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michaelpatrickhicks 's review for:
Black Mouth
by Ronald Malfi
The Goodreads description for Black Mouth notes that Ronald Malfi's latest release is "Perfect for fans of Stephen King’s IT...." This short segment of the book's synopsis doesn't seem to have carried over to Amazon or NetGalley, even though it's perfectly apt. In fact, I suspect some readers may find Black Mouth to be IT-lite. It's abundantly clear that King's classic was a touchstone to Malfi in this book's writing, and one might even argue that Black Mouth would not exist if King hadn't paved the way first (this is probably true for a lot of modern horror writers who grew up on King's work, me included).
Black Mouth exists in conversation with IT and its author, occasionally even mimicking IT to showcase that, at times, impersonation really is the best form of flattery, and to reveal just how influential King's work has been on Malfi. At times, it reads like Malfi saying to King, "this is what you showed me, and this is my riff on it." Some may decry this book as being little more than a copy of a classic horror tome, but it strikes me as more like a cover version. The tune is recognizable and has some familiar beats, but Malfi does enough to put his own spin on things and center those changes in an effort to create something that's both immediately identifiable and cogent enough to stand apart, and a ripping bit of rock and roll in its own right.
Jamie Warren has returned home to attend his mother's funeral and care for his mentally handicapped brother. He's also an alcoholic, fresh out of rehab and quickly rediscovering the siren song of the liquor bottles left behind in his childhood home. Meanwhile, a childhood friend he's lost touch with attends a carnival in Kentucky and spots a familiar one-eyed man from their past - the Magician, who lived in the woods around the sunken coal mine locally known as Black Mouth. Circumstances reunite Jamie with his old friends in an effort to stop the Magician once and for all.
Malfi interweaves their present-day stories with plenty of flashbacks to the past as the kids become acquainted with the Magician and fall under his spell. Above all is the overriding concern about Black Mouth, which, in present-day, is swallowing the old and crumbling Warren homestead. The collapsed mine looms large over the existence of our primary characters, taking on preternatural overtones, colluding with some of the children's birth defects and fate itself, as well as offering up thematic relevance. Even after leaving home, Jamie finds himself falling into the black mouth of the bottle and of depression. Each character must, at some point, contend with their own personal black mouths, as well - the black mouths of childhoods lost, of death and murder, and dark pasts hidden in the shadows of memory.
While Black Mouth shares plenty of common ground with King's IT (there's talk of a wheel of destiny, which can't help but remind one of ka, and ka is a wheel to be sure. Hell, there's even a riff on the turtle, which grows into its own unique moments here.), it is suitably its own work, and Malfi is his own man.
Black Mouth exists in conversation with IT and its author, occasionally even mimicking IT to showcase that, at times, impersonation really is the best form of flattery, and to reveal just how influential King's work has been on Malfi. At times, it reads like Malfi saying to King, "this is what you showed me, and this is my riff on it." Some may decry this book as being little more than a copy of a classic horror tome, but it strikes me as more like a cover version. The tune is recognizable and has some familiar beats, but Malfi does enough to put his own spin on things and center those changes in an effort to create something that's both immediately identifiable and cogent enough to stand apart, and a ripping bit of rock and roll in its own right.
Jamie Warren has returned home to attend his mother's funeral and care for his mentally handicapped brother. He's also an alcoholic, fresh out of rehab and quickly rediscovering the siren song of the liquor bottles left behind in his childhood home. Meanwhile, a childhood friend he's lost touch with attends a carnival in Kentucky and spots a familiar one-eyed man from their past - the Magician, who lived in the woods around the sunken coal mine locally known as Black Mouth. Circumstances reunite Jamie with his old friends in an effort to stop the Magician once and for all.
Malfi interweaves their present-day stories with plenty of flashbacks to the past as the kids become acquainted with the Magician and fall under his spell. Above all is the overriding concern about Black Mouth, which, in present-day, is swallowing the old and crumbling Warren homestead. The collapsed mine looms large over the existence of our primary characters, taking on preternatural overtones, colluding with some of the children's birth defects and fate itself, as well as offering up thematic relevance. Even after leaving home, Jamie finds himself falling into the black mouth of the bottle and of depression. Each character must, at some point, contend with their own personal black mouths, as well - the black mouths of childhoods lost, of death and murder, and dark pasts hidden in the shadows of memory.
While Black Mouth shares plenty of common ground with King's IT (there's talk of a wheel of destiny, which can't help but remind one of ka, and ka is a wheel to be sure. Hell, there's even a riff on the turtle, which grows into its own unique moments here.), it is suitably its own work, and Malfi is his own man.