Four novellas linked by themes of writers, books, manuscripts, and stories. Held to those themes very well thought with mixed results across the four installments.

While I enjoyed all four for the horror stories that they were, only one made me question the author's stylistic choices. "This Book Belongs to Olo" faltered a bit for me, as the bouncing POV narrative often failed to match the character through whom we were experiencing the story (adjectives and comparisons totally in contrast with the character to whom they were attributed). As that's my biggest complaint among the four tales, I'll round up the rank and give this five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the advance audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #ghostwritten #booksonbooks

GHOSTWRITTEN by @ronaldmalfi is a compilation of four short horror stories that all involve spooky books so I would say this is the perfect #spookyseason #bookstagram book! Thank you to @netgalley and @tantoraudio for the Audio-ARC.

The four stories in this book were THE SKIN OF HER TEETH, THE DARK BROTHER'S LAST RIDE, THIS BOOK BELONGS TO OLO, and THE STORY. I found all four of them to be unsettling but THE SKIN OF HER TEETH (evil book curses those who gain possession of it) and THIS BOOK BELONGS TO OLO (a creepy kid wields uncanny control using a pop-up book) were definitely my favorites!

Books have always contained mystery and magic to me so it is no far stretch for me to believe that especially older books may have sordid pasts! The idea that a book could affect your life in such a negatively powerful way is very juxtaposed to the overwhelming love and joy I have gotten from books over the years too which is an interesting twist.

I really enjoy Ronald Malfi's work and he is one of the reasons I got into the horror genre (fun fact!). WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE was my first Malfi title which I would still highly recommend along with BONE WHITE, THE NIGHT PARADE, and BLACK MOUTH (which also came out this year and I have yet to review on here). He has plenty more that I have never read as well so let me know if you have a favorite outside the ones I have mentioned.

I love everything Mr. Malfi wrote and this is no exception! Four horror stories based on "found" materials. So good! Grab your audi version for creepy Halloween story time!

A book about the power of words and the books created with them. Sounds some,even dull, but Ronald Malfi has written a book of 4 novellas that are anything BUT dull.
A manuscript that refuses to be edited or changed, a story that changes itself and you as you pick a path for it to go. Pure genius,all of them and I am now officially a fan of Ronald Malfi!
Highly recommend!
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audiobook ARC!

The four novellas that make up Ghostwritten are quite entertaining - and may hit a little too close to home for those of us who spend most of our free time immersed in at least one book. I especially enjoyed the last novella, The Story, which had the most fascinating plot and setting, in my opinion. But they are all worth the read!

I definitely enjoyed this audiobook!

It has creepy stories about books. I do however think some of the stories were better than others (the second and fourth), but they added a little spook to my day on the way to work.

Definitely not scary by any means, but mysterious just in time for Halloween.

My first try at an audiobook and I was quite hooked on it ! I love Ronald Malfi and his style and Joe Hempel is an amazing narrator !

As a book, it was a good book. A nice creepy read for Halloween season. The characters are good and the rythm, for most stories, is great. Now individually :

1. The Skin of her teeth
Was a good "read" I'd say. I definitely wanted to know, what was going on behind that book and it's cursed story, but I wouldn't put it as my favorite. The main character did annoy me. But the ending was a good ending and and unexpected one

2. The Dark Brothers Last Ride
This one was goood, even great, until it became too long and I wasn't focusin so much anymore. I loved the creepiness of the ride and good characters.

3. This Book belongs to Olo
Oh this one. This one creeped me out and it creeped me out good.

4. The Story
Is the one that made the book loose a whole star by itself. I had no idea what was going on, it was hard staying engaged and focused. I wasn't interested by it towards the middle of it.

I'd recommend the read anyway, because it is good.

I absolutely loved the four novellas in this title. While they share a common theme of books, each story was completely unique and captivating. Malfi, the author, is obviously a talented writer and I am interested in reading more of his work in the future. I highly recommend this book to others who enjoy horror fiction.

This is a good anthology of four horror novels that all revolve around books in some way. It can be an actual book, a story, or manuscript but what all the stories have in common is that they are creepy!
There are four stories in this book and I’m going to tell you very little about them so I don’t ruin the spookiness of each one.
The Skin of Her Teeth is the first book and it has something to do with a book that drives people to their deaths in a very unique way. The second is called The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride and this was my least favorite. It’s about a delivery job that doesn’t go quite as expected. Saying this is my least favorite isn’t a bad thing considering I liked them all. The third story is called This Book Belongs to Olo. This one is about a child who is rather lonely and who has a strange little book. The third is called The Story and this one was so much fun. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure story but that is nothing at all, thankfully, like those I read in my teen years.
This book is so good. If you are looking for some short creepy stories you’ll likely enjoy this one.
If you get the chance to listen to the audio book go for it. The narrator is the same through all the stories but he does a great job of bringing them to life.

Ghostwritten is a collection of 4 #horrornovella each based on a screenplay, a book, a pop-up book or an online interactive story.

These are dark, scary stories revolving around the idea of cursed books. I am a Malfi fan. I love his realistic dialogue, his deft character development and his ability to build tension. In each story, his MC is varied, a middle-aged agent, a junior high baseball player, a young criminal and a lonely journalist. And each MC struggles to understand the book that ends up destroying their lives.

The theme is GREAT for book lovers, the stories are GREAT for horror lovers and the writing is GREAT for anyone who appreciates a well-told tale.

"Four brand-new horror novellas from "a modern-day Algernon Blackwood" all about books, stories, manuscripts-the written word has never had sharper teeth . . . BOOKS CAN BE DEADLY In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths. A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers' Last Ride. In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book. A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story. Full of creepy suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King, and Joe Hill."

I absolutely love Ronald Malfi's writing. His stories are well written, creative, and the characters are well fleshed out. Ghostwritten is no exception. This is a collection of four novellas with the theme of cursed/haunted books. Each of the stories are quite original, with both elements of mystery and horror leaving the reader completely engaged and a little spooked. As someone who loves books, I really enjoyed that the true horror in these stories were the books themselves.
With each story approximately 100 pages long, this is the perfect book for the reader that doesn't want to spend too much time in a spooky book.
Great novella collection!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for this audiobook.
On Sale Now.

I loved that this was 4 different stories in 1 I will be picking this up as a book since the last one is a choose ur own story type of book thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook

I'll admit I was a little disappointed in this one. I am still definitely going to read from Malfi, but this particular collection just wasn't for me --- But I can DEFINITELY see why others enjoy it.

1) The first story - Skin of Her Teeth - a no from me. I didn't enjoy this one at all. The main character was an idiot and I felt like the story could've been executed much better.

2) The Dark Brothers' Last Ride - I enjoyed this one more than the first, but it took too long to gain my interest. The most interesting part was the end.

3) The Book Belongs to Olo - This was the best one in the collection for me. The most creepy and interesting for me as it felt like it had a bit of fantasy. But, I wanted MORE from it.

4) The Story - I liked the concept but it just wasn't giving what I needed from it in terms of the unsettling feeling. I wanted more details about the tech and journey.

I just don't think books about haunted items/books are for me. While the settings were well done, I feel like the stories just weren't real enough for me, if that makes sense? Too predictable, and I was generally uninterested except for one story.

Narrators were great, but the pacing and overall execution wasn't what I expected. 2.5/5

Four novellas brought together under a common theme of cursed books, a reader’s nightmare to be sure.
 
Overall I really enjoyed these works, and it’s always nice to get a break from my normal longer reads. This also acts as primer to the authors style giving you short glimpses of his work, to let you know if you’d enjoy his longer works, which I personally do.
While these are good horror, what I think Malfi does the best in these is showcase his ability to create believable characters in a very limited number of pages.
Please check trigger warnings before proceeding, this is good idea in general, but anything horror related that should be a given.
The narration is provided by Joe Hempel who I believe has done a fantastic job bringing these stories to life, helping to build the worlds that can be limited by the brevity of novellas. I listened at 1.4X and that seemed to be a good speed for me*
*I almost always listen to books somewhere in the 1.3-1.7x range depending on the narrators.
--
The Skin of Her Teeth
This story follows a literary agent, Gloria Grossman, her client has apparently gone off the rails while adapting a popular book for the screen. He claims that the book is possessed and is out to get him for trying to change it…and he might just be right.
This was a fun read that packs a lot into a short story, the characters are likeable and the plot is interesting. It has a surprisingly thorough ending for a novella that I enjoyed.
---
The Dark Brothers Last Ride
Centering on a pair of brothers that must deliver a mysterious book inside a locked case along a unique path along with some simple rules: Follow the map exactly; Don’t open the case; Don’t touch what’s inside; Ignore anyone asking about it;
It made for really fun American gothic roadtrip. It’s a gritty road story with a limited number of characters that revs up your anxiety on every page as you know there is something wrong but can’t quite see what it is. The ending does feel somewhat abrupt but not all together unexpected.
This story kept me turning the pages. It feels manic even dreamlike at times definitely kept me invested.
 ---
This Book Belongs to Olo 
This is the story that the cover is based on, and yes it’s about a creepy kid in a clown mask. Olo is a nine-year-old rich kid who largely lives in isolation from other children but as he approaches his tenth birthday he concocts a plan to change that and make some friends by hosting a birthday party that promises great surprises, fun, & prizes, with the largest prize going to whomever wins his favorite game Hide and Seek. Olo also has a special pop-up book that he’s meticulously crafted to mirror his own home and he can’t wait to show it to his friends.
This story is a claustrophobic portal fantasy story ; it was creepy from page one in the best ways. Malfi does a really good job or making us feel sympathy for the character as well as creeped out by him. Even though this one telegraphs it’s direction more than the others it’s still really engaging and sure to leave you with some nightmares. While I think some of the scenes could have been abbreviated or cut, I never felt bored with it. The tale leaves us pondering several questions at the end, that make you wonder if it is truly the end.
---
The Story 
This is basically if choose our own adventure books were hosted on the dark web and came true except they are all horror with no guarantee of a happy ending.
This was unsettling in that if you were adjacent to these characters you couldn’t understand what was happening to them, and if you did you may be sucked into a similar madness. Malfi does a good job of articulating the discomfort of loss and trying to understand the why of it and how that can create darker paths 
This wasn’t my favorite of the bunch, but it was still engaging.
 
Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this work. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an Honest Review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of my review

I didn't realize that Ghostwritten was a collection of four novelettes instead of a novel until I started the book. Normally, I shy away from collections and short stories because I have a hard time shifting gears when the mood, location and characters keep changing within the same book. But that being said, Ronald Malfi is one of my favorite writers and I'll always read everything he puts out. The theme of stories in Ghostwritten is of course, books.

The Skin of her Teeth is about a horrible book and screenplay that is quite sentient...and evil.

The Dark Brothers' Last Ride is the story of two hoods who are tasked to deliver a mysterious book in a locked briefcase cross-country, no questions asked. Will they make it ?

This Book Belongs to Olo is about a weird, lonely little boy that has a special, homemade pop-up book that enables him to do the unthinkable.

The Story is a tale about an interactive, deadly version of one of those kiddie Choose Your Own Adventure books. This ain't no children's book, folks. It's on all your electronic devices and it won't stop until it has you. This one got to me. Eerie as hell.

I really dug Ghostwritten, I'd grab it if I were you.

Joe Hempel narrates the audio book version of this book and he does a stellar job as always. A++

I'm a little late with this one. Ronald Malfi is quickly becoming a favorite.

This features 4 new novellas - The Skin of Her Teeth, The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride, This Book Belongs to Olo, and The Story.

The Skin of Her Teeth is about a screenplay writer who has disappeared just when his script is due. But there's a reason he doesn't want the script to be seen..

In The Dark Brother's Last Ride, two brothers are given a strange mission to deliver a mysterious package, not allowed to use GPS and only able to use a paper map to navigate.

In This Book Belongs to Olo, don't make friends with the new kid.

Finally, the Story, which was the only novella I didn't love.

I already have a bunch more Ronald Malfi books on my tbr. Thank you Tantor Audio and netgalley for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Joe Hempel
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

This was my 3rd book by Ronald Malfi. I also read his two novels: Come With Me and Black Mouth. Ghostwritten is a set of four novellas that have something to do with books that are, in one way or another, creepy and deadly. I liked that some details appear in multiple stories. It started ok, and each next novella was better. The last novella, even though different, was for me far better than the rest.

The Skin of her Teeth 3★
A book that doesn’t want to be changed is haunting a screenwriter and his agent.

The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride 4★
Two brothers have a job to deliver a package (book). They must follow the planned route exactly, even though they will need more time this way. Strange things await them along the path.

This Book Belongs to Olo 3.5★
Olo is ten years old. He is smart for his age but also very weird. Because of that, he doesn't have any friends. His mother is a bestselling writer, and his stepfather is a writer too. Even young Olo made a special book. A very good concept, but this novella had some unnecessary parts, and it dragged a bit because of that.

The Story 5★
This novella is my absolute favorite in this set. It is a little different from the rest because there is no physical copy of the book. For me, The Story is the most chilling novella. Dark web and choose your own adventure.

Joe Hempel did it again. For me, a perfect narration of Ronald Malfi’s books.

Thanks to Tantor Audio for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

4 Stars ~ (Overall)

A collection of 4 horror novellas by the magnificent Ronald Malfi all based books that cause weird and mysterious things to happen.

'The Skin of Her Teeth' follows a talent agent trying to discover what happened to her client and his upcoming screenplay adaptation. Has he gone insane or gone back to substance abuse?
(3 Stars)

In 'The Dark Brother's Last Ride', two brothers are given the task of delivering a mysterious book to an anonymous buyer. Why were they given this old paper map to follow, and where are all the people?
(3. 5 Stars)

10 Year old Olo' invites a bunch of random kids to his mansion for his birthday party to play his favourite game of hide and seek in 'This Book Belongs to Olo'. What happened to the hallway and where did Olo' go?
(4.5 Stars, I am a sucker for a creepy kid)

After a close friends suicide, the protagonist in 'The Story' will stop at nothing to find out the truth as to what happened, even if that means losing his mind in a game of pick-your-own-adventure. What could go wrong?
(4 stars)

Thank you NetGalley for an Audiobook ARC of Ghostwritten, for an honest review in return.

Brilliant and inventive collection of four very creepy horror novellas all about haunted/cursed books. I loved the premise of this book and how distinct each story was while still maintaining a cohesive tone.

In terms of execution, the first story was the strongest - a book agent goes to visit her screenwriter client, who's suppose to be adapting a bestseller novel. But she goes to his cabin in remote New York to find that he's gone off the rails, going so far as to say that the book he was adapting started attacking him. She takes matters into her own hands and steals the book back, but she realizes she should have taken her screenwriter seriously... The payoff with the story behind the book was excellent.

I wish I had loved the last novella, The Story, more than I did, because its premise was the most intriguing. In that story, a podcaster finds his former co-host dead by suicide, with her apartment trashed by her own notes, graffiti, and indecipherable scrawling. He soon discovers that she was embroiled in a dark web "choose your own adventure" book that somehow permeated into her real life. The podcaster goes down the same road and similarly finds himself in the middle of a paranoid reality guided by what choices he makes in the game. (I wish this was a full-length book, there was so much rich content that wasn't fully explored in the novella format!)

Overall, a fast-paced, strong, and unique horror novella collection that's perfect for this spooky season! Thank you to Tantor Audio for the audio ARC via Netgalley!

Ghostwritten is a collection of 4-novellas by one of the most compelling voices in Horror Fiction today, Ronald Malfi.

I didn't know anything about this collection going in, seeing Malfi's name on the cover was enough for me, but was so pleased to discover the connecting theme amongst the stories contained therein: BOOKS! We all love books, don't we?

How about haunted books, evil books or murderous books? Color me intrigued! I would definitely check them out.

This collection starts out with a bang with The Skin of Her Teeth. I adored that story. It was giving me Secret Window, Secret Garden vibes and I was living for it. The tone and suspense of it all helped me to fly through it so quickly. It was crazy fun!

The second and third stories, The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride and This Book Belongs to Olo, were both enjoyable as well. They were so dark, fast-moving and creative. How does he come up with this stuff? With these middle two though, for me, I wasn't captivated to the same extent as I was with the first story. I began to think that maybe the first story would end up being my resounding favorite. Then I started the fourth and final story, aptly titled, The Story.

The Story involves a very dark web, twisted version of a Choose Your Own Adventure story. I was obsessed with those types of books when I was a kid. I always wondered just what would happen if the choices I was making in the book actually had an effect on my real life. I guess Malfi once upon a time wondered the same thing...

I loved this one so much. It was horrendous in all the right ways. The way it ended, sheer perfection. Overall, this was a completely enjoyable, sure to be memorable collection.

For me, since the first and fourth stories were 5-stars, and the second and third were around 3.5-stars, I decided to slice it right down the middle with a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ final rating. Also, I definitely recommend the audiobook!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Titan Books and Tantor Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. If you are looking for a creepy collection to pick up this Spooky Season, you should absolutely get your hands on Ghostwritten. There's something for everyone here!!