for me, I found the writing style very odd. It became a chore just to read this, it’s very slow paced and they mention the name daphne so many times I wanted to yell.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Don't think about Daphne. If you think about her too much...she comes for you. Just ask the Samhattan High School girls' basketball team.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy reading "Daphne". I am a fan of Josh Malerman's work, but struggled with this one . While there is a creepiness factor that is sure to be enjoyed by many, especially lovers of urban legends, this particular book wasn't for me. I found the dialogue distracting and the pacing too slow.

If you are a basketball fan, who also enjoys horror flicks, think a female Freddy Krueger, you will enjoy "Daphne".

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an objective review.

It’s hard to write a book review for Daphne [Del Rey Books, August 23, 2022] when you’re trying hard not to think about Daphne.

In Malerman’s [Bird Box] latest, a ghost story shared amongst team members of the high school basketball team reignites old terrors when a name that’s not supposed to be spoken—much less thought—suddenly becomes top of everyone’s mind. Not only has Kit Lamb's small hometown been home to one serial killer, but two. Decades ago, a seven-foot-tall, denim-wearing Daphne abducted and ate children. She was eventually killed, but like so much else surrounding Daphne, it’s hard to know exactly the who or what or why of her story, because the town seems to have collectively forced themselves to forget her. Of course, like any good creep show, Daphne attracted her fans—both the wacky kind and those scarily devout—but to summon the monster back from its crypt takes a very special kind of thinker: a baller.

But for as much as Daphne is a unique, killer slasher story (and it is, with all trimmings!), what makes Malerman’s newest so very Malerman is that he uses the monster’s core trick—that thinking about Daphne summons Daphne, and how the hell does one not think about the thing that they’re not supposed to be thinking about—as an opportunity to make the story as much about surviving an un-defeatable killer as it is coping with the real-life perils of anxiety. Here, then, Daphne is as much a monster of lore as it is the very real terror that boils under the skin—after all, no one really ever escapes anxiety, we just learn how to manage it, cope with it, and find a way to go on knowing it’s always waiting for us in the shadows. Here, the titular character of Daphne is as much a monster as a moniker. She/it is unavoidable. She/it is unstoppable. She/it lives, for lack of better word, in the deepest, darkest corners of our minds, lingering at the edges of our thoughts, waiting to be remembered. Malerman gives shape to our anxieties, molding them into a looming monster, while simultaneously giving us the recipe for survival: face your fears head on.

One last thought about Daphne is that the book is fiercely female, with no male characters of note. From the all-girls basketball team, to the investigating officer and the town’s sheriff, to Daphne’s victims then and now (and, of course, Daphne herself), Malerman lets the ladies lead.

For someone that’s not supposed to be thought about, Daphne is a book that will stick in your mind long after the pages are finished. She’s waiting, she’s watching, but it’s no longer the rim that determines our fate—it’s us.

I cannot wait to recommend this one for Halloween! Reading it in the summer was a blast, but the September release date is perfect to capture the perfect mood for a slasher. As always, I love Malerman’s writing style. It has a unique charm that makes pages fly by and ingratiates the reader to the characters through quirks and small details. The character development was impeccable and the plot was just the right balance of wildly weird and heartpumpingly engrossing. This is modern horror at its best. It’s an easy 5 stars for me!

A love letter to basketball and horror with a big dose of questionable mental health makes for a pretty compelling story in this novel. I loved the constant sense of not being sure what was real and what was in people's heads and the use of Kit's journaling to get different perspectives.

The small town feel of a killer haunting Samhattan was very well done and there were plenty of misdirected surprises to keep you guessing until the end.

Very well done and enjoyable, overall.

Daphne, by Josh Malerman, is a gruesome ghost story that centers on the small town myth of a monstrous seven foot tall woman, clad in denim, that reeks of whiskey and cigarettes. The town of Samhatten have all forgotten Daphne, repressed her story; but soon, her memory pervades the minds of those who hear her name. The high school girls’ basketball team begin dying grisly, horrific deaths, one by one. Kit, already plagued by her own anxiety, knows Daphne is coming for her, because to think of Daphne is to die.

A slow start with killer payoff.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I can’t think of where to start with this one, there are so many thoughts swirling in my head. Malerman brings the creep factor big time, with the ever-looming specter of a ghost who comes to you when you think of her. Brings the gore to an insane level. Brings a sleepy town urban legend feel. It’s like all the best parts of It Follows, Nightmare on Elm Street, and more. Hugely entertaining and nail-biting read.

As a fan of Malerman I was let down by this one. The biggest issue I had was the dialogue. The characters speak like no one I've ever interacted with. The book also has a manic way of switching characters who all run together. The overall story seems to have potential, but the book reads like someone pitched it and had a week to write it. It just doesn't seem to all fit together.

Daphne

[Blurb goes here]

Samhattan's high school basketball team is being terrorized by an idea. A seven foot tall, monster of an idea. When I first read the description, specially the "reimagining of the slasher genre" part, I thought to myself "well, Malerman kind of did that with 'Pearl', (although, technically, not a slasher)...so what's new?". Everything was. When you think about Jason Voorhees' back story or Michael Myers' for that matter, both are a bit simplistic. Daphne's? A completely different beast. As the story progresses, you learn more and more about her. Was her death an accident? Was it premeditated? Did she deserved it? Is she on a revenge spree? And while you're getting to know Daphne, you get to know the young women she's relentlessly killing. Oh! And Daphne doesn't need a machete, not even a knife. Daphne can bash your head in with a punch. She's that strong. But that's not the best part of the book, not even close. You get to go into the minds of Daphne's future victims. They're not the usual faceless (and clueless) lot. These are living, breathing human beings. Each knowing that Daphne is coming, each knowing they could be next, turning this horror story into a psychological thriller. One that gives you an in depth dive into the minds of the girls that wished they never heard Daphne's little horror story, that one time, during a slumber party.

This is one book you'll find hard to put down. And yes, in my opinion, Malerman did reimagine the slasher genre. Can't wait for the...movie? Series?...one can only hope.

Thank you for the free copy!