This is one of those books where I think I just may have been in a mood or something.

While I normally devour Malfi's books, this one didn't really hit for me.

It's definitely dark and weird, maybe more crime than horror, and it was just a little disjointed at times.

It had a little bit of a 1980's feel to it. That's not a bad thing, just an unexpected one.

I think maybe I just wanted it to be something different than it was.

Will definitely read the author again, though, and may revisit this one in the future.

This author is an auto buy for me. His plots are strong and characters relatable. He deals with the subject on a literary level. I loved this book.

I requested this on a whim, and went in with no expectations as I had never read a Malfi book prior. Now, I have a new author’s entire catalogue to devour!

The horror element hits you from the beginning, which I like. This story is told with three POVs, and that was done extremely well! Each person was clearly delineated. There were times when I wasn’t sure if everything would tie together, as there was such a chasm between characters, or if there would just be three disparate timelines, but the various twists braided together seamlessly. The writing style in this is so descriptive, and the flow felt right.

I did think the book was longer than necessary to tell the story, and there were times with Toby’s POV that the alternate reality was verbose when it didn’t need to be. But, overall a chilling read.

3.5 Stars

Reeling from the death of his own wife, Detective Bill Renney empathizes with a recent widower whose wife was murdered, the M.O. eerily similar to that of a previous murder victim. After Renney finds himself entangled in a career-killing predicament, new information is uncovered, and he begins to question the widower’s innocence.

Malfi bends genres in this latest offering. From what I’ve learned about this author, he dabbles primarily in horror, which is evident in his solid execution of the supernatural vibe as well as his disturbing characterization of Toby (a young man who identifies as a housefly), his mother he perceives a spider, and a sleazy opportunist who may or may not be a vampire. If that doesn’t evoke your interest, I don’t know what will. Toss in a sociopathic narcissist and some moderately interesting characters (whose main purpose, it seems, is to throw readers off-course) and you have a disquieting murder mystery not soon forgotten.

I know I’m swimming against the stream here, but SENSELESS didn’t resonate with me; while several parts of the novel invited some serious skimming, the ending seemed rushed. But that won’t dissuade me from checking out other novels by Ronald Malfi. A loyal fanbase suggests an esteemed talent. Much appreciation to NetGalley, Titan Books, and the author.

Another awesome book from Ronald Malfi!

Senseless is police procedural/thriller. 3 POV’s. Maureen, the fiancée of a powerful and successful film producer. Toby, an extremely mentally ill man living with his abusive mother. Renney, a detective in charge of two heinous murders of young women in the Hollywood area. Although all the perspectives are extremely different, eventually they are all tied together.

There were some genuinely terrifying moments in this book. Landon, Maureen’s future stepson. Is particularly scary. He’s got an obvious personality disorder and hates his father. I won’t go in to spoilers but the scene with “the monkey” is still rolling around in my brain.

My favorite POV was detective Renney. He’s grieving the loss of his wife and because of that makes some bad decisions while investigating the cases.

Definitely recommend for thriller fans.

In some respects Ronald Malfi's Senseless is a standard thriller with familiar elements in place. The novel opens with a serial killer situation developing, the body of a young woman discovered in the desert outside Los Angeles a year after the similar horrific killing and mutilation (not necessarily in that order) of an actress in horror B movies. The cop investigating the murder has been going through a difficult time after his wife's death from cancer, and this is a setback because he believed that he had found the killer after the first murder

There is a little twist here - not really a spoiler, but certainly something that is essential to note since ir adds another element of uncertainty and ambiguity to the case - in that it's suggested that Detective Bill Rennie had 'resolved' the previous case but helping the husband of the dead woman bury the body of the man they believed was her killer. The question that troubles him - aside from getting found out - is whether this is a copycat killer or did they get something very wrong.

There are a few other elements - initially hard to connect to the new murder - that continue to make the case that Senseless is not like any ordinary thriller. In a parallel plot-line Maureen is introduced to the wayward son of Greg, a Hollywood producer who she is going to marry. Landon is a bit wild, but his friend/hanger-on tells Maureen about some of Landon's troubling behaviours with women, and that he has a book of crime scene photographs of the second woman who has been murdered. What is different about this part of the novel is that Maureen is a writer and there are excerpts included from Hollywood Vampires, the latest novel she is working on, a strange and disturbing horror novel.

So there are a few connecting elements there relating to the horror movie industry, to Hollywood lives, but there is a further strange third part to Senseless. Meet Toby Krampen, who we are told is a human fly. Having escaped from the Spider’s web he finds his calling when he is introduced to the idea of Renfield from Dracula by a beautiful goth lady with vampire teeth he has met in a club called The Coffin. Where this fits in is anyone's guess at the early stage of the novel, but although the first two parts have familiar thriller features, there is enough here to keep you intrigued as to the direction each of these threads are going.

It's not weirdness for the sake of it - or not just for the sake of it. Malfi uses each of these elements to find a less conventional path to a murder mystery investigation. And you can be certain - not least because of the flaws in the character of the lead detective - that it's not one that the police with limited resources and little experience of this kind of murder investigation are going to solve through persistence and cleverness. It's going to take all the other strange events, not least the nature of the killings themselves, to make their way up to the surface for it all to come together. And, whether you are familiar with Ronald Malfi or not, you can be sure when it does, it's going to be exceptional.

I absolutely love Ronald Malfi. He writes a good horror/suspense novel without it being too outrageous. He is quickly solidifying himself as an auto buy author for me

This was my first novel by this Author. I love reading and I enjoy books. I try to relate to the characters in the story. However, I didn’t in this one. It’s hard to put in words. I considered maybe it’s because I’m not familiar with the Author’s style of writing. My opinion may be unpopular about this one which brings me to my point about reading for yourself. My opinion is mine and may differ from others. I hope you enjoy it.

This was the first book I had read by this author and I found the plot really interesting but quite difficult to get stuck into.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

Well...I'm not sure what I think of this. And that makes me in the minority, because everyone else seems to love this.

To clarify - I don't hate it, but I don't love it.

Bill Renney is called to the desert outside Los Angeles when a body is found that mimics the killing of a case he dealt with the year before. All the woman's 'senses' are cut off - her nose, ears, eyes, fingers and tongue. It's an unusual method of death, and they never released how the previous woman died - so is it a copycat who happens to know, or the same killer back again?

Maureen Park is recently engaged to Greg, a Hollywood producer, when his wayward adult son, Landon, unexpectedly comes home. Landon is strange, and he makes Maureen feel uncomfortable, which only worsens the longer she knows him.

Toby Kamden is a Human Fly, who is trying to avoid his Spider mother. He meets a vampire at a club and becomes enthralled by her, desperate to become a vampire himself and leave his Fly life behind.

Three distinct POVs and three different storylines slowly intertwine, with the unusual murder at the heart of all three.

I'll be honest: I didn't care for Maureen's storyline - it felt weak, and her character was underwritten. I didn't particularly understand why she was there (which is the point), but she just didn't give me anything. It felt like her whole character was written to be...anxious and stressed. More time was devoted to her OCD than actually giving her a real personality. When her storyline ended, I was like, 'Ah...well, that explains something about her', but I felt like she, Greg and Landon could have been excluded from the book, and nothing much would have changed. Sure, one thing would need to be rewritten, but that's about it.

Bill, you're a terrible police officer. I'm sorry, not sorry. His whole storyline is sad, but you can tell his heart isn't in it anymore since his wife died, which is why he lets so many crucial plot points pass him by. He redeems himself a little at the end, but I certainly wouldn't want him in any case of mine.

Toby was...bizarre. You're reading about someone who thinks he's a Human Fly, so there's only so much you can relate to through that. It was also hard to read as you never knew what was real and what was made up, which was perfectly fine as it fit in with Toby's own thoughts. He also doesn't know what's real and what isn't.

The writing in this was fine, and I didn't struggle to read it. I just wish there'd been a little more personality given to some of the characters and more threads were tied up. At the end of the story, I found myself going, 'But what about x? and x? and x?' because it just wasn't explained. I also disliked that he used the word swampy to describe sweat, even though it turns out that it was only in the book 3 times!

As you'll note from other readers, this book is hitting its right audience but it unfortunately didn't quite hit the mark for me, personally!

Senseless was a different experience for me. I typically love Malfi's work, but one of the three storylines in this book left me less than engaged. Toby and his thoughts of being a 'fly', and his mother being a 'spider' nearly had me skipping the chapters, and wanting to get back to either of the two remaining threads. I also couldn't follow his fascination with the woman he considered a 'vampire'. I couldn't figure out if the fly and spider talk was to further his poor mental state or what the author had in mind.

The thread involving Greg, his son Landon, and his fiancée Maureen was filled with a healthy dose of tension. Landon was a dark and unsettling character. Between him and Greg, I didn't trust either of them, leaving it very easy to feel sympathy for Maureen. I was rooting for her to survive and have a happy ending.

Detective Bill Renney and his back and forth with Alan had me guessing who killed his wife, MJ. I was really wrapped up in this thread and getting down to who was the killer in her murder and who killed the woman found in the desert. As the three threads converged in the climax a lot of details were revealed. I did love the way Malfi tied it all together. Then there was the ending which I found odd. I didn't get the typical satisfaction of having a wrapped up story. I felt Detective Renney kind of faded out and there was more that should have been said. All in all, it was a good read, but Senseless was not my favorite book from one of my favorite authors.

5⭐️s

Have you met the monkey? If you ever hear those words uttered, just know that nothing good will follow. (This part made my skin crawl)

Malfi is a brilliant author. The deftness with which these seemingly disparate stories are woven together, each carefully revealing interconnected details at a perfectly timed pace, is truly a masterclass.

The horror is subtle while somehow also being formidable, and the line between the supernatural and the corporeal is expertly maneuvered.

This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Themes…
The weight of the secrets we carry is often more debilitating than the event that precipitated the need to keep the secret in the first place. Mental illness is also explored in a way that avoids the pitfalls of exploitation.

Character Work…
These characters are memorable. You can almost pinpoint where each might fall on a spectrum of flawed despicability. There is depth to every character, and we get to know them inside out, and we grow to have equal amounts of empathy and resentment towards each.

Prose…
Malfi’s writing is beautiful. I often find myself highlighting a sentence or two while reading because their beauty hits me in a remarkable way. On several occasions while reading this book, I would look up to find entire paragraphs highlighted.

Pace…
Well-paced. It’s not a whirlwind by any means, but there wasn’t a single moment I felt labored while reading. Every moment mattered, and each hit with an expertly measured tempo.

I've always been curious about Ronald Malfi's books so when I saw this pop up, I knew I had to read it. Plus look at that cover! The story starts off when Detective Renney starts investigating the death of a woman whose death is eerily similar to the death of another woman a year prior. We follow multiple povs as we try to uncover the truth about what happened.

While I enjoyed Ronalds Malfi's writing, I was more just along for the ride for most of it. Not much was happening and it did get a bit repetitive. Some of the characters decisions were a bit odd so it was hard to fully invest in their pov. However, once I got around the 60% mark, the pacing picks up and I did not want to put it down. Overall an entertaining read 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for this arc.

Malfi never disappoints. There's a lot of intrigue in how these women are murdered, and who murdered them. I appreciated the slow reveal, the red herrings, and the complicated relationships of the characters.

I appreciated the three different povs, but found myself most drawn to Detective Bill Renney. I really sympathized with his plight to solve the cases while managing his grief. The choices he made, while shocking, were understandable. The character was so rich, that his chapters stood out as the best.

Toby's chapters were disturbing, but the scenes with Maureen and Landon were the most unsettling. Their cat and mouse with one another really propelled her chapters.

Another certified, tense thriller in that entertaining Malfi style. Highly recommend!

This author has an incredible talent for twisting and reshaping ideas in the most unexpected ways. I was completely off balance throughout the entire book, and it was absolutely mesmerizing. Treat yourself and dive into this horror thriller.

Usually I rave about Malfi. This one just didn't do it for me. The characters made ridiculous choices and the explanation of how the various storylines all linked together and the truth of what really happened was tenuous and mundane respectively.
3 stars because the man can write and I enjoyed it until the reveals came.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I thought some of the chapters were just long and boring. I didn't like the way the author repeated a lot. This book was definitely not a horror book but also didn't have the excitement of a thriller. The entire book reads a bit lackluster and has you waiting for some momentous occasion that never occurs. After everything wraps up in the end I'm still not sure what the point of it all was.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

Detective Bill Renney has a secret that may intefer with his new case. There is a killer on the loose. Three people's life's intersect. Can the killer be stopped? Thrilling suspense filled read.

Renny fonds himself at the center of quote a few stories bigger than himself. The multiple POV also makes for partially intertwined side stories. It is at times confusing and patience is needed to unfurl the madness. The ending for me, left something to be desired and I wish there was MORE of an explanation. Or, maybe that's the point, to draw your own. Either way, this story was entertaining with a unique perspective.

A woman is found dead in the desert, her body mutilated in very specific ways. For detective Renney, this is a possible serial murder.
A perfect Hollywood engagement turns sour.
Tired of his life, Toby doesn’t want to be a fly anymore. When he meets a woman with sharp teeth, she might be able to turn him into something else.

Senseless takes 3 separate plot lines and draws them together seamlessly. Renny’s grief while investigating the murders, Toby’s psychedelic journey and Maureen’s descent into paranoia are all expertly brought to life on the page, and three very different plot lines come together in ways you don’t see coming. I loved the way that Malfi ties everything together, even when they are connected the stories are so unique.

Part police procedural/serial killer, part psychological thriller, part creature horror, Senseless really has elements of everything. It’s quite slow burn, but I think worth it when the stories start to ramp up.
Malfi continues to impress me, and Senseless is no exception. If you are looking for weird and wonderful, you’ve found it.