SMALL TOWN HORROR by @ronaldmalfi is a compelling horror novel by a master of creating uncomfortable situations that you can't look away from. Thank you to the author, @netgalley, and the publisher, @titanbooks for the e-ARC.

☁️☁️☁️

Rebecca and Andrew are having a baby. They are both very excited. So why does Andrew feel like there is something wrong with the baby growing in his wife's womb? When he gets a call from a long, lost friend from his rough and tumble small town, Kingsport, Maryland, he is sure his uneasiness has to do with the night in 2003 when he and 4 of his closest friends at the time witnessed the Rain of Frogs. He knows he can't ignore the fact that Dale's wife Cynthia is missing and that she was acting possessed before she disappeared. He knows he has to go home to face the past.

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I am a pretty big fan of Malfi, and in fact, his short story collection WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE was a huge jumping off point for my immersion into the horror book genre. I have really loved some of his titles (BONE WHITE, THE NIGHT PARADE, GHOST WRITTEN and the above mentioned) and at least one didn't really work for me (BLACK MOUTH) but I was totally caught up in SMALL TOWN HORROR.

With an unspeakable history, judgmental townsfolk, and a whole lot of dark secrets, this self-titled subgenre is well represented in these pages. I was pretty intrigued by all the main characters, invested in the plot that entwined their pasts with the present, and spiraling with the inevitability of these human lives crashing back together. This would be a perfect atmospheric horror book to end the year with if you need a rec.

Are you a big fan of Christmas? Or is it more of another eye-roll holiday for you?

I am a big fan of sitting by the Christmas tree in the dark days of winter so I am happy we put our tree up this weekend! 🎄🎄🎄

💚SMASHBOT💚

Small Town Horror is a well-crafted and suspenseful read that will appeal to fans of Stephen King and classic horror. Malfi's atmospheric writing, compelling characters, and chilling plot make this a standout novel in the genre.
Highly recommended for readers who enjoy atmospheric horror with a touch of psychological suspense.

I have fallen in love with Ronald Malfi books over the past year, so I was so excited to get this one in advanced!
That being said, I think the "disgruntled friend group" has been overplayed in the writing world lately.
Small town horror, for sure though! There is a level of creepiness throughout this book that just sort of eats at you and raises the hairs on the back of your neck. It is slower than some of his other books but DON'T SET IT DOWN! Sh*t is about to get really weird and you're not going to want to miss that ending!!

Special thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for this advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Pub Date: 04 June 2024

A harrowing curse returns to claim the souls of a group of high school friends at the Chesapeake Bay! For fans of “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “IT”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”...sure, it’s a classic horror trope, but it still draws audiences! Me included.

Andrew leaves his pregnant wife to return to his childhood home after a phone call from his old friend Dale. Struggling with lack of sleep due to nightmares of impending fatherhood, Andrew’s psyche is tested in his own father’s home, which is dark and dank, not to mention the terrible smell that won’t go away. The friend circle continues to act suspiciously; no one wants to speak about what occurred on the Fourth of July so many years ago.

What I enjoy the most about this motif of hidden secrets is that it’s relatable to most people. Whether they, themselves, have some skeletons in the closet, or someone they know does, and it’s that fear that gets pushed down after the canon event; the fear that the big mystery will be revealed and change perception about that person.

These days, it’s hard to keep things private and there’s always an interest in investigating privileged information. When someone piques our curiosity, what’s the first thing we do? Google them. Find their social media profiles.

Another great element to this book is this idea of trying to escape and build a new life for yourself. In some way or another, one must “pay the piper” and this story drives home the anticipation of consequences.

Malfi is wonderful at sculpting moods for stories and creating real page-turners, so if any of this appeals to you, please check it out!

If you are sleeping on Ronald Malfi, STOP. His horror/thrillers are absolutely fantastic, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Small Town Horror reminds me of Stand By Me quite a bit - those really intense childhood friendships that are cemented by some major event.

Andrew has an important job and a pregnant wife, but he gets an emergency phone call from an old friend in his hometown, and he has to go back and deal with his issues: what happened to them when they were younger, and his boyhood home. He's trying to figure everything out while still keeping everything at a distance, but he's finding himself drawn in more and more as secrets start to come out and he has to confront his part in all of this.

The twists were very twisty. The ending...I feel like I need to reread it. I don't think I fully grasped it. I also think you'll either love the ending or hate the ending. It's the kind of book that you want to make everyone read so you can talk about it. Another solid book from Ronald Malfi.

Another fine read from Ronald Malfi. Similar to a few of his previous novels (Come with Me comes to mind) SMALL TOWN HORROR is mostly a mystery novel with some light supernatural touches. Laced with Malfi's perfect prose and untouchable descriptions, a group of old friends are called back to their small town to face the ghost of their past.

If you haven't read Malfi yet, SMALL TOWN HORROR is a good place to start.
If you 're looking for something a little darker or scarier from him, try The Narrows , Snow or December Park.

Andrew Larimer is summoned home following the disappearance of a friend's wife in Ronald Malfi's superb Small Town Horror. It's been twenty years since Larimer has set foot in Kingsport, Maryland, but the secrets that united he and his childhood friends still lay between them, haunting them, both literally and metaphorically. A shadowy figure watches them, follows them, a spectral reminder that each of them are cursed following a shared trauma decades past, and that the supposed witch living at the heart of this small fishing town may be to blame.

Secrets, of course, are at the heart of Small Town Horror, and as such I'm loathe to give much away. What Malfi does brilliantly here is subject readers to a cast of shady folks with varying degrees of unlikeability. Central to them is our narrator, Larimer, whose story unfolds in first-person point of view. Malfi puts us right in Larimer's shoes, but not always in his head. We don't know, for instance, why Larimer takes off his wedding ring upon returning to his hometown and lies to his childhood friends about being married. That's just one more secret in a large bucket overflowing with them.

Dale is the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance, but as things heat up between each of the five friends it grows ever more clear that he's not the only one with a likely motive. And then there's Robert Graves, a figure from their shared past and the son an old crone rumored to be a witch.

Malfi smartly blends crime and horror here, creating a work that is positively thick with tension and atmosphere, enough so you can practically taste the saltwater on the air of Kingsport. At times, Small Town Horror feels like a deeply layered east coast Alan Wake by way of Mystic River. The reveals, once they begin to unfold, are heavily loaded and precisely timed bombs, one of which actually made me rock back in my seat and put the book down for a moment, so perfectly done was the audibly-gasped 'what the fuck' nature of it all.

Small Town Horror is, in a word, sublime, and an easy contender for Horror Book of the Year in my estimation.

Thank you Titan Books, Netgalley and Ronald Malfi for the eArc of Small Town Horror.

Having read a few of Ronald Malfi's books, I really enjoy the slow burn, creepy horror of them. You get a great sense of the character's with this slow burn, packing in details to build a great balance between the two. This gives a great coming of age, claustrophobic, home town horror.

Narrated by Joe Hempel, which gives even more life to this book if that's ever possible. Joe has a great voice which keeps our characters separated and individual. Joe has one of them voices which can switch from calming, alluring into abject terror! A pleasure to listen too

4 stars

SMALL TOWN HORROR I immediately found both exciting and engrossing: exciting because of how engrossed I immediately became, and because of its innate Spookiness and subtle Horror. Mr. Malfi makes one believe that all these frights, occurring to several individuals, are perfectly possible, that such Paranormal events can and do occur; that certain individuals reach out from beyond the grave and alter the lives of those still (ostensibly) living. I say "ostensibly" because for the survivors of the horrible event that occurred one Fourth of July, when the (grossly unreliable and untrustworthy) narrator turned sixteen, "living" is not what has happened all these years, locked as they are in residual guilt, survivor's guilt, remorse, and panic. What is buried won't stay buried, and this comes true for secrets as well as guilt. Eventually, for either psychological reasons or Paranormal interference, the center cannot hold.

4.5/5 ⭐️

Andrew is called back to his hometown, Kingsport, when one of his childhood friends phones him in the middle of the night and vaguely insists that he return to the small fishing town. Andrew is reluctant to leave his pregnant wife in New York and have to encounter his four childhood friends who he hasn’t spoken to since he was 16 years old. Having moved away after high school, Andrew has avoided going back to Kingsport and facing his past and what happened one night with his group of friends, almost twenty years ago.

My opinion:

HOLY 💩💩 this one was intense and creepy! I could not sleep without my husband next to me thanks to this book. It really scared me. The ghostly presence, which I will leave unnamed to not spoil it, freaked me out!

I know other reviews mention the “childhood friends return home decades later” trope and it being overused, but I did not care. It sucked me right in. I didn’t want to put this down.

I got Stephen King vibes from this book. It also reminded me of the show, “Marianne” which creeped me the hell out too.

The twist…my jaw dropped.

The book is extremely well written and I had no trouble picturing everything described in detail. I couldn’t read it fast enough.

This is my first book by Malfi and I am excited to read more of his books!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for access to the ARC of this book! I truly appreciate the opportunity!

First off big thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the spine tingling scary, horror novel.

At first I thought oh boy this is going to be like “ It” and it’s so not! This book is different. Sure it has small town mystery and friends reuniting after a dark night in their past. But that’s it. Trust me the way Malfi writes he takes it in a totally different direction. It’s so good!

Scared me but also kept me guessing with the storeyline.!!

Highly recommend!

4.5 /5 ⭐️ rounded up!!

I'm a huge fan of this author, and Small Town Horror did NOT disappoint. Eerie, creepy, suspenseful... This book had me wrapped around its pages from the start. As always, the writing was inviting. Malfi has a way of casting his prose so that it hooks the reader onto its grips. I was incredibly taken with the plot and had no idea where it was going. The characters were superbly developed. AND there were a couple of twists I did NOT see coming! Wow! Terrific horror story and the perfect book for October if you're looking...

Thank you #NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#SmallTownHorror

5 Stars!



I knew I was in for a treat when I saw Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi. Malfi is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated dark fiction writers around and I have never read anything from him that did not terrify and entertain. I knew this would be another great read as even the cover is, well, haunting as befitting a ghost story. The only thing to find out was just how good the story was going to be, and whether or not it is really a ghost story.

Andrew Larimer had thought he had left his past behind. That night in 2003 was supposed to be a celebration of his birthday and, as a quirk of fate, the Fourth of July. Things were looking up for Andrew. His teenage years were passing in the company of good friends and even the possibility of a budding romance with one of the group. They had to tempt fate that night, though, when they went to the house of the town witch. A couple of the group of the five friends shot fireworks at the house and started a small fire. They took off but the witch's son followed them and confronted them. One thing led to another and ended in a tragic accident that left the witch's son dead. No one ever found out what happened and, honestly, no one cared. The old woman may not really have been a witch, but she was an eccentric outsider that did not fit in with the small town's view of itself. It was quickly swept under the rug and life went on.

Andrew was not going to escape the small town, or his past, that easily, though. When his childhood friend's wife dies, he is drawn back to the small town and the mysteries it still holds. He finds himself drawn back in to that horrific deed and the past begins to unravel his present. His old friends had never left the small town behind. They were held prisoners by the curse that had hovered over them for years. Andrew had thought he had left it all behind, but he is soon to find out just how wrong he was.

Small Town Horror is not a tale that is told in a linear fashion, at least not at first, and this keeps the reader guessing. Malfi switches between the past and the present to weave a tale that is at times both enchanting and terrifying. There is an element of wonder in the story at times as it is a coming-of-age tale, but there is also a monster lurking around the corner biding its time and waiting to pounce. Malfi takes time to set up the story so that the atmosphere and setting become almost as important as the characters. He builds it up at a slow burn over the first half of the novel and it is clear that the town is a powder keg just waiting for a spark to cause it to explode. The explosion inevitably comes and the story finishes at a sprint as everything comes to a head at once. It is a masterful tale handles by a master of dark fiction that is reminiscent of some of Stephen King's works. Even the setting of a small New England town is reminiscent of King and it is clear that Malfi is a worthy successor. The story just simmers as it grows but then comes to a climax that leaves the reader gasping.

This novel is not really a tale of the supernatural. At least, in my opinion, it is not although Malfi leaves that open to interpretation. While there is a witch and a curse that may or may not have been cast on the group of friends, the true horror in the story lies in the destructive nature of secrets. In order to cover up what was an accident which probably would have repercussions but not the life-shattering ones the friends feared, it is the choice to keep the accident a secret that becomes the destructive force in their lives. Secrets have a way of growing and festering. Malfi sheds a light in this dark corner of human nature and scares the hell out of the reader by crafting a story that could happen to anyone, anywhere. Secrets. like lies, grow over time and become much darker than they were when they were formed. That is what makes Small Town Horror and Ronald Malfi so terrifying. They do not need monsters that lurk in the shadows of our imagination to craft a scary story. All they need is the darkness that exists in each and every one of us that we are all afraid to explore. Malfi sets this darkness free and proves that he is a dark force to be reckoned with.

I would like to thank Titan Books and NetGalley for this review copy. Small Town Horror is available now.

I love Ronald Malfi .- he is right up there with Stephen King. Once again he delivers a completely visceral and skin crawling experience.

This is my first book by Ronald Malfi, and based on this experience, it certainly won’t be my last! Small Town Horror has a familiar set up, probably most reminiscent of Ghost Story by Peter Straub (which is undoubtedly deliberate). You’ve got your small-town setting and a group of friends splintered by a traumatic incident in their past, some of which have managed to go on and achieve success, and some that have found themselves stuck in the same place and weighed down by its memory. It’s definitely like dipping into a warm, comfortable bath as far as ghost story plots are concerned.

What really lifts Small Town Horror above its counterparts is the incredible atmosphere. There is such an eerie, evocative setting, and the ‘haunting’ scenes are VERY creepy and effective. Whatever ghostly presence is at work feels very threatening.

Malfi is great at painting a picture of the less salubrious underbelly of a town and its inhabitants by using all five senses. I really enjoyed the time spent with the main cast of characters and I felt fully immersed in the setting and story.

I had a lot of fun reading this. So if you’re a fan of the small town horror of King, or Straub, or Richard Chizmar, or so many others, definitely pick this up!

Book review 📚
Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi
⭐⭐⭐

Although this read had some truly creepy and scary moments, it was a chore to get through. It’s a shame because the writing was amazing and I was drawn in from the get to, but it is dragged out in places it didn’t need to be and it unfortunately I wasn’t wanting to finish it.

It took a couple of times to go back to it and I did eventually finish, the ending is frightening, but there was nothing that kept me wanting to carry on. It was easy to put down and it’s unfortunate because the writing was impeccable.

3.5 stars. Mixed feelings about this one. The writing was great and there were some fantastically creepy moments (and a deeply unsettling ending), but it took forever to get through (was not pulling me back in) and none of the characters were particularly compelling or memorable. But if you're looking for a spooky story about secrets and the price of covering them up, this may satisfy you.

**4 out of 5 stars**

*Atmospheric and Haunting with a Dark Twist*

Ronald Malfi's *Small Town Horror* is a chilling tale that masterfully combines the eerie charm of small-town life with a deeply unsettling story of guilt, secrets, and supernatural revenge. If you're a fan of slow-burn horror with a creeping sense of dread, this book will be right up your alley.

The novel centers around Andrew Larimer, a lawyer haunted by the events of a fateful night in 2003, when he and his group of friends made a terrible decision that would forever alter their lives. Now, as an adult, Andrew is drawn back to his hometown of Kingsport, where the past refuses to stay buried and dark forces begin to resurface.

What Malfi does best in *Small Town Horror* is create an atmosphere thick with tension and unease. The small town of Kingsport is brought to life with vivid descriptions of its coastal cliffs, foggy nights, and shadowy corners, making it the perfect backdrop for a story steeped in mystery and fear. The novel's dual timeline, shifting between the present day and the events of that tragic night, adds layers of suspense as the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together.

The characters, though flawed and at times unlikable, are well-developed and complex, particularly Meach, whose descent into paranoia and addiction is both heartbreaking and terrifying. The dynamic among the group of friends, now fractured and strained by years of guilt, is compelling and adds emotional depth to the narrative. Malfi captures the nuances of long-standing relationships and the weight of shared secrets with a deft hand.

While the novel starts off slowly, building the suspense gradually, it eventually crescendos into a series of shocking twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. The tension builds steadily, and when the supernatural elements come into play, they hit hard, leading to an intense and unexpected climax. However, some readers might find the final act a bit jarring, as the story shifts gears into full-on horror, leaving behind some of the more subtle, psychological aspects that defined the earlier chapters.

Overall, *Small Town Horror* is a well-crafted, atmospheric horror novel that delivers both in terms of scares and storytelling. While it may not break entirely new ground in the genre, it's a solid, engaging read that will leave you feeling unsettled long after you’ve turned the last page. If you enjoy horror stories that explore the darker sides of human nature, secrets, and the supernatural, this one is definitely worth adding to your list.

Many thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I've been meaning to get into Malfi for a while, and this was a good one to start with! Creepy slow burn ghost story with a fantastic ending.

This is third book by Malfi, and I believe it’s my favorite. as always, he has a gift of creating well-rounded characters. The story is intriguing. it certainly has some Stephen King “It” vibes to it. However, it’s its own creation as well. There were times towards the middle that it felt a little slow, but when the big twist hits towards the end, there’s no putting the book down. Definitely recommend and will be reading more of him.