If you are a fan of Stephen King’s IT, you will love this book. It’s a very similar story with kids stumbling on something darker then they thought it would be, then having to come back to face it as adults. Instead of a clown, it’s a magician. But it’s just as scary.
Black Mouth definitely took me back to old school King books. I loved the rural back woods setting of Black Mouth. It’s a dying town with a haunting history with legends that lurk in the woods. Why these kids ever hung out in the woods is beyond me. They were asking for trouble.
The Magician adds to the supernatural, creepy aspect of the story. He is everything in this book. The children worshipped him, and feared him as adults. I pictured him as a gaunt and creepy William Defoe.
The suspense and thrills ebbs and flows throughout the book. There is a lot of time spent on character development, which was important. To understand the demons that plagued the adults, you needed to see their childhood. There is definitely grooming, child abuse, and bullying.
I actually listened to this book, and loved it. I’m not sure I could have read it any other way. It’s more of a immersive experience hearing the voice of the Magician and the children. At times it was quite eerie. The narrator nailed it.
I really recommend this book if you’re looking for a book with a solid story, written by someone who isn’t trying to meet a word count. Malfi put a lot into this book, and it shows. He is a master story teller.

This is new book to read for anyone who loved coming of age stories. Reviewers are comparing this one to IT by Stephen King but personally I found it more comparable to Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury .

This book had a slower start for me, but it picked up once the nostalgic narrative voice kicked in. I enjoyed those elements as the main character reflected back on the past.

This story was good, but it just did not feel completely special or new. I have read and loved most of Malfi's backlist so I know what he is capable of writing. This just felt a bit underwhelming and perhaps a bit too derivative. I liked this one, but I wanted to love it.

I wouldn't still recommend this one to any fellow Ronald Malfi fans along with readers always looking for new coming of age narratives.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I listened to this audiobook on our road trip and I absolutely loved it! This was such an atmospheric, spooky story. I freaking love his writing style. It is so vivid and really pulls you in. There are themes of child abuse, manipulation, bullying, and addiction and all of them were handled with perfection. It felt like the author had personally been a victim of all of them with the raw, honest way they were presented.

The characters were all well-developed and relatable. It was as much focused on the characters' development as the plot. The past and present timelines were weaved together perfectly and the smaller tidbits of information and the larger mystery reveals were timed flawlessly.

The ending was action-packed and thorough. No stones were left unturned in this, and loose ends were tied up that I even forgot about. I drove around slowly toward the end of our trip to finish this because I didn't want to stop listening. Now that's sign of a great book! I highly recommend this to all horror fans.

Thank you to @netgalley @titanbooks and @tantoraudio for the gifted copies in exchange for an honest review!

Black Mouth is an ok story. Not what I expected from reading the synopsis. The writing is very good as is the character development. The plot leaves something to be desired. While I enjoyed listening, it wouldn't be a title I recommend to others. The narrator was fantastic.

I drive a lot for work so audiobooks are a huge must for me. This is my second book from him I loved Come with me so when I got approved for this audio I was excited! This is definitely a dark and gritty kind of horror with all sorts of triggers that may be a bit sensitive to some readers. It is a creepy page turner for me it was a I was looking forward to each next minute while listening. He always develops his characters so well I end up loving them as if I knew them personally. It was a bit long winded if anything to me I found some repetition which kind of bummed me out here and there is okay but this did it a bit more often. Over all though it was a great listen!

My first Ronald Malfi read. I really enjoyed this book. As someone who loves Stephen King, this was awesome. It very much gave me Stephen King vibes. These characters are so dynamic and the plot truly was amazing. This is a must-read for fans of horror!! So creepy and so so good. Would definitely recommend!

I love most things written by Ronalid Malfi but this one fell short of the mark for me. The MC was a hot mess and, while I understand the depths of despair he was in, it sort of made for less then an empathetic plight.

This book was a fun thriller reminiscent of Kings It. Fate brings a group of childhood friends back together to their hometown. Coincidentally a murder occurs that is reminiscent of the events that happened to them during their youth. A recent sighting of the mysterious stranger, the “Magician,” leads them to relive memories and face the demons that haunt their lives as adults. As kids they were so desperate to learn the magicians tricks that they became obsessed until something terrible happened leaving them feeling guilty and broken. Now as adults they have a chance to stop him from hurting anyone else.

Black Mouth was gritty and compelling. The characters were flawed but I rooted for them anyway!. It had a nice twist in the story that I didn’t expect. The narration was done well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #BlackMouth #RonaldMalfi

4 🌟

Black Mouth 3.5/5⭐️

“Because friendship, too, is a certain kind of magic.”

This book follows the story of 2 brothers and their 2 childhood best friends. As kids they meet a “Magic Man” living in the woods who convinces them they can have magic, too, if they commit a vile crime. As adults, they come together when the same chain of events start to happen. They soon realize this Magic Man has influenced children from many different small towns like theirs over decades. How can this be, and what does he want? I really liked these characters, and how much they cared for each other. I liked how this story reminds you that it isn’t just the monsters in the dark that you should be afraid of. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Black Mouth is an absolutely incredible story of four friends who meet a strange man, who calls himself The Magician, in the woods near their home. He entertains them with magic tricks, earns their trust, and then influences them to commit a heinous act, one that still impacts them into adulthood.

Jamie Warren is an alcoholic, just like his father, floating through life unable to cope with his past transgressions. He receives a call from Black Mouth, his childhood home, that his mother has died and he needs to get his brother, Dennis. Jamie has vowed never to return to his childhood home, but now he has no choice.

Mia Tomasina was with Jamie on that fateful day in the woods. She has used her past to catapult her into some fame as a moviemaker of horror films. She stops by a carnival one afternoon and sees him, The Magician. She manages to snap a picture and contacts Jamie and their mutual friend, Clay Willis, wanting to seek revenge.

Clay, now a social worker helping kids who suffer from trauma, initially wants to ignore the email from Mia that appears on his screen, but decides to open it anyway to find the picture she snapped of The Magician. He decides to do some investigating and finds current cases of children describing the same situation he and his friends were in as kids. He decides they need to help end the terror The Magician spreads.

The three friends, and Dennis, follow the trail of the strange man and begin to notice that Dennis has some sort of connection to what is going on.

This is an impeccably written coming-of-age book that takes the reader on a twisted journey of terror. Malfi creates an atmospheric read with intense characters that bring out all sorts of emotions. It is an engrossing story made even moreso as I listened to Joe Hempel narrate the audiobook. His different tones for each character and his ability to incorporate sound effects into his storytelling make the scenes come to life and creates a vivid listening experience.

I highly recommend that you pick this one up in book or audio form.

"Black Mouth" is the second Ronald Malfi book I've read, the other being "Come With Me." What struck me with both of these books is what an effortless storyteller Malfi is. His words pour forward with apparent ease. There is no indication that the author is ever trying hard to impress the reader with his words or be overly poetic, verbose, or flowery. His prose is completely natural, which is what makes his writing infinitely readable.

Like Stephen King, Malfi excels at creating realistic, relatable characters that you find yourself caring for. Combine this with Malfi's rich detail (which always serves the story and avoids King's penchant for overextending a book's length beyond what is necessary and trying his readers' patience) and ear for believable dialog, and you are left with a book that is always interesting, quite frequently riveting, and never overstaying its welcome.

"Black Mouth" is not scary. It is frequently eerie and creepy, and any passages where the Magician is present is rife with tension. And while I cared quite a bit for Malfi's quartet of heroes, I did not often feel tension for them or fear for their fates, and when the plot of the book took a turn toward the cosmic near the end, I felt any remaining tension completely deflate from the story. Perhaps this is my own personal hang-up and not a flaw with the book itself, but any time a story based largely in reality takes a turn for the other-worldly, I do find myself struggling to remain invested. But I must mention that while the book never felt scary to me, it was successful in eliciting other emotions, namely nostalgia, regret, and heartbreak.

Having said all that, I do recommend "Black Mouth" for fans of horror, as Malfi is proving to be one of the genre's best modern voices. I firmly believe his best work is still yet to come, especially once he lands on a plot that is truly worthy of his storytelling prowess, and based on the strength of the writing of "Black Mouth" and "Come With Me," I plan to read all of Malfi's past work in time. The audio version of "Black Mouth" was provided free to me by NetGally in exchange for my honest review, but I plan to purchase the book in paperback for my own collection.

I love the cover. I also very much liked the plot idea of a town with a lot of urban legends surrounding the mines that used to operate there. It is definitely creepy, and I was very quickly drawn into the story. It's hard not to be drawn in with a slightly spooky and manipulative magician. It had an "It" by Stephen King feel to it with four friends, Jamie, Dennis, Clay and Mia being brought back together to their home town to fight their demons together after years apart. It was a very fun listen but I felt rather predictable. Dennis was probably my favorite character and I really liked to see his development throughout the story. The ending of this book was a little bit of a let down for me. It left me wondering if the creepiness was real or if it was just Jamie's alcohol addiction talking. I would really liked for it to have been the creepy (without the hippo; that part was weird). Overall a fun listen. The narrator for this audiobook is fantastic!

Thank you Netgalley and Tantor Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! This book was great! I have to start by saying that Stephen King's It is, by far, my favorite book of all time. I've read it six times and listened to the audiobook twice. I know that book so well that I could probably recite the outline of it from memory. With all that said, this book had some HUGE shoes to fill and by George Martha, it filled those shoes well. I was instantly attracted to this book from the synopsis alone because of it's similarities to It, but I've got to say, despite having a lot in common (childhood friends that lost touch being summoned to the town they left to battle a monster from their childhood), this book definitely held it's own. I was a little afraid that I would essentially be reading It fan-fiction, but it wasn't. This was a well written genre bending horror/sci fi/fantasy that was a joy to listen to.

I've not read anything from Ronald Malfi in the past and I'm really glad I stumbled upon this book, having found a new author to explore.

I give this an enthusiastic 4.25 stars. I would recommend this to anyone who likes horror. As a matter of fact, I have already recommended it to my daughter who is as big of a King fan as me. Great book. Great narration. Great characters. Loved it!

I'm very new to horror, but I really enjoyed this. We follow Jamie Warren, who has been haunted for most of his life by something that happened in his childhood. This causes him to turn to alcohol, with many stints in rehab. His childhood town is called Black Mouth, because of a mine nearby that collapsed. All of the children in Black Mouth are shunned by the rest of the people.

When Jamie and his friends are children, they meet a magician who offers to teach them magic. But events do not end well and the children all eventually leave Black Mouth. Jamie leaves behind his disabled brother Dennis, and his mother.

Decades later, Jamie and two of his childhood friends are drawn back home to Black Mouth where they have to confront everything that happened years ago.

Now the storyline in this is not exactly original, and you can probably find many stories that have similar themes. But this is so well-written and I just really enjoyed it. So creepy and scary.

Thank you netgalley and Tantor Audio for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The summary says this book is comparable to Stephen King and I must agree I totally get an It vibe what is different enough to be amazing on it’s own merit. With a great narrator and an awesome story the plot will bring three childhood friends together to defeat a magical homeless man who convinces children to do unspeakable things after convincing them he will make it all right again. I loved this book I felt so sorry for Molly and clay I must say was my favorite character. although Jamie and Mia Thomicia were great also. This book was so good and there’s so many great aspects to it but I don’t want to give anything away because the ending is really an OMG moment that will have you wanting to start it over. There is something great about horror stories that are intelligently written and don’t depend on jump scares to get to their audience and that is exactly the vibe in black mouth. I can only hope there’s more books by the Sauthor. I truly enjoyed this book and didn’t even realize it was 14 hours long until I was done. I can’t say how great the story was you’ll just have to read it for yourself. I received this book from NetGalley in the publisher and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

An audio- ARC copy was sent to me from Titan Books via Netgalley. So big thank you to them! All opinions are my own.

First off, I want to say what a fantastic job the narrator did. Every single character had their own voices which made it so much easier to differentiate the characters. He did an especially fantastic job with Dennis! I will by looking for more audiobooks narroted by this narrator.
About the book though... This was my first Ronald Malfi book. So I was so excited to get a copy to read and review. And although this one wasn't one for me personally, I can see why so many people are raving about it and love it so much.
The comparison of IT is spot on. I could also see a little bit of Dream Catcher mixed in. I think that was mainly due to Dennis. He reminded me a lot of the main character from Dream Catcher (I can remember his name at the moment. It's been too long) So if you're a fan of Stephen King or a fan of the "little kids fighting evil and growing up and going back to fight the evil again" trope, I HIGHLY recommend this one.
And as long as we are on the topics of characters.... Wow! The characters were SO well fleshed out. They were each very personable and three dimensional. You really end up loving these morally Grey characters by the end of this book. Which was refreshing to see. Even the villain in this book was very three dimensional and so so creepy. Every scene with him made it very unsettling and uncomfortable. What a creeper!
As a side note, people should note that there are a LOT of triggers in this. Including grooming, abuse, addiction, graphic and gore scenes and even animal cruelty. So please know that going in and trad lightly...
On a different note though, the plot... I personally found the plot kind of unoriginal and wasn't necessarily thrilled or excited at any point through the book. Simply because I've seen it before. The only new aspect that kept things interesting for me was the Magician Villian. I really wish there were more scenes with him. Or even more scenes from his perspective. But that ending though!! That really did a lot for me and ended up saving a lot of the book for me. It both kept me at the edge of my seat and broke my heart.. well done! The writting in its entirely was well done.
Ultimately, I just felt like something was missing.
This is one of those books that I know there's not necessarily anything wrong with this book. It's actually objectively a good book. It was just lack luster for me. There's something about it that had something missing and I can't put my finger on it. However I know I am in the minority with this one. So please don't let this review deter you. So many people love this one. And that love is well deserved. So if this one sounds interesting to you, if you like it, if you like the children fighting evil as adults trope, if you like STEPHEN KING! I do actually recommend giving this a try.:) I know that I personally will be giving this author another chance.
In my heart this is 3 star. But objectively it's a 4. And since this is a review and not a book I was reading purely for enjoyment, I'm going to rate it at 4 stars! :)

Everyone likes a magic don’t they? A little deception, a little slight of hand? Well how far would you go to advance from trickery to actual magic?
In BLACK MOUTH, outcast friends Jamie, Mia, Clay and Jamie’s disabled younger Dennis befriend a guy living in the woods who is just known as the Magician.
Years later the friends reunite when there are signs that the Magician has returned, seemingly without aging. Reports of children murdering their friends may also be connected.
This coming of age story about people you can believe it. These kids don’t grow up to be the best in their fields. They grow up to be an alcoholic, a small time movie maker, and a social worker all brought together by the lovable Dennis.
Malfi nails this one. Extremely compelling and full of emotion.

One summer, four friends encounter evil in the woods near an abandoned coal mine. He calls himself the magician and offers to teach them powerful magic, but it comes with a price. Decades later, the friends, now adults, live with the scars of that long ago summer. And the return of the magician draws them back to their old hometown, and all of the ghosts there.

Black Mouth is an atmospheric, spooky coming of age perfect for fans of Stephen Kind. The characters are well developed and the tension builds as more truths about their past are uncovered.

4.5⭐️
Fantastic read! I hope this horror, mystery thriller is made into a movie. I chose to listen to this book on audio and It was narrated by Joe Hempel. He was perfect and I could see everything clearly in my head. It had a crazy and for a lack of a better word unkept feel to it. The story was interesting and I really liked the plot. I’m not a huge fan of horror but I really liked this one.
I highly recommend if you like Stephen King.
Thanks Tantor Audio via NetGalley.

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️🌛
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Thankyou #netgalley #ronaldmaf #tantoraudio for the audio copy of this book for a honest review.
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This is a second book I have read so far to this author. Again, his writing is very slow paced .
In this book, it’s longer that it should have been. A lot of mishaps because he ronald want it be longer but doesn’t add up.
There are some that it’s been a first up to third person writing style,which for some are great but not for me.
Way back the story of someone taking care of the characters, one special needs too.
Sci-fi effect horror ,slow paced .
Nearly DNF but finished it with a strong ending. Never disappoint.


❤️Shaye.reads