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secretok's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
mowglii_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
judithdcollins's review against another edition
3.0
A special thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi is a haunting tale of fear and horror, when a daughter and family are drawn back to her childhood home where unpleasant memories and secrets from the past, are re-surfaced.
Laurie, husband, Ted and daughter, ten-year-old, Susan return to the haunted like house (like The Addams Family), in Maryland to her estranged father’s house, (Mr. Brashear) who has died, after suffering from years of dementia and ultimately committing suicide.
Laurie has bad memories of her childhood. When she was growing up, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs (the belvedere). Her father was evil and distant, with many rules. Her parents had divorced when she was not much older than Susan. She and her mother had left the house and Maryland to live with her mother’s family in Norfolk, VA. Even as bad as he was, she feels a little guilt about her prolonged absence from this life. She has not been back in years.
Returning to settle the estate, her dad’s demons are lurking and haunting them. Laurie thinks she is imagining things which memories began surfacing and wonders if she is losing her mind. From noises, spirits, loose boards, passageways, the greenhouse, the well, and strange things. What if his dementia was contagious?
Then there is her daughter’s new friend next door, Abagail, who resembles a little girl from years ago named Sadie Russ, who haunted her. She was friends with the little girl next door until she started having tantrums and fits. She would hit her and pinch her and all sorts of horrible gruesome things, who had like different personalities (some weird stuff). She bullied and threatened her. She died when she was eleven, and she was glad. Could she be returning as Abigail Evans for revenge? She has to protect her daughter.
On top of this, her daughter is giving her problems and her husband is unfaithful. Her husband thinks she has secrets as well, and wants her to come clean. A husband who infidelity forced her to reexamine herself, and a father who black unfathomable secrets were floating to the surface and the only thing which offered her solace at the moment was possibly she was wrong about the neighbor. Had her father done unspeakable things to little girls?
From hidden secrets to horror, as we learn more of the evil and twisted father for a paranormal twist.
Summary: Even though I love mysteries, thrillers and psychological suspense, not a huge fan of ghosts, horror, or paranormal, unless paired with intensity and emotion. Felt this one was lacking. An overused topic; returning to the childhood home. An opportunity to create something unique; however, lost its luster early on and never came together for me. I never felt the edge-of-your-seat suspense, depth, chill, or sizzle--as you would expect, in a novel of this nature; thereby, lacking the page-turner quality.
JDCMustReadBooks
LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi is a haunting tale of fear and horror, when a daughter and family are drawn back to her childhood home where unpleasant memories and secrets from the past, are re-surfaced.
Laurie, husband, Ted and daughter, ten-year-old, Susan return to the haunted like house (like The Addams Family), in Maryland to her estranged father’s house, (Mr. Brashear) who has died, after suffering from years of dementia and ultimately committing suicide.
Laurie has bad memories of her childhood. When she was growing up, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs (the belvedere). Her father was evil and distant, with many rules. Her parents had divorced when she was not much older than Susan. She and her mother had left the house and Maryland to live with her mother’s family in Norfolk, VA. Even as bad as he was, she feels a little guilt about her prolonged absence from this life. She has not been back in years.
Returning to settle the estate, her dad’s demons are lurking and haunting them. Laurie thinks she is imagining things which memories began surfacing and wonders if she is losing her mind. From noises, spirits, loose boards, passageways, the greenhouse, the well, and strange things. What if his dementia was contagious?
Then there is her daughter’s new friend next door, Abagail, who resembles a little girl from years ago named Sadie Russ, who haunted her. She was friends with the little girl next door until she started having tantrums and fits. She would hit her and pinch her and all sorts of horrible gruesome things, who had like different personalities (some weird stuff). She bullied and threatened her. She died when she was eleven, and she was glad. Could she be returning as Abigail Evans for revenge? She has to protect her daughter.
On top of this, her daughter is giving her problems and her husband is unfaithful. Her husband thinks she has secrets as well, and wants her to come clean. A husband who infidelity forced her to reexamine herself, and a father who black unfathomable secrets were floating to the surface and the only thing which offered her solace at the moment was possibly she was wrong about the neighbor. Had her father done unspeakable things to little girls?
From hidden secrets to horror, as we learn more of the evil and twisted father for a paranormal twist.
Summary: Even though I love mysteries, thrillers and psychological suspense, not a huge fan of ghosts, horror, or paranormal, unless paired with intensity and emotion. Felt this one was lacking. An overused topic; returning to the childhood home. An opportunity to create something unique; however, lost its luster early on and never came together for me. I never felt the edge-of-your-seat suspense, depth, chill, or sizzle--as you would expect, in a novel of this nature; thereby, lacking the page-turner quality.
JDCMustReadBooks
sanddanz's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! Another amazing ghost story by Malfi. Can't wait to read more of his work.
erinld2005's review against another edition
3.0
Little Girls is pretty middle of the road for me. The book started off so fantastic, but it didn't end the same way. The writing is well done and I was drawn in to the story and setting easily. From page one it set up the eerie and mysterious mood perfectly. While Little Girls was never scary for me, some things were a little creepy. I was really intrigued with the story throughout, but I had a feeling I knew where this book was going. Sure enough, Little Girls was predictable. The end was very lackluster for me due to the predictability and use of a common horror trope. I've seen/read this type of ending many times before. There was no wow factor that I was hoping for. No surprise twists or things I didn't see coming from a mile away. Overall, Little Girls is written well and worth a read, just don't expect anything vastly different.
tearyeyedpupa's review against another edition
3.0
I had high hopes for this book. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t that good either. I feel like I was waiting a long time for things to go down that by the time I did it was anticlimactic. It was weird and strange so not totally unenjoyable.
catladytiff's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Child abuse
clareolivia's review against another edition
1.0
My biggest complaint of the book was that there wasn't a clear villain. In the last 75% of the book, Malfi constructed so many improbable plot twists in his storyline that it was very difficult to anticipate what could happen next. Each initial plot point was turned on it's head and a new monster emerged. I typically enjoy a slow and suspenseful build in my horror novels but Malfi's work fell flat.
Click here to see my full review.
Click here to see my full review.
spooky_taylor's review against another edition
3.0
I really don’t know how I feel about this one? All I can say is that it was just okay.
hollispaige's review against another edition
1.0
Honestly, I had such high hopes for this book and maybe that’s where I went wrong. I’m not sure I’ve ever given a 1 star review, but this truly had not a single redeeming quality. It was the first book this year I almost did not finish.
The characters were boring(other than the main characters husband having a little personality). It felt like most of the pages were just filler, and the few pages that actually were interesting only created about 23841 unanswered questions.
I’m not even going to bring up the end because honestly is all I could say was “what the fuck? That is the ending???? There is no way that is an ending.” Maybe I will investigate to find out if I got an incomplete copy because the ending of this book is in no way a final chapter.
The characters were boring(other than the main characters husband having a little personality). It felt like most of the pages were just filler, and the few pages that actually were interesting only created about 23841 unanswered questions.
I’m not even going to bring up the end because honestly is all I could say was “what the fuck? That is the ending???? There is no way that is an ending.” Maybe I will investigate to find out if I got an incomplete copy because the ending of this book is in no way a final chapter.