A perfect summer book. Great characters with a twisted plot that moved along quite nicely. I loved that the supernatural part of Black Mouth was not necessarily all supernatural. Either way, the Lovecraftian elements of the dream world under the barn, in the Mouth, were well thought out and terrifying.

Yes, the plot paralleled a thousand other evil clown books. Except that the evil clown was a magician, not a clown. The characters were part of a lower class dreg society in their youth, experienced the trauma of youthful/at home violence and grew up very flawed because of it. They came out on the other side of their childhoods during the course of the book. Justice was served - Violently. Not in any unexpected ways, but it was still a satisfying read.

My 2¢ on the frequently mentioned: I thought it was miles better than It, but, to be honest, I haven't read the King book since the hardcover release in 1986. Long time. ( )

I've tried to read Malfi before, but never made it through the book. A good friend tossed me this one, having just finished it herself, telling me she wasn't sure what she thought about it yet.

I like a challenge.

So, this is IT by way of DREAMCATCHER's Duddits but with far less charm.

The concept wasn't bad, though it was fairly easy to guess the twist at about the halfway point. I think this could have been a far more solid horror novel if...well...if Malfi had maybe offered up some horror in the first third of the book. It was an awful lot of set-up, only to set the expectation for the reader that these four characters were the ones we were following, only to have another major one introduced very late in the game.

So, that was strike one. Strike two? The fact that Malfi felt it necessary to insert a Duddits-style character in Dennis. That is, a mentally challenged younger brother who holds all the answers but is incapable of relaying them well. Why does Dennis have this connection to the magician? How can he know everything he knows?

Because reasons. Lazy. Sorry, but this? This is just lazy.

The final strike is just for the pacing of the entire novel, as well as some decisions toward the end. We go way too far back for the start of the novel, going through Jamie Warren's almost firing due to his alcoholism, then through his stint in rehab, then being back on the job, before he finally gets the call that mom has died. This should have been a page-long flashback as Jamie's on his way home, not pages and pages and pages.

And it was like this throughout the novel. It's dark. It's grim. Jamie's broken because he's fighting booze. Clay is broken because of his skin pigment issue. Mia is broken because of the circumstances of her upbringing. Dennis is broken because...well, we've covered that. And they're all broken because they grew up in the shadow of Black Mouth. Which is fine. See how quickly I laid it out here? You'll get entire damn chapters going over and over and over it in the novel.

I won't spoil the ending, but the decision to not use all the characters for the final confrontation was simply...confusing. Hey reader, I'm gonna give you a full book of characters and lay out their histories, only to essentially forget them at the end. Cool?

Yeah, not cool.

So, yes, this one simply did not grab me. Was the narrative style good? Yes. I enjoyed the actual writing. But it was what was written about that left me cold.

One more author to scratch off the list, I guess. ( )

Just finished. Book of the year contender! Wow! Powerful, haunting, and mesmerizing. I finished reading this book in the dark and now I'm thinking that wasn't a great idea. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself! ( )

Oh the creepy vibes this book exudes!! It reminded me so much of Stephen King’s It!
Four childhood friends reunite in their hometown decades after last seeing each other. They all went through horrific events when they were teenagers, and committed a terrible crime. It’s the same horror that brings them back together; but this time around, they must end it all before it consumes them.
Super atmospheric with very real characters. It’s utterly creepy and brilliant at the same time. ( )

I had never read a book by this author and this was really good. It is a little like It by Stephen King and a little like NOS4A2 from Joe Hill, but there was enough original story and the author’s writing was enough to make this book all his own. ( )