Five harrowing novellas of horror and speculative fiction from the singular mind of the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box.

I'm not typically a fan of short story anthologies, however, these got my attention in a short span of time. Argyle was by far the most interesting to me. I couldn't imaging being the wife in this story. Must read to find out why.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for allowing me to review Spin A Black Yarn.

This is a great collection of creepy stories. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, although the longest, Egorov, is probably my least favorite. Each has its own disturbing, dark element, and each felt fresh, which is hard to do considering all the horror stories I have read in my life.

Excellent pyschological horror.

This was such a fun read. I have read previous books from the author and have yet to be disappointed!!! Highly recommend this book!

This anthology presents five gripping novellas that plunge into the shadowy recesses of the human mind. While these stories don't share direct connections, keen readers will find subtle references that tie them together. My experience with short story collections has often been a mixed bag, with some stories hitting the mark and others falling short. However, I must say that this collection was, on the whole, an enjoyable read. Among the five tales, three in particular resonated with me on a deeper level. Josh Malerman's imaginative creativity truly shines through.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the eARC.

This short story collection was so creepy. I really enjoyed Malerman's work, this was the first exposure I had to his writing. Really interested to see more!

This book started out with me, questioning certain things, but as I kept reading and kept getting further and further into it, I was more and more hooked. I had a very hard time putting this book down, and in the end you will be satisfied. this author did an amazing job, keeping me entertained, keeping me wanting to read yet another chapter. I cannot wait to read more from this author nine out of 10 recommend

Here is my briefer review of each of the novellas in Spin a Black Yarn:

Half the House is Haunted –

a unique twist on the haunted house genre. I loved how you begin to wonder if it’s a person that’s haunted or the house. Loved the sibling relationship, it made for a fun dynamic story with great banter.

Argyle –

this was the most unique serial killer story I’ve ever read. A serial killer story in which the serial killer does not kill anybody is pretty hard to pull off. Yet the actual story works so very well!

Doug and Judy by the House Cleaner-

this one felt like I was entering an episode of the twilight zone. Or maybe a Creepshow short from Shudder. I love the concept of a couple being forced to re-examine all the choices that they make only to find out that they’re too far gone to be saved.

The Jupiter Drop -

another twilight zone like story – kind of like the episode where the man sees the gremlin on the plane. This one is was wildly imaginative .

Egorov-

a novella in and of itself, and a well developed story. I loved the idea of playing with triplets. Twins have been used so many times in storytelling, but triplets is fairly fresh. I felt well immersed in the culture and thought the story of revenge was wonderful fun.

Overall:

Awesome job by Malerman examining the depths of the human consciousness and soul. He explores regrets, relationships, purpose, achievement, faith, and in a fun context. Great read!

I am a big fan of Malerman and have read a lot of his work, and I have an odd relationship with his stories. There are some I LOVE SO MUCH and others that I think are garbage.

With that said, this collection of stories vacillates between the two opinions for me! Half the House was super creative but way too long. Argyle was an interesting concept but kind of stupid in execution. House Washer and Jupiter Drop were so brilliant that it was like Ray Bradbury reincarnated. Egorov was interesting, but again, way tooooo long. However, even the stories I didn't like/ hated jumped off the page and were unique.

I also loved the authors notes. He seems like such a neat guy, and it was beyond cool to hear about how the stories came to be and the friendship with his editor.

E-arc from NetGalley and Del Rey to voluntarily read and review.

This book was so good! Such a creepy and eerie feel to it throughout. I really felt these short stories touched on all aspects of horror/thriller would definitely recommend during spooky season. The writing was also very well done!

I really wanted to like this one, but I don't know if Malerman is the author for me. I have tried several books now, and can't get on with his writing. That being said, this collection will absolutely work for many people. Please give this collection a chance if you like weird takes on your horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

I’m a huge fan of Malerman’s and Spin a Black Yarn is a delight.

All the stories are fascinating but I’m going to focus on my favorite first, Doug and Judy Buy a House Washer. What a story! Two shallow elites, married yet barely aware of the other, buy an uber-expensive house washer, not necessarily with the intent to clean their house but more as a vanity to show off their wealth to others. What they don’t expect is that it will wash away more than those pesky cobwebs. True stunner of a story!

My second favorite is Argyle! A story about a man, laying near death who gives a stunning deathbed confession to his family. A confession of things he never did.

Third, Half the House is Haunted. LOVED this story so much! What begins as a story about a possibly cruel older sister, turns into something so much more. Truly eerie and sinister!

I really enjoyed all the stories but these three have stayed with me!

My thanks to Random House – Ballentine for this gifted copy!

This book was really difficult to get into. Most of the time I could not keep up with what was going on with the characters or the storyline, perhaps it was me. Dice different stories in horror. I usually love mallerman. Was sad. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have not read a lot of Josh Malerman's books, but the one I have loved best of his was a novella, so I was hopeful that I would like this collection of short stories with one novella length story. Happily, I did enjoy the book overall.

As with most short stories, there is never going to be the depth of detail that accompanies full-length formats. But often times those details left to the imagination actually create more intrigue than otherwise. This was the case for most of the stories for me.

Half The House Is Haunted was a great way to start. It was short, and a bit weird, but effectively engaging. The story ended with my wondering about a lot of questions that were never specifically spelled out for me, but I liked that about it.

Argyle was weird and disturbing and totally unique for me. Listening to a man on his own death bed give himself accolades for being a serial killer that successfully resisted his urge to kill all these years. It had a couple of gruesome descriptions of what he did to resist those urges that made me a little ill to think about, but this was the story I probably thought about the most after I was done with the whole book.

The Jupiter Drop was not bad, but not particularly memorable to me.

Doug and Judy Buy The House Washer(TM) was a delightfully disturbing, Twilight-Zone-ish thriller that made me cheer for karma! This story would have been better if there wasn't so much cursing. The two leads were very unlikeable, but apparently very upper-class. It sort of seemed unbelievable that they barely could speak two sentences together without cursing. So it wasn't the CURSING itself that annoyed me, but that it seemed almost out of place for the characters and the quality of the story otherwise.

Finally, Egorov. It was the longest of the stories and I did like it, though it wasn't a good as three of the others were. I think that it was a perfect length for a novella, but maybe didn't fit into a book with the other, much shorter stories.

You need to know that there are 5 novella-length stories. Some are longer than others but all of them are longer than a short story. These tales all take place there, a location some may remember from Malerman’s novel DAPHNE. Each story in SPIN A BLACK YARN warrants a uniquely different reaction, leaving readers with feelings of fear, horror, awe, and wonder.

Spin a Black Yarn is a collection of 5 novellas that have memorable new spins on common genre norms. Malerman takes on a haunted house, a serial killer, space travel, dangers of AI, and revenge. These are very familiar yet his stories are wholly unique and surprising as these themes are turned on their head. These are novellas I will not soon forget.

Half the House is Haunted explores a brother and sister's relationship growing up in a house that was half haunted. What does that mean? Which half? 4 stars

Argyle follows a dying man's confessions of dark twisted desires that he never acted on. This was really disturbing and effective story despite his lack of actual murder. 5 stars

Jupiter Drop is about a man dealing with a tragic accident that decides to take a vacation to Jupiter where he will be able to drop through Jupiter in luxury. He soon finds out that you can not run far enough to escape your problems. 5 stars

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer takes on a couple that are self-obsessed and want the prestige of owning The House Washer that will clean everything in the house perfectly, but they don't expect for all of their dirty little secrets to be exposed as well. This story made me laugh and got quite tense in the second half. 4 stars

Egorov is about brothers who seek revenge on the man who killed their third triplet by haunting him to madness. A great idea with some great scenes of horror with a gothic flare. It was a bit slow, but shined in moments 3 stars

Many thanks to Random House/Ballantine, Josh Malerman, and Netgalley for an eARC of "Spin a Black Yarn"!

"Spin a Black Yarn" consists of five short stories that revolve around the human condition (... loosely in some cases). Although the stories are split across different periods, it's fun to imagine these stories folding into each other and affecting one another in this way. This book is perfect for short story enthusiasts, Black Mirror fans, and people dipping their toes into horror.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF after 4/5 of the stories for reasons you'll read below. (For some reason Netgalley marks it as only 49% complete but I read up to the last short, Egorov, for context). This would be a great collection for some, but it wasn't for me. I loved the first short but was unable to connect with any of the others. I read most of this within four days in August and have not picked it up since (it's now late September 2023). I thought it was time to officially mark it as a DNF and post my thoughts.

Josh Malerman has a masterful use of prose. There were some turns of phrase and metaphors that made me want to drink this book like a fine wine. Malerman is a master of setting the atmosphere, building rhythm and constructing beautiful prose.

The first short, Half the House is Haunted, was my favorite. This was a crazy exploration of the relationship between a brother and sister (separated in age by two years). This story also deconstructed traditional "haunted house" tropes in an inventive way that I was obsessed with. The idea that a house can be "half haunted" immediately made me think that a house was literally split in half. This story pushes the idea further, suggesting that the haunting could be every other step on a staircase or the space only in the middle of a given hallway. It was an uncomfortable and unrelenting read that I highly would recommend.

Now, for all my praise, why did I rate this title two stars?

My favorite short was the first. It immediately hooked my attention and kept me up reading way past midnight. A part of me wished the entire collection surrounded the house or these deeply flawed relationships. I even wish that the entire book was just further exploring the first short and expanding upon the themes of fear and bravery.

But, it didn't. When I found myself multiple stories in, I realized that no other story spoke to me or interested me in its plot, characters, or theme. It started to wear on me and I just was never able to recover to push through the last short. The standard seemed to be set so high at the beginning that I found myself a bit disappointed by the time I was approaching the end.

I was really hooked reading Argyle. It's about a man who reveals to his family his dark desires to hurt and kill others on his deathbed. But then, the collection took a turn. The first two stories tightly revolve around family relationships and horror, but the next two are very sci-fi in comparison. Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer and The Jupitar Drop came totally out of left field for me in their premise and theme. Both of these stories didn't resonate with me. In fact, I found myself very disappointed in the ending of Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer because [SPOILER] it just felt too easy for Doug and Judy to die at the end. Why kill them off after the whole story was spent trying to teach them something? It just made the entire premise and theme feel trivial. [END SPOILER] The Jupitar Drop was also really anti-climatic. I never was able to connect with Steve like I was to Robin, Shawn or the Barmans. Because I didn't connect, I didn't feel empathy for him during the Jupitar Drop. Reading became a slow grind and by the end, I felt like I got everything I needed out of the collection.

I overall found this collection very strange. All the stories revolved around horror in some way, but the collection was organized in a nonsensical way. It's like you are stepping out of a traditional horror Stephan King-style collection into Black Mirror. I found it very jarring and wonder if I would feel differently if these stories were organized differently, or if the book was marketed towards fans of psychological horror with a sci-fi setting. Still, I enjoyed Half the House is Haunted and Argyle immensely.

Josh Malerman is a horror genius. I could’ve read full novels from each of these stories. Eerie, creepy, but always incredibly engaging.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

Spin a Black Yarn is not my favorite Malerman book, it's not at the bottom. The stories are weird, to be sure, and the whole time I was reading it was with bated breath and waiting for that twist to crop up. That caused some anxiety, especially in the story Half the House is Haunted. What a trippy story! I also enjoyed Argyle and Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer (my vote for the strangest, most speculative story in the collection). I don't think I would give someone this book as an introduction to Mr. Malerman's writing; I'd go with The Bird Box or Mad Black Wheel for that.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories, but don't rank it as highly as his novels.

Malerman gives us a novella collection of five ultra creative stories. There is no connection between the stories besides their Samhatten setting. And that’s pretty loose. In this collection we get creepy, sci-fi, mystery and just weird.

The best way to describe these are five vintage Twilight Zone episodes with Malerman flair. After finishing each story I had a solid Zone feeling. Take that as you will.

My favorite was Argyle about a would be serial killer just beating out Egorov a murder revenge/mystery story. There’s a house washer story that’s just plain weird.

Do not adjust your television set. Turn it off and pick this up.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine / Del Ray for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I previously read Pearl by this author and loved it, so I was excited to receive an ARC of this short story collection. It was a bit of a let down. I enjoyed 2 of the 5 stories, but the rest were just okay.