manikahemmerixh 's review for:

Daphne by Josh Malerman

3.5

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At first I was quite enjoying Daphne, it does start a bit slow for a horror (but I would place this as more of a graphic psychological thriller anyway) but Malerman's writing does a good job of conveying the growing sense of wrongness in the atmosphere. I love the idea of the power behind thoughts driving the nightmare and an underlaying ghost story in a town that everyone agrees is too terrible to face, but that's kind of the extent of what I really liked about the book. The ending is pretty rushed and confusing. I don't care about basketball but it was a neutral element for me. The journal entries started to feel performative, and there's a "twist" but it has so little explanation or resolution that instead of being a shocking development it feels more like a plot hole. Maybe I just didn't get it though?