Just a brilliant set of books by Josh Malerman. Four novellas, each with a grim, dark setting. Some of Malerman's best writing, and that's saying a ton.

Ahoy there mateys! This book consists of five novellas. I did take a bit to get into as the writing style of the first one was off-putting. Though I hung in there and found that the story did pay off but not in the way I was expecting. The second novella was a fascinating take on a serial killer being true to himself on his deathbed. Unfortunately, my copy of the ebook was damaged and missing a lot of sections so had to stop abruptly in the middle of the serial killer story. I will be tracking down another copy because I have to know how it ended! I am very much looking forward to the other novellas. I will update this review when I finish the collection. Arrr!

Josh Malerman seems to be a very hit-or-miss author for me! I first read Bird Box by him and absolutely loved it. I also really enjoyed A House at the Bottom of a Lake, which is a *very* divisive book with a goodreads average of 3.21. So this collection of novellas brings my average rating of his books from 3.83 (not bad) to 3.38 (not great). (PS I'm keeping track of my author averages for an upcoming project... not sure when it's coming but keep an eye out!)

The order of the novellas in the book actually matches my enjoyment of them. The first, Half the House Is Haunted, was probably a solid 4 stars from me. The writing style and presentation was unique in this one so it took me a bit to adjust but the tension was excellent. I felt like it didn't quite stick the landing, but still a good read! Argyle presents a unique take on the serial killer, probably also a 3.5 or 4, and is worth a read as well. Some of it fell flat for me, but overall it was an interesting read. The Jupiter drop was also somewhat unique, probably 3 stars. I don't have much to say about it; it was interesting, but I found it ultimately unmemorable.

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer(TM) was a major flop for me. Maybe 2.5 stars? Parts of it were really good! But it didn't quite tie itself together and the ending was pretty anticlimactic. Egorov is the longest novella in the book, and it certainly feels like it. I started off kind of bored, got really interested, and then ended up just skimming to get to the end. Probably a 2.5 as well? I felt like a lot could have been left out or shortened as it lost my attention a lot. The concept is verrryy good though.

I had originally rated this 2 stars, but writing the review made me realize there were stories I liked! Egorov just took me so long to read and bogged me down so much that I had forgotten. I'm going to up it to a 3 (so Malerman's average rating from me is now a 3.63) because there were certainly aspects that I liked. This currently has a 3.65 (with only 334 ratings) on goodreads, which feels accurate to me. I definitely see this being a divisive collection, especially since I feel the quality varies a lot within it. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this, but wouldn't suggest bumping it to the top of your list either. I'll definitely be picking up more by Malerman though because I know I enjoy some of his writing!

I enjoyed Bird Box so I thought I might like this but I don’t like short stories so much. I didn’t like any of them and found myself bored for most of it. My favorite was probably the first one and then it went downhill.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

If there's anything that Josh Malerman can be trusted to deliver on, it's twisty and inventive stories. Spin a Black Yarn is a collection of five shorts that were all enjoyable, yet a little bit disturbing reads. Even though they were all creative and spooky in their own right, I was most drawn to Argyle, which told the story of a "not-serial killer." It was the most horrific story of events that didn't happen but yet felt so disturbing all the same.

I truly have to wonder where an author such as Malerman comes up with such creative and clever ideas for his writing. It's quite impressive - - albeit a wee bit creepy.

I enjoyed this book and would like to thank NetGalley for the ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I love horror anthologies, and I love this author’s writing. I knew this would be a good one, and I wasn’t disappointed! We have five stories, and here are my brief thoughts on each:

Half the House Is Haunted 3.5/5
This is the story of a brother and sister, told when they were ages 8 and 6, then 42 and 40, then 80 and Gone. When they were younger, Stephanie told her little brother, Robin, that half their house was haunted. He and his parents moved on, but Stephanie remained in the cavernous house for the rest of her life. Beautiful writing.

Argyle 4/5
This is one deathbed story that doesn’t go the way most do - this dying man is proud of the things he HASN’T done. Very original!

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer™️ 5/5
A couple of assholes buy a cleaning machine - but souls are hard to clean. Excellent story!

The Jupiter Drop 4.5/5
Forget trips to Mars…Jupiter is where it’s at. I thought this was a stunning story; I just didn’t care for the ending.

Egorov 2/5
I don’t know where this one came from, or how a short story had over thirty chapters, but I didn’t care for this one. The beautiful writing is still there, though!

I really liked the middle three stories, and as per usual, the writing is phenomenal. I don’t usually care about book covers, but this one is so gorgeous. Except for the last story, this one was a win for me! Four stars.

(Thank you Del Ray, Josh Malerman and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

What a clever book. I really liked Maleman's writing style. I'm still thinking about this book hours later. I think I need to stew on it for a little bit. I will read more from Malerman.

Josh Malerman’s work is interesting, creative, meaningful, and sometimes scary. Spin a Black Yarn isn’t as disturbing as Bird Box, Malorie, or Pearl. The first short story in this series (Half the House is Haunted) was the scariest story in this compilation. So I felt a little hoodwinked as the level of scary significantly decreased. I know Malerman is trying to show or teach me something in each story. I think discussing and interpreting will be more fun than reading the stories. I wish they were similar in length but wouldn’t recommend reordering them because the motifs (siblings, fear, floorplans of a home, Samhatten, being encased in glass) that tie them together in a really good flow.

Novellas/short stories are always a mixed bag for me, and this collection was no different. Two of those did stand out for me: Argyle and Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer (TM).

Argyle is the story of Shawn Hasbro, who is on his deathbed. Surrounded by his wife and children, he begins to make a startling confession: he is not a serial killer, but he has spent nearly his whole life trying not to be. His sister, Ethel, has been buzzing around the edges of his life for years, watching and waiting to intervene. At an early age, he discovered these urges and has been fighting them ever since. He claims he was successful...

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer (TM) begins like this: "Doug and Judy Barman are assholes." Gotta love a beginning line like that! Rita sells the couple a House Washer (TM), an innovative product that will literally clean your entire house while you either leave or sit in an airtight tube and watch. Doug and Judy, who are obsessed with money - both making it and spending it - readily buy the product, but let it sit in their living room for two weeks until they decide to throw a party to flaunt a big business deal and of course, the House Washer (TM). Once Doug and Judy get in the tube, things really get interesting... I could not put this one down.

Overall, the collection was fine. Not my favorite, but some gems were to be found.

Out of five spooky tales, I really enjoyed the first three, so I guess that's enough to warrant three stars.

In Half the House is Haunted, a child's prank has consequences that linger into adulthood . . . or was it a prank?

A materialistic married couple finds that hidden secrets are revealed and dirty laundry is aired when Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer.

Argyle was my absolute favorite. Here an elderly man on his deathbed confesses to all the murders he didn't commit, but wanted to. The pacing was excellent, and I loved seeing how different characters reacted to his revelations.

Of the last two stories, Jupiter Drop seemed flat and predictable, and the longest, Egorov was honestly ruined for me by the synopsis on the back cover which basically told me the whole plot.

I'm still looking forward to reading a novel by Malerman . . . one of these days.

Another solid entry from Malerman. He's risen to the my top favorite recent horror author. Every book/story goes somewhere new. He never rests on his laurels. While a few stories weren't my favorite, it's rare to have an anthology where I love every single story. My absolute favorite (and a new benchmark for Malerman's storytelling) were both "Doug and Judy Buy a House Washer' and "Jupiter Drop." Both have a totally unique set-up and proceed to do fascinating soul-bearing for the characters within. The last, Egarov, was my least favorite, what with its frequent indulgences with long, unbroken monologues from Misha (we get it, he likes death) and long, repetitive ramblings of Egarov (we get it, he's losing it). But overall...Bravo!

I REALLY wanted to love this book, because I very much enjoyed bird box and malorie and was beyond excited to have this one to read as well. But.. I just couldn’t get into the stories.. they didn’t hold any excitement or anything really that would make it stand out. It just felt very bland to me.

While I enjoyed Bird Box and its sequel Malorie better, these short stores from Josh Malerman were a fun read. Some were better than others, but overall I would recommend this book. If you're a fan of the author, you should enjoy these stories,

I loved this book. The stories were great and kept my interest the entire time.

Two of my favorites were Argyle and The Jupiter Drop. Argyle is a twisted little story about a man on his death bed who is focused on the fact that he will be dying “a good man”. He then proceeds to give a tell-all of his darkest dreams. The Jupiter Drop is really unique. I don’t normally like stories that take place in space, but I found this one quite fascinating (and creepy).

Other stories in this book are: Half the House is Haunted, Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer and Egorov.

Half the House is Haunted: Side note: this story begins to make more sense by the end. The sister loves to antagonize her younger brother about half the house being haunted. There is typical brother/sister banter, but then there are sinister happenings also.

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer: a horrible, wealthy, married couple splurge on a ‘House Washer’ so they can brag about it to everyone. They decide to give it a whirl, to make sure it works. You’d be surprised what other dirty things reside within a house. Doug and Judy certainly were.

Egorov is a revenge tale. This one was strange, twisted and interesting. It’s a bit slow to start, but once it gets going, it will keep you reading.

If you are a fan of Josh Malerman’s books, you will love this. If this is your first time reading one of his books; you’ll want to read more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC.

As a big Josh Malerman fan I was super excited to get approved for an advanced copy of Spin a Black Yarn from Netgalley and I made sure to also order a physical copy for myself once it was published. I very much enjoyed this collection of short stories. Here is my ranking from favorite to least favorite:
1. Half the House is Haunted: A brother whose sibling claims half the house is haunted narrates this tale. He has no idea what that means but he is super creeped out (and so was I). Very atmospheric and spooky. I loved it.
2. Argyle: A family and friends gather in a dying man's bedroom as he confesses his true nature and horrifies them all. I could NOT stop reading this one. I wanted to know what he was going to say next and how everyone was going to respond. A car crash that I could not look away from (in a good way).
3. Egorov: Set in the olden days of Malerman's fictional town of Samhattan, the remaining brothers from a set of triplets search for their brother's killer and exact revenge in a most unique way. This one is the longest (and last) novella in the book. It is a bit slower to get started but is really fun once it does. And let's just say there is a VERY gross "dinner" scene where I was reading while my toddler was slurping applesauce loudly beside me and I had to stop reading for a bit.
4. Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer: This is a fun futuristic-type novel where a couple always has to have the newest gadget to "compete with the Joneses". They try out a new house-cleaning gadget and seeing their household items swirl around them brings back good and bad memories, as well as something more sinister. This one was a really fun and a quick read.
5. The Jupiter Drop: This was another one set in the future where the main characters goes on a special "space drop" through Jupiter. It was fun and also creepy but even though it was a very different plot from Doug and Judy they reminded me too much of each other. I wish it would have been in a different story collection or maybe not right after Doug and Judy. I would suggest reading the stories out of order for that reason. It was still an entertaining and creepy read.
Overall, I enjoyed every story in this collection and look forward to any other short stories/novellas that Malerman might post in the future.

A mostly fun collection. The last story about old man Egorov just didn’t work well for me. The back and forth was taking me out of the story as a reader. Every other story here was great. Spooky and unnerving. My heart belongs to the first tale though.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC!!

This book was fun to read. I enjoyed almost all of the stories!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey, for providing me with the eARC!

I really struggled with rating this one. I've read a few of Malerman's other books (Bird Box, Malorie, Pearl, and Daphne), and I have to admit that this one is my least favorite so far. I enjoyed the first short story, "Half the House is Haunted," but all the others just felt somewhat underwhelming. While I enjoyed certain parts of some of them, I can already tell that I'll most likely forget about most of them in a few months.

BUT, something that I found very enjoyable and was impressed by is how Malerman has gone about building his own world of Goblin, Samhattan, and Chowder. If you aren't familiar with Malerman's other books, then this collection most likely won't make much sense - many of his novels and stories are set in towns (Goblin, Samhattan, Chowder, etc.) that are near each other, and all have weird, disturbing occurrences. If you ARE familiar with his other books, then this collection acts as a companion to all his other novels and their lore. This collection absolutely succeeded in convincing me to read all of Malerman's other work, and I think I'll have to give it another read once I've read everything else.

So, overall, if you haven't read anything by Malerman, go do that RIGHT NOW, and then come back.

3.5/5 stars

Welcome to Samhattan! These tales all take place there, a location some may remember from Malerman’s novel DAPHNE.

Not all of these tales worked for me, but my favorites were:

The first tale: HALF THE HOUSE IS HAUNTED introduces us to a family with both a son and a daughter. The oldest, the daughter, tortures her younger brother by constantly telling him that half the house is haunted. What is never clear to the boy is what that means, exactly? Is the left side haunted, or the right? Is it the top half or the lower half? This novella checks in on the siblings at three different ages of life and I just loved it.

ARGYLE was a delicious tale in the most unexpected of ways. An older man is dying and his family is gathered 'round him in his last days. Imagine their surprise when the dying man suddenly realizes and celebrates the fact that he survived life without killing anyone. I adored the huge turn this story ended up taking and it might be my favorite Malerman tale of all time.

DOUG AND JUDY BUY THE HOUSE WASHER (™) was such a creative story. A money-hungry couple needs some way to show off how important and rich they are by purchasing the hottest, newest product on the market: a house washer. Perhaps, instead of being so caught up in their rise up the ladder, they should have paid more attention to what the house washer actually does.

Of the five tales included herein, these 3 spoke to me on a higher level than the rest. I love how creative and imaginative Josh Malerman can be. When an author is out there slinging his weird ideas, it’s only natural that some of the tales might not be the reader’s cup of tea. What worked for me might not work for you and vice-versa.

Overall, I did enjoy this novella collection even though some stories weren’t my cuppa. The 3 that did were pretty great and I remain a solid fan of Josh Malerman.

*Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*

Malerman is a writing machine, but his best work comes from his novellas. Goblin is one of my favorite collections in the last decade and this one is a worthy follow up.