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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story was intriguing. Clay was my favorite character who brought such a unique quality to a horrific childhood experience aftermath. The other characters seemed not completely flushed out. The storyline was a bit rough leaving me wonder how truly significant certain aspects would be. The aftermath part of the book was a saving grace to more neatly tie in the loose threads. Now my grading may seem rough to some, but I know for a fact that this author delivers, some of the best psychological horror books I've ever read in fact. I will continue to read his work regardless, because not all work is perfection. The story was still enjoyable enough for me to recommend, because he really does have a unique talent to blur the lines of what is real and what haunts the deepest recesses of our minds.
This is a very heavy and dark story. A mysterious man in the woods. Terrible things that happen when kids meet this man, and some of those kids are called back as adults to face the truth. There are quite a few trigger warnings I could give.
This is a very heavy and dark story. A mysterious man in the woods. Terrible things that happen when kids meet this man, and some of those kids are called back as adults to face the truth. There are quite a few trigger warnings I could give.
I'm not sure how to rate this one. Maybe 3/3.5 stars?
There are parts that I liked and some things that could have been better.
Black Mouth is the new book by Ronald Malfi and of course, I love his writing and had to read this. His books are atmospheric and have a wonderful descriptive quality that I love.
Black Mouth is about a group of adult friends coming together to confront a dark terror that changes their lives when they're kids.
The childhood friends lived in a small town in West Virginia called Sutton’s Quay. The town is destroyed by a mining accident that caused the land to implode, kill hundreds of miners, and take away the industry that sustained the town.
Viewed from the sky, the land looks like a big mouth with collapsed tunnels that drop down into the pit of the earth. Hence the nickname, Black Mouth.
Jamie, Clay, Mia, and his brother Dennis grow up in this grim place.
One day, the carnival comes into town, and they meet a man called The Magician. He drastically changes their lives with his magic tricks and presence, and they are never the same.
I enjoyed how this one ended even if it was a bit weird and I did enjoy all the details along the way with The Magician's victims.
I do love a book that involves a carnival theme!
I would have rated this higher. It comes down to a couple of things that brought down the rating for me.
✔️ There’s nothing new with this coming of age tale in Black Mouth.
I’ve read better books with this theme by King in It and Hill in NOS4A2 that involves a strange man causing chaos and horror to young kids.
In fact, the books mentioned above feel like horror. The Magician just wasn't that horrifying.
✔️ The main character of Jamie Warren was hard to like or have anything but indifference for. If it wasn’t for his childhood friends and brother, I would have rated this lower because he just kind of sucks.
I’m a big fan of characterization in books and if a main character annoys me, it’s going to be hard to emotionally get behind a plot.
Clay, Mia, and Dennis made this book better for me and thank goodness for them!
Other then that, if you are a fan of books by Malfi, give this one a try.
I wouldn’t expect anything new from the genre though.
There are parts that I liked and some things that could have been better.
Black Mouth is the new book by Ronald Malfi and of course, I love his writing and had to read this. His books are atmospheric and have a wonderful descriptive quality that I love.
Black Mouth is about a group of adult friends coming together to confront a dark terror that changes their lives when they're kids.
The childhood friends lived in a small town in West Virginia called Sutton’s Quay. The town is destroyed by a mining accident that caused the land to implode, kill hundreds of miners, and take away the industry that sustained the town.
Viewed from the sky, the land looks like a big mouth with collapsed tunnels that drop down into the pit of the earth. Hence the nickname, Black Mouth.
Jamie, Clay, Mia, and his brother Dennis grow up in this grim place.
One day, the carnival comes into town, and they meet a man called The Magician. He drastically changes their lives with his magic tricks and presence, and they are never the same.
I enjoyed how this one ended even if it was a bit weird and I did enjoy all the details along the way with The Magician's victims.
I do love a book that involves a carnival theme!
I would have rated this higher. It comes down to a couple of things that brought down the rating for me.
✔️ There’s nothing new with this coming of age tale in Black Mouth.
I’ve read better books with this theme by King in It and Hill in NOS4A2 that involves a strange man causing chaos and horror to young kids.
In fact, the books mentioned above feel like horror. The Magician just wasn't that horrifying.
✔️ The main character of Jamie Warren was hard to like or have anything but indifference for. If it wasn’t for his childhood friends and brother, I would have rated this lower because he just kind of sucks.
I’m a big fan of characterization in books and if a main character annoys me, it’s going to be hard to emotionally get behind a plot.
Clay, Mia, and Dennis made this book better for me and thank goodness for them!
Other then that, if you are a fan of books by Malfi, give this one a try.
I wouldn’t expect anything new from the genre though.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a chilling, atmospheric deep dive into childhood trauma and the lingering guilt of things that haunt us from our past.
It follows estranged friends who return to their hometown to confront an evil they first encountered as children – a familiar setup, but Malfi’s evocative prose and psychological depth make it feel fresh and deeply unsettling. 🙂↕️🙂↕️
First and foremost, the town of Black Mouth feels like a character itself and I love when authors can do that. It’s full of dread and oppressive feelings and Malfi crafts a rich, immersive atmosphere that crawls under your skin. The Magician is as compelling as he is menacing and reminded me very much of a mix between Pennywise and Leland Gaunt from Needful Things. All of the characters were flawed and relatable, dealing with abuse and addiction and loss, and it just made their journey feel more authentic and harrowing.
Malfi allows the tension to build slowly while the story unravels. While there were parts where the pacing faltered a bit, Hempel’s narration kept it compelling. The real horror stems as much from within as it does from without. It echoes 𝙄𝙩 or 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, but with a darker, grittier tone and I’m here for it. 🙌🏻
I’ve noticed Joe Hempel narrates a lot of Ronald Malfi’s books and I swear he does every Malfi book so damn well! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I’m almost put off from listening if he’s not narrating. Malfi’s storytelling is immersive and I think he’s such a compelling voice in horror. If you enjoy creeping dread and horror that lingers long after the last page, Black Mouth is well worth the read.
It follows estranged friends who return to their hometown to confront an evil they first encountered as children – a familiar setup, but Malfi’s evocative prose and psychological depth make it feel fresh and deeply unsettling. 🙂↕️🙂↕️
First and foremost, the town of Black Mouth feels like a character itself and I love when authors can do that. It’s full of dread and oppressive feelings and Malfi crafts a rich, immersive atmosphere that crawls under your skin. The Magician is as compelling as he is menacing and reminded me very much of a mix between Pennywise and Leland Gaunt from Needful Things. All of the characters were flawed and relatable, dealing with abuse and addiction and loss, and it just made their journey feel more authentic and harrowing.
Malfi allows the tension to build slowly while the story unravels. While there were parts where the pacing faltered a bit, Hempel’s narration kept it compelling. The real horror stems as much from within as it does from without. It echoes 𝙄𝙩 or 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, but with a darker, grittier tone and I’m here for it. 🙌🏻
I’ve noticed Joe Hempel narrates a lot of Ronald Malfi’s books and I swear he does every Malfi book so damn well! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I’m almost put off from listening if he’s not narrating. Malfi’s storytelling is immersive and I think he’s such a compelling voice in horror. If you enjoy creeping dread and horror that lingers long after the last page, Black Mouth is well worth the read.
I forced my way though this book. It gave a lot of "IT" vibes. Like, small town terrorized by carnival themed bad guy, terrorizing children. Only for them to grow up and then face down the big bad years later. It was boring in my opinion. I kept start-stopping the entire time. Not for me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All of my reviews can be found at https://damppebbles.com/
One of my standout books from 2021 was Malfi’s beautifully haunting Come With Me which to this day, nearly a year later, I can bring to mind with ease. I remember accurately how the book made me feel, I remember how fond I was of the lead character and how I lived the journey with him. So it goes without saying that Malfi was put straight on my ‘must read’ author list and I made a start on Black Mouth as soon as it landed with me.
Jamie Warren is a haunted man who tries to find solace at the bottom of a bottle. When he receives a call to return to his childhood home he knows there’s no way he can refuse, no matter how much he wants to. His brother needs him and Jamie is the only person Dennis has left to turn to. But the Warren’s childhood home is on the edge of a notorious area of Sutton’s Quay, dubbed by the locals as Black Mouth. The last thing anyone wanted to be was a Black Mouth kid, and Jamie and his friends paid the price on a daily basis. Rumours of hauntings and strange goings-on were rife in the area. He knows returning to his childhood home will stir up feelings he’s been trying to mask for nearly twenty years. Because something terrible happened to Jamie and his friends in the eerie Black Mouth woods, and it looks as though there’s no escape from the terror of the past…
Absolutely stunning! Once again Malfi has delivered a tale which draws the reader into the story, getting under their skin, and which features the most exquisitely written, nuanced characters. I fell head over heels in love with the author’s writing and his wholly believable creations. When I think about Jamie, Dennis, Mia and Clay I am very much reminded of the way Chris Whitaker’s characters in We Begin at the End made me feel (and WBatE is my all-time favourite book!). Which makes Black Mouth something very special indeed (and, with hindsight, I would include its predecessor, Come With Me, in the same category – they’re both exceptional books). Told in the past and the present this absorbing story of childhood trauma and the scars it leaves behind was totally unforgettable. Beautifully written, extremely unnerving and impossible to put down.
Malfi has created a perfectly unpalatable setting in the form of Black Mouth with its dark past. A prosperous mining town until the day the mine collapsed, burying the coalminers alive and taking out acres of woodland and several houses in the process. The area, little more than a crater in the earth, was renamed Black Mouth by the locals as it looked, from above, like a gaping mouth with sharp, pointy fangs. Add the mysterious ‘Magician’ whom Jamie, Mia and Clay meet when they’re eleven years old and the creep factor is ramped up tenfold! Personally magicians leave me cold (along with clowns) so I found myself even more on edge than the author probably hoped for by the situation the characters found themselves in.
Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Black Mouth is a captivating, emotional, yet creepy story of childhood trauma and how, as we get older, the nightmares we faced as children can still be just as frightening, the memories just as destructive. The characters are sublime, the setting was perfect and the writing is divine. Completely absorbing, totally immersive, I was addicted to this book from the moment I cracked the spine and I now feel bereft that my time with Jamie, Mia and Clay, and of course the pure delight that is Dennis, is over. I’m so excited to see what’s next for the author. You can be sure of one thing, I’ll be at the front of the queue! Highly recommended.
One of my standout books from 2021 was Malfi’s beautifully haunting Come With Me which to this day, nearly a year later, I can bring to mind with ease. I remember accurately how the book made me feel, I remember how fond I was of the lead character and how I lived the journey with him. So it goes without saying that Malfi was put straight on my ‘must read’ author list and I made a start on Black Mouth as soon as it landed with me.
Jamie Warren is a haunted man who tries to find solace at the bottom of a bottle. When he receives a call to return to his childhood home he knows there’s no way he can refuse, no matter how much he wants to. His brother needs him and Jamie is the only person Dennis has left to turn to. But the Warren’s childhood home is on the edge of a notorious area of Sutton’s Quay, dubbed by the locals as Black Mouth. The last thing anyone wanted to be was a Black Mouth kid, and Jamie and his friends paid the price on a daily basis. Rumours of hauntings and strange goings-on were rife in the area. He knows returning to his childhood home will stir up feelings he’s been trying to mask for nearly twenty years. Because something terrible happened to Jamie and his friends in the eerie Black Mouth woods, and it looks as though there’s no escape from the terror of the past…
Absolutely stunning! Once again Malfi has delivered a tale which draws the reader into the story, getting under their skin, and which features the most exquisitely written, nuanced characters. I fell head over heels in love with the author’s writing and his wholly believable creations. When I think about Jamie, Dennis, Mia and Clay I am very much reminded of the way Chris Whitaker’s characters in We Begin at the End made me feel (and WBatE is my all-time favourite book!). Which makes Black Mouth something very special indeed (and, with hindsight, I would include its predecessor, Come With Me, in the same category – they’re both exceptional books). Told in the past and the present this absorbing story of childhood trauma and the scars it leaves behind was totally unforgettable. Beautifully written, extremely unnerving and impossible to put down.
Malfi has created a perfectly unpalatable setting in the form of Black Mouth with its dark past. A prosperous mining town until the day the mine collapsed, burying the coalminers alive and taking out acres of woodland and several houses in the process. The area, little more than a crater in the earth, was renamed Black Mouth by the locals as it looked, from above, like a gaping mouth with sharp, pointy fangs. Add the mysterious ‘Magician’ whom Jamie, Mia and Clay meet when they’re eleven years old and the creep factor is ramped up tenfold! Personally magicians leave me cold (along with clowns) so I found myself even more on edge than the author probably hoped for by the situation the characters found themselves in.
Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Black Mouth is a captivating, emotional, yet creepy story of childhood trauma and how, as we get older, the nightmares we faced as children can still be just as frightening, the memories just as destructive. The characters are sublime, the setting was perfect and the writing is divine. Completely absorbing, totally immersive, I was addicted to this book from the moment I cracked the spine and I now feel bereft that my time with Jamie, Mia and Clay, and of course the pure delight that is Dennis, is over. I’m so excited to see what’s next for the author. You can be sure of one thing, I’ll be at the front of the queue! Highly recommended.
“Do you want to see a magic trick?”
One freaking chapter into the dang thing I threw my head back and yelled, “god DAMNIT” to an empty apartment and my newly startled cat. After thumps from my upstairs neighbors subsided, I buried my nose back between the pages and settled in for what quickly became one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, and quite possibly, the Malfi elite. (“Come With Me” is on hold at the library so this is subject to change.) Exceptional pacing and form, exquisite tension and terror, and just solid horror writing fill the pages of this novel. There’s also the…magic.
I tend to steer clear of coming-of-age stories as they’re not my bag but that theme was so far sidecar to this story, it was sort of pleasant when that factor appeared as it became a break of the NEVER ENDING HORROR of the plot concept itself. Malfi is excruciatingly good at convincing readers to drop their guard, just to reach down and lift the house, walls and all, from around us: we’re never as safe as we think we are with his books in our hands.
5/5 Ronald Malfi books are like being on a subway and sometimes the doors open and it’s scary and bloody and gross and then sometimes they open and boom it’s so fucking sad? Do you want to see a magic trick? Here are the five stages of grief.
One freaking chapter into the dang thing I threw my head back and yelled, “god DAMNIT” to an empty apartment and my newly startled cat. After thumps from my upstairs neighbors subsided, I buried my nose back between the pages and settled in for what quickly became one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, and quite possibly, the Malfi elite. (“Come With Me” is on hold at the library so this is subject to change.) Exceptional pacing and form, exquisite tension and terror, and just solid horror writing fill the pages of this novel. There’s also the…magic.
I tend to steer clear of coming-of-age stories as they’re not my bag but that theme was so far sidecar to this story, it was sort of pleasant when that factor appeared as it became a break of the NEVER ENDING HORROR of the plot concept itself. Malfi is excruciatingly good at convincing readers to drop their guard, just to reach down and lift the house, walls and all, from around us: we’re never as safe as we think we are with his books in our hands.
5/5 Ronald Malfi books are like being on a subway and sometimes the doors open and it’s scary and bloody and gross and then sometimes they open and boom it’s so fucking sad? Do you want to see a magic trick? Here are the five stages of grief.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes