Skip to main content

They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

 

Title: They Lurk

Author: Ronald Malfi

Genre: Horror

Published: July 18, 2023 by Titan Books

I received a copy for review through NetGalley.


They Lurk is a collection of five novellas about the evil that lurks just out of sight waiting to strike. The first four novellas in the collection were previously published by DarkFuse in 2009. Now they are being reprinted by Titan with the addition of a new novella Fierce which is a 100% must read. The novellas seemed to be ordered from least amount of tension and horror to the most. The first two novellas were quiet slow burn stories and then things really kick off from there with ever increasing dread until the ultimate peak in Fierce. 

Skullbelly- A private investigator is hired by the families of a group of campers that go missing in the Pacific Northwest where he learns the terrifying local legend of the cryptid, Skullbelly. The character study of the PI, the backwoods small town atmosphere, and the truly horrifying description of Skullbelly were enough to keep interest in this slow burn story. 3.75 stars

The Separation- A group of friends and attendants try to help a professional boxer that has started to feel displaced after a bad break up. This was a weird unique story that left me wondering what was truly happening until the very end. 3.5 stars

The Stranger- A couple on a road trip find a stranger in their car in a motel parking lot. This one really ramps up into some really disturbing body horror. 4 stars

After the Fade- A group of people are stuck in a bar during an infestation of big deadly insects. This novella was a truly horrifying apocalyptic novella featuring plenty of nightmare fuel. 4.5 stars

Fierce- A mother and daughter are thrown into the ultimate fight for survival after getting in a car accident during a snow storm. This is one amazing survival story with tension that keeps ratcheting up throughout and left me literally squirming with dread. 5 stars

My Average Rating: 4.15 out of 5 stars


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen

Book Title: The Light of the Fireflies Author: Paul Pen Translator: Simon Bruni Genre: Fiction, Thriller Rating: 4.5/5 stars Goodreads A haunting and hopeful tale of discovering light in even the darkest of places. For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns. He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone’s been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why they’re shut away. A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swarm: Replugged Book Review by James Flynn

  Title: Swarm: Replugged Author: James Flynn Genre: Science Fiction Published Originally 2/1/2021 by the author, now with an new revised edition. Thank you to the author for providing a copy for review. In the second edition of Swarm, the city of Rachton is riddled with crime. A victim of crime, Eric Trammel, has turned to a life in the GLC to help fight against the criminals ruining his city. The answer the GLC comes up with is a new prison where prisoners can by connected to a hive mind to harvest their consciences to create answers to their hardest questions.  Swarm: Replugged is a great science fiction thought experiment of the possibilities of the human mind as well as the consequences of harvesting it. I read both editions of this book at the same time to compare. There are a lot of revisions that make the prose tighter though I really enjoyed both versions. Eric Trammel is a great sympathetic character to follow the story of best intentions gone wrong. I really enjoyed...
Post a Comment
Read more

Alt Vegas: Nuclear Dreams by Wren Cavanagh Book Review

   Title: Alt Vegas: Nuclear Dreams Author: Wren Cavanagh Genre: Horror Published: September 28, 2024 I received a copy for review from the author.    Kyle and Mandy have dreams making a profit by developing when they purchase land in Esperville, Oregon. Soon they find out the land is home to a portal to another dimension stuck in 1950s Las Vegas. It is a hard place with unforgiving desert and fiendish creatures. This a fantastic creature feature horror novel with an alternate dimension flair. The characters, Kyle and Mandy, did not seem sympathetic at first as foolhardy newlyweds taking on more than they can chew. However, throughout the story they become more and more endearing. They are great underdog characters to root for. The portal to Alt Vegas allows for such contrasting settings. The lush and overgrown Oregon with the desert landscape outside 1950s Vegas. The last fourth of the book could have used another round of line editing, but overall this was a fantas...
Post a Comment
Read more