Review: Small Town Horror

3 stars. I hate to say only 3 stars - because I really loved Bone White and am a Ronald Malfi fan in general. People say he writes like Stephen King and yeah, he sort of does! But this one just didn’t click as well for me. It’s good horror - classic, even. It utilizes tropes in fresh ways and has a real banger of an ending. Something about it, though… I’m getting ahead of myself.

Small Town Horror is aptly named. Andrew Larimer is our primary narrator, called back to his childhood hometown to help a friend whose wife has gone missing. It’s immediately clear that some dreadful secret, some shared traumatic experience, haunts Andrew, his friend and a few other old acquaintances - literally, it haunts them. As the terrifying encounters add up, the dark past comes to light, and Andrew must face (so cheesy): the ultimate reckoning.

Many, many others have pointed out the whole “group of childhood friends reunite to fight evil” thing - sometimes it’s really fun to read a story that pays adequate tribute to It, other times it’s way more fun to just read It. I think where this differs is how unlikeable the characters are - they are not heroes, and it’s kind of hard to root for them, so reading sort of feels like watching dirty water circle a drain.

But there are some really fun moments along the way. Malfi lovessssss incorporating a lot of horror elements. I wonder if he was influenced by The Fisherman… there are some interesting water-based scares. I predicted the major twist early on, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad twist, only that my brain works that way.

So, yeah. I liked it! And again, great, great ending. Tig’s arc was particularly nasty and wonderful. I’m really excited to read more by this author. I could see fans of Jennifer McMahon enjoying this.

Small Town Horror on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads