Another awesome book by a super author. Don't you love the "who done it" books? This is definitely a sit on the edge read. The entire story you ask yourself, did he do it? No way can you figure out until the end so go read about this Detective working a case after losing his wife to cancer and help figure out who killed who. Great exciting story and some of a gruesome tale.

Ronald Malfi has always tried to reach into your chest and squish your heart like a grape through his writing. With Senseless, he succeeds.

This novel isn't your typical horror book yet it's disturbing in a visceral way. It IS horrific and builds a wall of tension so thick you need a chainsaw to cut through it.

The narrative is the story of a brutally murdered woman left in the desert told through three different arcs.

Seemingly unrelated at first, as pieces of this psychologically unnerving puzzle starts coming together, they are all intertwined and creates a stunning and deeply unsettling story.

Ronald Malfi knows when to push and when to pull back, leaving the reader off kilter as what you think are conclusions are blown apart later. Yeah, you'll think you'll know things but you'll be wrong.

All of the characters in this novel have dark secrets of their own. These secrets will make you think twice once they're revealed and, by the end, I quit trying to figure it out and just let the author take me along this brutal ride.

This is already on my favorite boots of 2025 list. Don't think about it, just pre-order it and prepare yourself for a sleepless night once it arrives. I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.

A trio of background stories that meander and weave into one spellbinding outcome.

A mutilated body is found in the desert on the outreaches of LA. An officer at the scene recognises some similarities to another body found in the same location some twelve months earlier. Convinced the murders are linked, Officer Politano asks that the original investigating officer be informed. Enter Detective Bill Renney, a man with more than his share of secrets and heartache.

Then there is Maureen Park, author, newly engaged to Greg Dawson, a mover and shaker in the movie business. All is going ‘fine’ with their relationship until Greg’s son Landon appears.

Last but certainly not least is Toby Kampen, 22 years old and more than a worry for his mother.

A slow, but enticing, burn of a book that gets the reader drawn in with the unravelling of the main characters. Throughout there is a sense of unease, suspense and more than a whiff of the supernatural. This was definitely a book I wanted more of even though it’s a decent length.

If I have one criticism is that the ending was a bit of a rush, and I was a little confused about Maureen’s secret and the mystery woman? Plus I wanted to know more about Monkey!! 😱

All in all a very good read. Not my favourite Malfi offering but still a good 4.5*.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books.

This has to be my most favorite Malfi book to date!

Bill is investigating a murder in the desert that left a woman extremely mutilated. The author does not hold back on the description of the injuries, which made me slightly queasy! The murder is reminiscent of another unsolved murder that happened a year prior that Bill also investigated .Could they be connected?

Maureen is a one time author marrying a rich Hollywood writer. It is from Maureen’s point of view that we meet her fiancé‘s son Landon, who is a spoiled, entitled 20 something. The more she gets to know Landon the more she begins, questioning her relationship to her fiancé, as well as what secrets may be hidden within this family.

Toby is a 22 year old vagrant who characterizes himself as a fly, of the common household variety, He spends the better part of his evenings going to seedy nightclubs within the city in an attempt to fit in somewhere. It’s at one of these nightclubs he has a brief run-in with a girl who has rattlesnake teeth. Yes, you read that right, rattlesnake teeth. Who is this girl and could she possibly be a vampire? The brief encounter has left Toby infatuated to the point he spends every evening trying to find her. Inevitably, he does and they spend their evenings driving around the city, Toby, being more of the chauffeur than anything else.

The author ties together all of these point of views, almost perfectly. This is one of those books that I absolutely could not put down and to be honest would have kept reading it if it was 1000 pages I realized I was getting close to the end and definitely wanted more. The only reason this isn’t a five star read for me is the ending. I believe a few points were definitely tied up and I liked how they came together, but it almost felt a little bit rushed due to the pace of the rest of the book.. This, in my opinion, is completely evident with the tie up of Maureen’s storyline. It just didn’t fit as seamless as the rest of the other storylines did. If I had to choose, I would say Bill‘s storyline is the one that I was most interested in. It had a bit of the gritty crime thriller that I really enjoy, but I also don’t want to discount some of the other storylines, they had a bit of a horror element to them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and was reading it into the wee hours of the night and it was the first thing I picked up in the morning. I would highly recommend you pick this one up if you are a fan of this author’s work or even if you were interested in trying one of his novels, this one is it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Ronald Malfi is one of my all-time favorite writers—and I’m sure he’ll be one of yours too!

In Senseless, we meet Detective Bill Renney, a man still grieving the loss of his wife and now faced with a gruesome new case: a body found in the desert with telltale signs suggesting a serial killer. The body is desiccated in a unique way—details the police never released to the public. Bill, struggling to make progress on the case, reluctantly leans on the husband of the first victim, a psychiatrist with his own secrets, and partners with a rookie officer eager to make his mark.

Then there’s Maureen Park, engaged to a Hollywood producer. But when his strange son crashes their engagement party, Maureen starts to sense something deeply unsettling beneath the surface.

Finally, we have young Toby Kampen, living in squalor and convinced he’s found a real vampire. The “gift” he presents to this dark figure sets off a chain of horrors that links these lives in unimaginable ways.

This book is scary, smart, and full of twists that will keep you guessing until the wild ending brings it all together.
#titanbooks #senseless #ronaldmalfi

Okay, so, like, wow, this was a total rollercoaster! I mean, it’s so twisty and dark—think LA, but with, like, supernatural vibes that’ll keep you guessing until the very end. There’s a detective trying to connect some gnarly dots in a murder mystery, but, like, the secrets and hidden agendas are soooo much deeper than that. Think seriously unsettling characters with wild storylines that will keep you on edge—that’s the kind of stuff that gives you chills 😳

The suspense is, like, totally next level, and you're on the edge of your seat the whole time. I couldn’t put it down because things just kept getting crazier—the kind of stuff that makes you wanna double-check your locks at night, y’know? And the horror? Ugh, it’s like, unapologetically creepy in the best way.

The way everything ties together is SO satisfying, and, like, it’s definitely a must-read for anyone who loves a good, spooky puzzle. It’s dark, it’s twisted, it’s everything you want in a horror, with a touch of something else lurking in the shadows. 🦇

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!