Haunted by the past, five childhood friends will learn that actions have consequences. You can leave your past behind, but does it ever really leave you? Dark Secrets and curses come into play in this horrifically dark and brilliant tale set in a small town.


Andrew Larimer is a married man with a pregnant wife. He has worries about the pregnancy and the upcoming birth but finds there are other things he should be worried about as well. When he receives a phone call from a childhood friend, he knows he must return to his hometown. To his father's home that his wife doesn't know he still owns. To meet with childhood friends, to face the past, to face each other and the secret they share.

I loved the atmosphere in this book. From the small-town feel, the cliff overlooking the ocean, the flooded basement, etc. It provides a something-isn't-quite-right vibe to the book. I also loved the eerie and creepy vibe that flows throughout the book. Then there is the tension, dread, and mounting sense of danger. Small Town Horror played out like a movie in my mind. Small towns, you either know everyone or are related to them. How do you keep such a BIG secret? How do you deal with guilt? How does it haunt you?

This book is told via two timelines. The current day and the past. Through both, readers get a glimpse into the past and what the group of friends are dealing with in the present. I found this to be a very nice touch. Secrets and lies play a HUGE part of this book.

This book touched on many things - friendship, marriage, secrets, guilt, fear, growing up, love, and consequences.

Well written with twists, turns and several reveals. It was slow to start but once this book got going, there was no stopping it.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel takes a familiar premise, ratches the horrors up a couple of notches, adds some "wtf-just-happened" twists and delivers what is going to be one of the best horror books of the year.

This premise might sound like something you've read before: a group of five friends are involved in a fatal accident as teens and vow to never speak of it ever again. Twenty years later, as they all gather in their hometown near the anniversary of this tragic event, they must fight a supernatural curse if they want to survive.

Sounds like a common trope, right? Ha! This is Ronald Malfi we're talking about and I can assure you his writing is anything but common.

This novel is a maze of terror that leads us in a familiar comfortable direction until the course changes all of a sudden, leaving us in a dark unknown space trying to find our way home.

It's deliciously deceptive. Hitting all the beats of a small town horror book with some added gusto. But then...THEN...in the final part of the book, everything changes. Starting with a revelation that absolutely floored me. I knew then that what I thought I had read previously had just changed horrifically. There were going to be no happy ending and things just got a whole lot darker and twisted.

I was right but the hits just kept coming after that and had me glued to the pages as if a umbilical cord was attached to my eyes and the book.

This one is going to blow you away and I would dare say it's a game changer for what small town horror can be. I highly recommend it. Do not hesitate to read.