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marleighshirtum's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
time4tori2read's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dihydrogenmonoxide's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
wynplus1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I feel like in a book of short stories, it's very rare for all of them to hit. Usually, one or two will stick out, but it's generally a mixing bag of interesting. Ghostwritten was completely different for me - I loved every single story. I felt like they all had really good pacing and the tense horror elements were really solid. Out of any of them, I'd say The Skin of Her Teeth was the weakest for me, but I still enjoyed it and the other three stories more than made up for it.
turtle2785's review
5.0
4 1/2 stars. If a novella leaves you wanting more is that actually a bad thing? All of these are about haunted books one way or another
Story 1: great set up but ending left me wanting more
Story 2: best of the bunch. A haunted road trip with two criminals set to deliver a package. More haunted road trips please!!
Story 3: a little too long. Interesting concept and strange kid in a clown mask in a large spooky house but weirdly something didn’t click. Not bad but my least favorite.
Story 4: my second favorite. I need this to be a full length novel. It ended way too early and took too long to get going. A detective novel with a dash of The Ring all in a choose your own adventure style novel. If this was a full novel it would be a masterpiece!
Story 1: great set up but ending left me wanting more
Story 2: best of the bunch. A haunted road trip with two criminals set to deliver a package. More haunted road trips please!!
Story 3: a little too long. Interesting concept and strange kid in a clown mask in a large spooky house but weirdly something didn’t click. Not bad but my least favorite.
Story 4: my second favorite. I need this to be a full length novel. It ended way too early and took too long to get going. A detective novel with a dash of The Ring all in a choose your own adventure style novel. If this was a full novel it would be a masterpiece!
whatyoutolkienabout's review against another edition
4.0
I firstly want to thank Titan Book and Netgalley for sending me an E-Arc this book to review. My review is left voluntarily and is completely honest.
After recently reading an ARC of Black Mouth by Malfi I was interested to see what their novellas would be like. Ghostwritten is an interesting collection of four short stories tied together by a single thread. While the style is a bit of a change from previous novels we still get Malfi’s mastery of the uncanny and chilling. I personally preferred the third novella in this collection since I felt there was more to connect with.
The only issue I really had with this one, which lowered the rating to four stars is the characters do not really stand out to me, apart from in the third novella as mentioned. I just couldn’t really get invested enough to actually care or worry if they would survive the chilling tale. Of course being shorter in length there is not lots of space or time for character building but for me it just made it a tad less worrying since I honestly wasn’t that bothered if they lived or died. That might say more about me as a reader and horror fan than Malfi’s writing. What I will say though is we do have an interesting cross section of characters from literary agents to mob underlings.
I did enjoy the idea of the horror coming from the written word. Malfi’s horror is something I am enjoying and I can see them becoming a staple in the genre in the future. Definitely a good chilling read for spooky season.
After recently reading an ARC of Black Mouth by Malfi I was interested to see what their novellas would be like. Ghostwritten is an interesting collection of four short stories tied together by a single thread. While the style is a bit of a change from previous novels we still get Malfi’s mastery of the uncanny and chilling. I personally preferred the third novella in this collection since I felt there was more to connect with.
The only issue I really had with this one, which lowered the rating to four stars is the characters do not really stand out to me, apart from in the third novella as mentioned. I just couldn’t really get invested enough to actually care or worry if they would survive the chilling tale. Of course being shorter in length there is not lots of space or time for character building but for me it just made it a tad less worrying since I honestly wasn’t that bothered if they lived or died. That might say more about me as a reader and horror fan than Malfi’s writing. What I will say though is we do have an interesting cross section of characters from literary agents to mob underlings.
I did enjoy the idea of the horror coming from the written word. Malfi’s horror is something I am enjoying and I can see them becoming a staple in the genre in the future. Definitely a good chilling read for spooky season.
sav_leigh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Suicide mentioned heavily in numerous ways in the final novella, The Story.robertod2004's review against another edition
4.0
With thanks to the author, publishers Titan Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC on this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
This is a really entertaining collection of horror novellas from the pen of one of my favourite horror authors, Ronald Malfi. All four novellas have at their centre a cursed book of some sort, and all are entertaining in their own right, but for me The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride and The Story were the best of the four.
I really enjoy the writing of Ronald Malfi, having read both Come with Me and Black Mouth in the last couple of years. Also his horror novella Borealis is a favourite of mine, and this collection continues in the same strong vein. Recommended.
This is a really entertaining collection of horror novellas from the pen of one of my favourite horror authors, Ronald Malfi. All four novellas have at their centre a cursed book of some sort, and all are entertaining in their own right, but for me The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride and The Story were the best of the four.
I really enjoy the writing of Ronald Malfi, having read both Come with Me and Black Mouth in the last couple of years. Also his horror novella Borealis is a favourite of mine, and this collection continues in the same strong vein. Recommended.
kellylouise's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0