Creepy. And gross. Im not a squeamish person, but i was actually nauseated at one point, while listening to this. I started to stop this many times and then realized I needed to hear how each story ended. I'm not sure if that means the book was good or if I'm just nosy.

This book was so good. It was 5 creepy short stories. I couldn’t stop listening. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

3.5 stars

Short story collections are not always my favorite because they are so hit/miss with me. This is a collection of 5 short stories, and it was a bit of a mixed bag.

Skullbelly:
This one was super interesting to follow along as our MC investigates what happened when a group of teenagers go into the woods and only 1 returns. It was a slow-build, but the ending didn't have enough of a payoff for me

The Separation: Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie's behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work?

This was my least favorite of the group. If you like just feeling unsettled, you may like this...but I was bored.

The Stranger: Set in a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there's a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started . . .

This one had my attention. Malfi does a great job and drawing out the details to make the reader feel like they are there and on edge wondering what is going to happen next.

After the Fade: A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn't arrive alone. Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern's walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in.

This was my favorite of the bunch. I felt like I was trapped in the bar along with them, and the ending sucker punched me!

There was a 5th story not listed in the description (for some reason?) about a teenage girl and her mother who get into a car accident in a remote area during a snow storm. When they get out of the car to talk to the other driver, things get out of hand. This was my second favorite story of the bunch

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio ARC!

Ever since reading Ghostwritten last year, I have been a fan of Ronal Malfi. When I got the opportunity to listen to this collection of 5 novellas, I jumped!

I wasn't crazy about all the novellas, but overall, this was a solid collection. I love the writing style and how much tension is packed into each story. The rich atmosphere and creepy imagery really got to me! My favorite novella was The Stranger, a tale of a road-tripping couple who stop for the night at a run-down motel. Later that night, the man notices a stranger sitting in the driver's seat of his car. The events that follow are gory and truly horrifying. Another favorite was After the Fade. A couple meets up at a local bar only to be faced with an invasion of apocalyptic proportions. My least favorite novellas were The Separation and Fierce.

The narrator was great and the stories were engaging, for the most part. I was stressed out, curious, and disgusted at different intervals. I would really be interested in reading some of Malfi's full length novels as some stories felt like they needed more time to be fully fleshed out.

I wanted to be scared by these stories, lost in them and love them… But sadly none of these things happened, instead I was bored with them. I really wanted love this collection of five novellas but I only loved one out of the five.

The Stranger was a gory and brilliant body horror. I was sad when it came to an end especially since I didn’t enjoyed any of the other stories.

Unfortunately this collection wasn’t for me, I was mostly bored, I wasn’t invested in the stories, nor did I cared about the characters.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing an AudioARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher, narrator and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio of this title in exchange for my review.

I've been a fan of Malfi's since I first read The Floating Staircase several years ago. Though I'm not a big reader of horror these days, I was very excited to give these stories a listen. I've read everything by Malfi I could find, but some were hard to locate, and I think a few of these were new to me.

These were good horror short stories, but I think I prefer Malfi in regular long format novel rather than a short story. The final story in the collection is more recent, and you can really feel the differences and changes in his writing style. The stories are good, but I would have liked the endings to be a bit more filled out.

One reason I don't read horror as often now, I don't care for the standard trope of people with physical deformities in these books, especially making those individuals bad or evil. But that is a personal issue.

3 stars for 'liked it'

The stories so far are a hit or miss for me. They're really fun and entertaining, but fail a little bit on the scary and spooky aspect of things. I would not call it a successful horror, but I am enjoying the short stories and getting glimpses of the characters' lives. They're better described as Twilight Zone episodes, I think. You're thrust into a seemingly normal situation, weird stuff is revealed, and it ends with a 'Now wasn't that weird?' but no definite conclusion, then you're ushered to the next story. I don't love that for my story-telling experience, so I can't say I was a huge fan of the first two-thirds of the book.

But the last third I thought was entirely enjoyable since it's a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It's a true horror, I could see this as the premise of a video horror game, and I was rather anxious for the characters' lives and safety. There were also bits and elements from the other short stories which made it seem as though there was a writing contest and the first two-third of stories took the prompts one at a time and the last one mixed them all into one cohesive tale (and to me, the last tale wins).

Really good narration throughout, although I'll admit that the male characters for the first two-thirds of the book got annoying. You're all dating women you hate or you recently got divorced and it's a huge thing. Got it. This made the last story even more a breath of fresh air since it's about a teenage girl and her mother. But regardless of the characters, the narration was always very nice and easy to keep up with. The voices in the first two-thirds are well done, and they're nailed to the point for the last third. I definitely recommend the last story, and if you have the time the first two-thirds as well.

I loved the stories in this book! Five novellas and every one of them delivers. I have previously read Come With Me and Black Mouth from this author, both of which I loved, and I am working my way through the rest of his books. Short stories and novellas aren't usually my cup of tea, but he managed to really engage me in every one of these stories, and even pulled off some twists and turns I didn't see coming.
Every one of these stories gave me that subtle fear of the unknown and completely creeped out vibe. I even became nauseated in a couple places. It was a great mix, and very well done!
Can't wait to read more from Ronald Malfi!

The narrators did such a great job creating atmosphere and with timing.

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Joe Hempel, Amy McFadden
Content: 3 stars ~ Narration: 4.5 stars

I read a few other works by Ronald Malfi. I admit, I also fell for the cover, which reminded me of the cover of Ghostwritten.

Five novellas:

* Skullbelly
A private detective wants to find out what happened to three missing teenagers that went on a hiking trip.

* The Separation
Marcus goes to Germany and finds his once successful friend Charlie a complete wreck after his divorce. But is he depressed, or is something different going on with his friend?

* The Stranger
David stops at the motel to spend the night after a long drive. After a while, he returns to his parked car and finds a weird stranger locked inside his car.

* After the Fade
A girl walks into a bar and collapses. The customers of the bar soon realize there’s something very wrong about how she died.

* Fierce
A teenage girl and her mother have a car accident on a snowy road.

Most of these novellas were written before, except for the last novella, and are now collected in one volume.

They Lurk is a solid collection of horror novellas. But I hoped for a different style and expected the vibe and eeriness of Ronald Malfi's latest works. I began with Malfi's most recent works, so now that I'm reading his older works I'm a little disappointed because my expectations were different.

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

I love Ronald Malfi so much. He’s one of those authors that can write books that are so vastly different from each other but still satiate the craving he always leaves me with. I’ve been a big fan ever since I received Come With Me in a Nightworms package years ago and I instantly had to have more after that.

They Lurk is everything you expect from Malfi, but I do have to say I enjoy his novels more. All of the stories are creepy, anxiety inducing, and dark and I really did like them all, but I think my favorite was The Stranger. Thanks so much to Titan Books for my eARC and audiobook! 🖤 They Lurk is available now and is really worth the read!

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for this audiobook ARC.

Ronald Malfi does not miss! I've always loved novellas, especially in the horror genre. There's something about a quick, short story. I loved each of these! Very creepy and thought provoking. Perfect narrators. Add to your spooky season TBR!

Review posted to Goodreads, Instagram, and Amazon.

Never once have I been let down by Mr. Malfi, this collection of stories was no different. From the folktale like beginning to a modern day horror movie ending, each story was grueling, gruesome, and glorious. There's a certain part of this book, a story of a stranger in a man's car, it had me in tatters. The goriest of details just dragged me to depths of fears I wasn't even aware I had. The story of Skullbelly is another amazing read, anyone who grew up in the South or in Appalachia remembers the first time they heard RawHead and Bloody Bones, Skullbelly gave me that exact terrible feeling. Some authors have a difficult time bringing readers into a short story or novella because they can't put enough details in for us to really, deeply empathize with the characters, Ronald Malfi sure doesn't have that issue. As I listened to the audiobook I need to share that both narrators were superb. This is one book I will be recommending to all my horror friends and friends!

Wow! What a great collection! I am so glad that Malfi's older work is getting rereleased and They Lurk is a prime example of why it needs to be. These tales are twisted and gross providing thoroughly captivating little stories. There is a fun connection between a couple of the stories and that always feels like a reward to me for some reason. "Hooray!! you made the connection to a story that you just read!! You get bonus points for paying attention!!" Honestly, I probably get too giddy over connections like that ;p

Not a fan of short story collections, but I really enjoyed this one! This was also my first read by Ronald Malfi and I have got to say, now that I know how he writes, I can’t wait to read/try one of his long novels. I was terrified, which I’m always looking for when reading a horror book/author.
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Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc!

Overall, I think I need to stop trying to read Malfi. His writing never feels like an original idea to me. Everything seems to be taken (too closely) from others works.

SkullBelly: Not really all that spooky, but “creatures in the woods” did give a semi creepy vibe. However, the “monster” just sounds like Freddy Krueger in the scene where he rips open his shirt and you can see the faces of all the kids he has killed in his burnt skin. 2/5

The Separation: Honestly for this one, there is not a realistic action made by any of the characters in the entire story. It’s entirely driven by dumb actions, miscommunication, and unlikeable ppl. I felt dumber after finishing this. Also there is terribly animal cruelty / death. 1/5

The Stranger: Once again the beginning of the story is driven by dumb actions, and oversights. Once the action gets started the actual story was a fun, gory ride. I actually enjoyed the 75% of this one. 4/5

After the Fade: meh. It was like “the mist” but bugs. The only cool part was the very last line, and that just made me wish for more story. 2/5

Fierce: by this point, I was over the collection, but I pressed on. I may have glazed over and zoned out at times. The “bad guy” in this story just reminded of the old horror movie “Wolf Creek” (which you can watch for free on YouTube). So… 2/5

I can’t really recommend. I feel like you can get the same stories from better places. However, The Stranger was really good if you gave a stomach for gore.

The audio was good. I enjoyed being able to listen to the stories.


Thank you NetGalley & RB Media for the audio arc and opportunity to leave my honest review.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to read an eARC of They Lurk and as with most of Ronald Malfi’s work I enjoyed the heck out of it. They Lurk includes five novellas, 4 of which had previously been published, though since I’d never read them before they were all new to me. Each of the stories is unique in tone and delivery. From the mystery of Skullbelly, to the twisted and gore filled The Stranger, to the terrifying After the Fade (which somewhat reminded me of Stephen King’s The Myst). Malfi just never disappoints and these stories will have you thinking about them long after you’ve finished with the book. And as much as I enjoyed reading the book, the narration is so good I ended up enjoying the audio version even more. Thanks so much to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review the audio version of They Lurk.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VLC337XBW110/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

5 short horror stories *SPOILERS*

SkullBelly: This tale jumps right into the thick of the action, Tommy, is a withered husk of his former self after going on a hiking trip with 3 friends and returning alone. John Jeffers PI is hired by the families to investigate what could possibly have taken place.

The Separation: Marcus goes to Kaiserslautern, Germany to visit his friend Charlie who is acting increasingly oddly. I found this on a little confusing with regards to the time period because it seems like Victorian or something, but also they have cellphones. I enjoyed the nods to Dorian Grey.

The Stranger: In this bizarre story a strange man locks himself in David's car and will not leave regardless of how he is coaxed. This is quite a gory one, although I didn't have much sympathy for David as he is an awful, selfish and misogynistic character.

After The Fade:
When a young man arranged to meet his girlfriend at a local bar with plans of dumping her, a woman staggers in covered in blood which soon reveals a large parasitic insect on the back of her skull

I particularly liked this one, very unsettling and believable. Especially as we get summer chafers in abundance here, once a year they all come to the rooftops at the same time to mate, they are really quite loud, I can totally imagine this, but on a terrifying and gargantuan scale.

Fierce: When driven off the road by a truck, Connie and her mother are dragged into a terrible set of circumstances they can barely imagine. The sense of foreboding built in this one nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought the use of dual timelines was really effective and liked how it interlinked with the previous stories in the book. The references to cult horror films, were also great here, well done without being over the top.

*END OF SPOILERS*



Overall a really great anthology of original and masterfully crafted short horror stories, I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a good creepy and shudder filled tale. For me it only seemed to get better as it went on and I was quite sad when the book was over. I will certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for more Ronald Malfi books.


Both of the narrators were great, I really enjoyed Joe’s accents and character voicing.

Terrifying, breathtaking, wild. The first three stories in this collection were far too short. I loved them so much I wanted a whole 1000 page novel about the world and their stories. The last two stories were intense from start to finish and it was absolutely incredible. I received the audiobook from NetGalley and I can highly recommend it. Both of the narrators, Joe Hempel and Amy McFadden, did a fantastic job. This short story collection is the beginning of my obsession of Ronald Malfi’s brain. I can’t wait to pick up more of his work.

They Lurk is a collection of 5 novellas by horror author @ronaldmalfi and all 5 stories are super creepy! Over the past 5 days, I have listened to one novella a day. My favorite was the fourth story: After The Fade. The narrators do a great job bringing these horrifying stories to life. If you love creepy horror stories filled with terrifying creatures, I highly recommend checking out this collection!

Thank you @tantoraudio and @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.