Thank you Netgallery!

I just couldn't get into this book. I wanted to love it but the writing style was not for me.

SMALL TOWN HORROR is a novel about a bunch of people I couldn't stand. LOL

A group of friends reunite in their hometown of Kingsport, Maryland. Their meet-up is not for pleasurable purposes. One of their wives is missing, and one of them is a lawyer who might be able to help. This group has secrets in their past and it is of the utmost importance that their secret is never divulged. Will they find the missing wife? Will the world discover their secret? You'll have to read this to find out!

I must be honest here and say that the horror trope of a group of old friends reuniting to face an old evil from their youth is mostly played out for me. It was Ronald Malfi's writing that kept me going. I didn't like the characters much, (but I don't need to, if the story is a good one), and I didn't care for the plot much either, but as I said, it was Malfi's writing that kept me going. He has unique insights into his characters, (in this, he reminds me of Michael McDowell's writing), and those insights were what I enjoyed most about this book. Another thing Ronald Malfi did here, and that I admired, was to hold his secrets back until nearly the very end. I know that I should've have seen at least one of those coming, but the book was written in such a way that I forgot all about that one salient fact that was right in front of my face the whole time. I love when that happens!

So, in spite of not liking any of the characters, in spite of being tired of this trope, I absolutely adored the writing and admired the building of such an intricate story. This isn't my favorite Malfi book, that's for sure, but I'm still a huge fan of this author and will continue to look forward to everything he puts out.

Recommended!

*ARC from publisher. Thank you.*

Please tell me somebody has read this book because I need you to explain the ending to me! I was sitting in the waiting room at a doctor’s office when I read the last couple of chapters on my phone and when I finished, I just put my phone down and stared blankly into space until they called my name. This creepy book follows a group of 5 friends, whose decisions they made in childhood have come back to haunt them, literally. This book contained such unsettling imagery and vivid descriptions, to the point that I could practically smell the scenery at times. Small Town Horror is set in the summertime so this is a great one for the horror loving reader in the summer!

"Small Town Horror" by Ronald Malfi was my first book by him, and it hooked me right away. The story follows Andrew Larimer, a successful lawyer in NYC, who returns to his hometown of Kingsport, Maryland, after a frantic call from a childhood friend. Back home, Andrew gets pulled into the mystery of his friend Dale’s missing wife and their shared dark past. The group of friends is haunted by a tragic accident involving a boy named Robert Graves, blurring the line between the supernatural and their guilt-induced paranoia.

Malfi excels at creating a creepy small-town atmosphere and delving into how secrets and guilt can erode a person's sanity. The dual timeline, similar to Stephen King's "IT," adds layers to the story, keeping the suspense high. The ending is both shocking and memorable, making the slow build-up worth it. The characters are well-developed, each dealing with their own demons. If you love horror with a psychological twist and a gripping narrative, "Small Town Horror" is a must-read. Malfi’s ability to build dread will keep me coming back for more.

Small Town Horror was an atmospheric story about a group of teenagers whose lives are changed one Fourth of July night by a terrible accident.
It was a dark, creepy read; most of the characters were not particularly likeable although I was rooting for a couple.
It was a good story which I would recommend to any horror readers.

This story definitely left me guessing the whole time. Very "I Know What You Did Last Summer" but with ghosts and witches.
It was a pretty solid read and I enjoyed where the story took me.
9/10 no notes.

I'm sorry to say that this book did not meet my expectations. First, the plot idea of a handful of friends coming together again as adults to face something sinister from their past is getting old. This book really has strong „It“ vibes. Second, for me it dragged like chewing gum. So much telling and rambling. I did not like any of the characters, especially our narrator Andrew. I despised him from the moment he arrived at his hometown.

This was my third book from Malfi and I enjoyed the two others well enough. But here he just fills pages of pages with words and the story does not get to the point. It took me ages to finish it and after doing so I wished I had stopped somewhere in the middle. Maybe his next book will be better.

This was a slow, slow burn but the ending was really dark. I would said this was worth the read but not a favorite or wildly unique book

I thought it was fantastic - creepy and CREEPING, and weirdly moving. reminiscent of IT but tight, controlled and very much its own.

WOW! This was my first book by Malfi. I COULD NOT put this down. The writing was done so atmospherically, descriptively and creepy. I really loved this, and cannot wait to read more by this author. Even though I just read it in June, this is the perfect book to read during the fall. 4 stars!

Come With Me and Black Mouth are two of my all time favorite horror novels, so I was very excited about Malfi’s latest, Small Town Horror. Immediately you are gripped by the weird feelings the main character is experiencing and once he arrives back in his hometown and you begin to hear the stories his childhood friends are telling about weird phenomenas, I could not put this down. I read it in three sittings and was absolutely shocked at a few twists the ending had in store for me. Another 5/5 from Malfi and I can’t wait to read another atmospheric, spine tingling, goosebump inducing horror novel from him!

Malfi is my horror king and I will never not read a new release from him. You just gotta love a book with a twist that literally makes your jaw drop!

I know some people say it’s overdone but I just love a ‘group of childhood friends with a terrible secret coming back as adults to confront their past’ plot so much. This one was giving strong King vibes. I loved the revenge aspect of this story and so much of it just filled me with dread. I spent the entire book feeling unsettled and just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Very spooky, atmospheric, and eerie. The ending was tragically beautiful and fit the story perfectly. I really enjoyed the themes of corruption, loss of innocence, and fear of consequence.

Come With Me and December Park are still my favorite Malfi’s book but this is a strong addition to his roster.

Very aptly named! One man returns back to his small hometown in order to confront his past. This is the classic set up to a horror book and I love it almost every time. I didn't think anything new was really done with the book, but it was well written with plenty of atmosphere, realistic characters, and intrigue to carry through. If you enjoy small town settings and constantly questioning if things are mundane or something more (a curse perhaps?) then this book is for you!

Small Town Horror is my first Ronald Malfi book and I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. I was super curious about Black River Orchard when it was released in 2023, but the sheer page count was somewhat intimidating. I’m a novice in the horror genre, so the shorter books are more appealing at the moment and Small Town Horror clocks in at a whopping 400 pages. Very doable.
This coastal horror follows Andrew Larimer, a rising star in the NYC law scene as he returns to his hometown of Kingsport, Maryland to face his past. You see, Andrew has four friends who still live in the fading town of Kingsport and one has just called him up, desperate for his help and referencing something that happened during their teen years. He reluctantly heads home, only to find himself embroiled in an investigation into the disappearance of his friend Dale’s wife. The most unsettling part is that Dale, Meach, and even Tig seem to be haunted by the specter of a boy named Robert Graves.
It’s not difficult to conclude that they were involved in something tragic that happened to this boy, but at first the events are carefully skirted around. When it’s finally revealed it’s somehow anticlimactic - a horrible accident and a combination of fear and guilt that lead the five friends to abandon the scene. This is a spooky read and I found it delightfully difficult to tell if the supernatural elements were real or induced by drugs or the paranoia and guilt of the characters.
I was surprised by how engrossed I was in Small Town Horror and I thought it did a great job analyzing all the things that can truly make a small town awful. Cover-ups, cruelty and ostracizing ‘weird’ people, secrets on top of secrets. Ultimately, this is a story about how guilt can eat away at a person, eroding sanity and breeding a paranoia dangerous enough to kill. This is a complex, layered story that kept me turning pages late into the night and at one point I audibly gasped at one particular reveal. I think it’s safe to say this won’t be my last book by Ronald Malfi.

Thanks to Titan Books and Ronald Malfi for the chance to read ‘Small Town Horror’! I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did ‘Come with Me’ but it definitely had some twists that I did NOT see coming. I wish some of the characters were more fleshed out (specifically Dale and Eric) and I struggled with caring about what happened to them. I thought that the PAST INCIDENT was one of the best parts of the book and I felt the panic and guilt leap off the pages.
It kept me guessing until the very (bleak) end but I sometimes had to drag myself through. I will definitely steer fans of King/Koontz this way.

Secrets will come out, the past will haunt you, and you can never really escape your home in the latest book from Ronald Malfi that sees a group of childhood friends reuniting and having to deal with the things they did years before; things that no one can ever know about.

Small Town Horror tells the story of Andrew Larimer, a successful lawyer in New York City. He's married, and is expecting his first child. Things are going great for him. However, when he receives a phone call from his childhood friend, Dale, telling him that his wife has gone missing and begging Andrew to come back to his hometown to help. Andrew makes some lies to his wife, and heads out to the town he never wanted to go back to, where he reunites with Dale and his other friends, Meech, Tig, and Eric. The five of them have come together to try and help find Dale's wife, and to deal with the curse hanging over them. You see, the five of them did something terrible when they were younger, something that has left a stain upon them, and it's coming back to haunt them now.

Starting Small Town Horror I was immediately struck by the similarity to Black Mouth, Malfi's previous novel, which also played upon the trope of a group of childhood friends reuniting years later to deal with a dark secret. The two of them are also strikingly similar to Stephen King's IT not just because they use this trope, but because they use the double narrative, where we see things play out across two time periods that build the story in a way that gradually unfolds the mystery. Whilst making use of this structure that was made famous with IT, this in no way feels like a copy, as Malfi manages to make it distinct in its own ways, and instead it feels more like a love letter to that kind of story, a small nod to similar horror books that have come before.

Small Town Horror is a slower read than some, and instead of putting the horror up front Malfi slowly builds the dread and tension, focusing instead on the narrative and the characters. The central group are an interesting bunch, each of them with their own distinct flavours, with their own quirks and flaws that seem to stem from the terrible event in their past. Each of them is clearly haunted in some particular way, whether it's running away from what they don't want to face up to, or losing themselves in drink and drugs, each of them feels like a study in both trauma and suppression.

Malfi also does a wonderful job with the feel of the locations. I loved the town that he built, and whilst it's not a place that I'd want to live in, it serves the story well and is filled with that creepy, small town horror that the title promises. The cover sets up the feel for the book wonderfully, and the remote lighthouse in the cold, hard environment lays the groundwork for what you'll find within the pages. The clifftop over the sea, the old houses, and the flooded basement all bring a particular feel to mind that makes a cold chill go down your back, even though the book is set during the height of summer. Malfi is able to take the ordinary, the unremarkable, and make it chilling in a way that I adore.

Whilst the book spends much of its time building, it eventually has to reach a peak, a point in which the rising tension must break, and when it does it's all the more shocking. I think that Small Town Horror has one of those endings that people are going to remember, one that's so shocking to read, so horrific that you find yourself gripping your book all the tighter whilst reading, and once you've reached the final word you realise you were holding your breath for too long. It might not sit well with everyone, and it may be a little too much for some, but it's the kind of ending that shows why Malfi is such a deft hand at horror, and why you should be keeping an eye out for his name on the shelves.

I really enjoyed this one. A group of friends are brought together after an accident and struggle to keep a dark secret from their pasts from resurfacing. It was a great mix of murder, missing persons, paranormal, and dark secrets. This is a first I’ve read by this author and will definitely be reading more.

4 o 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/06/06/summerofhorror-small-town-horror-by-ronald-malfi/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Ominously Creepy and Darkly Atmospheric

Small Town Horror is my first read for ‘Summer of Horror’.

Unsurprisingly Small Town Horror is written really well, Malfi can certainly set a scene, so well in fact that the setting feeds the anticipation. He has a wonderful way with words that just gives you a prickle on the back of your neck and makes you glance apprehensively into the shadows of the room where you’re reading. I’ve read and loved already two of his books and so was super excited for this one.

Small Town Horror is a story of two halves. One, five young people, in the height of their youth, getting up to hijinx until things go horribly wrong – think ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ – for a loose idea of what to expect. The second half brings these five people back together years later to face a series of chilling intrigues.

This is a book of consequences, it’s a dark and chilling read and there is little of forgiveness or redemption among these pages.

So, Andrew Larimer is one of those friends. He’s managed to escape the small town where he was brought up and is now a successful attorney with a wife and a baby on the way. Then he gets a phone call from an old friend who needs help and he returns to his childhood home, a place he hasn’t visited since his father died.

The story is told in two timelines. We follow the friends as they build up for a double celebration, a birthday and 4th July. We then jump forward to the present day. This is an old and tested method and a way of storytelling that I particularly enjoy. We get to witness the difference between the characters as the years have passed and also see the impact that their actions have had upon them. Something that they all have in common is a feeling of ultimate doom, like they’ve all simply been waiting for something bad to happen. Dale’s wife has gone missing and he’s the prime suspect, he has a serious drink problem and is seeing things in the dark. Eric has become the local police chief, he is married with a family and this ultimately gives him this heightened sense of needing to pull out all the stops to protect what he has. Meach suffers with drug addiction. He is haunted (literally) by the past and can’t escape the guilt. Tig runs a local bar and diner, she has a young daughter who seems to be acting quite unusually, sleepwalking and getting into dangerous situations. Are they all cursed, or has the guilt simply got too much.

Now, all of this is built up gradually, all the while we have this small town feel, the sense of overall dilapidation and negativity. Then throw into the mix the local witch – that one woman who is plagued because she’s different and doesn’t fit the norm. And, Andrew’s childhood home also plays a strange part – it’s full of flies, the cellar is flooded with dark brackish water that steadily rises each day and someone has been squatting. It’s really creepy, I couldn’t actually believe that he could even sleep in the house, particularly with the eerie feeling of being watched.

What I really liked about this. The absolute sense of dread and horror. Malfi is fantastic at making you feel fear as you read. One example, Andrew, before he returns to his hometown, he’s in the bedroom one night, his wife taking a shower, when he becomes aware that he’s not alone, something is watching him from the shadows, something that begins to retreat slowly once it realises it has been noticed. Okay, I’m not a writer so I can’t do that scene justice but it gave me a serious case of the heebies. I found myself looking round the room into the dark corners. And this sense of creepiness keeps on and is increased by the general feeling of foreboding.

There’s also the mystery of what actually happened on ‘that night’. It’s one of those situations that is just staggering, and shattering. The sort of occurence that would make you repeatedly ask ‘if only’. It was captivating, of course you have an idea of what is going to happen, but at the same time you’re almost racing forward to find out what the big reveal is.

In the present day there’s also the mystery of the missing wife. Dale’s wife had been acting very strangely for some time and you could see why the police would have no hesitation in suspecting him of wanting to put a stop to her shenanigans. The situation is placing Dale under enormous stress and there is always the potential that he will give away secrets.

The other thing I really liked was the sense of anticipation and the build up of atmosphere as we head to the finale.

Also, there is a twist that I really didn’t see coming.

In terms of criticisms. Well, even now, as I write this review, I just don’t know how I feel about the ending. It was definitely a surprise. Everything went a little crazy and it all felt so abrupt, and a little sad. I think it was perhaps a bit of a shock and in some ways I feel like I should go back and reread the ending to see what vibes it gives me the second time round. In a nutshell I can’t help feeling that I’ve missed something important.

Anyway, this was certainly a compelling read and very well written and I can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I really enjoy the small town setting in horror novels. This is spooky and suspenseful. The ending is completely messed up!

Whew - this is a very well-written feel bad book. Our narrator, Andrew, gets a call to return to the hometown he abandoned as soon as he could, reuniting him and his four friends to confront their darkest secret.

"My father was right about small towns: the cost is sometimes higher than the return, and secrets, much like the things that lurk far below the surface of the bay, can stay buried for a very, very long time. But in the end, everyone pays."

When they were 16, the five of them did something unforgivable, and now 20 years later they are being haunted by the ghost they created and a curse they placed on the whole town. It's easy to kind of hate everyone, even while you also feel bad for the ones in which they are being punished. It's a good reminder that terribleness is a spectrum and some of these human monsters are worse than others.

There are lots of twists at the end that I did not see coming, not even a little bit, and lots of times I said "oh no!" out loud because it was shocking. I was swept up in these characters, but especially in the mystery of how things were going to resolve in the present when the past decided it was time to come clean.

The last note I wrote was "how hopeless." There really isn't a good ending for anyone, so prepare yourself.