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alexandragriffin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual assault
byo_books's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty
bookbelle5_17's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Review of Black Mouth
By: Ronald Malfi
When Jamie Warren was thirteen, he, his brother Dennis, and two best friends Mia and Clay encounter a mysterious known as the Magician. He teaches them magic tricks, tells them they can learn magic, but asks them to do terrible things such as sacrifice Dennis. As an adult, Jamie is haunted by those memories becoming an alcoholic like his abusive father, but now he is being called home to Black Mouth. The Magician has returned, and Jamie, Dennis, Mia, and Clay intend to stop him before he poisons any more children.
This dark and creepy story has supernatural undertones as you donโt know if the Magician is an immortal or if the characterโs minds are playing tricks on them. Jamie like a lot of unreliable narrators in thrillers is an alcoholic so you find yourself not sure if he is haunted by metaphorical ghosts or literal ghosts. This adds to creepy and unsettledness to the plot as its hard to determine whatโs real and what isnโt. Jamie as a main character is sympathetic with his addiction, his fears about the magician, and his complicated emotions towards Dennis. He loves Dennis but finds it challenging to take of his brother. The other two characters Mia and Clay are interesting too. Clay was born with a disfigurement known as Vitiligo, meaning he lacked pigmentation on certain parts of his skin, and he would get bullied mercilessly. As an adult he deals with it a lot better and helps kids with issues like his. Mia on the other hand, lost her parents in a car accident and had become obsessed with death, eventually making horror movies as adult. They deal with what happened in their own way. Clay wanting to make sure they protect others like them, Mia wants revenge, and Jamie wants to run taking care of his brother with him. It reflects how they each cope with trauma; Clay uses it to make him stronger, Mia is full of anger fueling her, and Jamie avoids. There is foul language and one character whose head I hated being inside. He has ugly thoughts that bothered me. The story is good with themes of friendship and the darkness within all of us.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder
kermit_the_wrong's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
teaandtales1's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ: Jamie Warren has been avoiding his hometown for years, after dealing with a lot of childhood abuse and trauma and suffering through years of alcoholism. The death of his mother and need to care for his brother, bring him back to Black Mouth on a collision course with ghosts of his past. Joining him are two former friends who come together to finally deal with their past demons, both literally and figuratively.
๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ: Ronald Malfi
๐๐๐ ๐๐ฌ: 436
๐๐๐ง๐ซ๐: Horror
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐:... Eh ๐คทโโ๏ธ
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ: Yes, but by the thinnest of hairs
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐: Contemporary
๐๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ :๐ป๐ป
๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ: โญโญโญ
This is the fourth or fifth book I've read by Malfi, and I'm a big fan. Unfortunately this is my least favorite of his, as I never felt it got off the ground and went somewhere.
The book had a very similar vibe to two of my favorite Stephen King novels - It and Revival, but sadly the plot faltered. Jaimie is the main character and protagonist, but I found him to be the least interesting of the main four.
The friends are brought together after one of them witnesses a mysterious magician who had preyed on them as children, but besides them trying to solve that mystery, I felt like the book just kept adding more and more childhood trauma on these characters, with very little moving the plot along. Somewhere in the middle, an additional villain is added, and it just didn't work for me.
Despite it not living up to expectations and having quite a few pacing problems, there are still moments of lovely writing in here and I did really enjoy about half of it.
โญโญโญ
๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ: Ronald Malfi
๐๐๐ ๐๐ฌ: 436
๐๐๐ง๐ซ๐: Horror
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐:... Eh ๐คทโโ๏ธ
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ: Yes, but by the thinnest of hairs
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐: Contemporary
๐๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ :๐ป๐ป
๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ: โญโญโญ
This is the fourth or fifth book I've read by Malfi, and I'm a big fan. Unfortunately this is my least favorite of his, as I never felt it got off the ground and went somewhere.
The book had a very similar vibe to two of my favorite Stephen King novels - It and Revival, but sadly the plot faltered. Jaimie is the main character and protagonist, but I found him to be the least interesting of the main four.
The friends are brought together after one of them witnesses a mysterious magician who had preyed on them as children, but besides them trying to solve that mystery, I felt like the book just kept adding more and more childhood trauma on these characters, with very little moving the plot along. Somewhere in the middle, an additional villain is added, and it just didn't work for me.
Despite it not living up to expectations and having quite a few pacing problems, there are still moments of lovely writing in here and I did really enjoy about half of it.
โญโญโญ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Child death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
rachelunabridged's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Fatphobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Infidelity and Suicide attempt
callikat's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The premise is interesting, I did think it dragged on quite a bit though. 70% of the book seems to set up the final confrontation, and it was just a lot of exposition. I liked the imagery, but it was hard to visualize. I think it'd be a better movie than a book, honestly. A lot of the haunting/grotesque imagery didn't really translate for me. One aspect I really enjoyed is the dialogue -- I think it was very natural, and felt like real conversations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Child death
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Racism and Lesbophobia
bookworm4tea's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
own. I like how the timeline would switch between their time as children when everything started to get crazy and when they were adults and everything was still messed up. I think the author did a great job with creating such unique and flawed characters within the gang that was made up of Jamie, Dennis, Mia, and Clay. This was an extremely creepy, dark and often times difficult book to read as it touches on triggering topics. I really enjoyed the friends group and how they came back together to deal with the horrible problem that happened 20 years ago when they were only children. This book was amazingly well written and the atmosphere was so eerie an unnerving that it had me tensing up at some parts and the audiobook made it ten times creepier which is a definite plus. I would recommend this to horror lover who enjoy a story with spine-chilling atmosphere, well thought out characters and terrifying storyline that has your attention from start to finish. I loved the plot and thought the storyline flowed perfectly as I flew through the book in just a day. I think it would be easy to adapt this into a movie or show.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Suicide
cbroderick226's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, and Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit and Suicide attempt