 Four brand new Ronal Malfi novellas interconnected by a book theme a sly opening section to the collection, where Dollar signs are never far away with Gloria keen to protect her investment. Cursed books are nothing new, but it is nice to bring the trusty trope kicking and screaming into the world of the 21st Century Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi Publisher : Titan Books (UK) (4 Oct. 2022) Language : English Paperback : 400 pages ISBN-10 : 1789099595 ISBN-13 : 978-1789099591 A Book Review by Tony Jones Ronald Malfi continues his outstanding literary purple patch with Titan Books and his third stellar release in as many years. He follows the two excellent best horror thrillers Come With Me (2021) and Black Mouth (2022) with Ghostwritten, which consists of four novellas loosely interconnected by the theme of books. Serious students of Malfi will realise that this subject is nothing new to this author and a previous novella Mr Cables (2020) would have fitted within this collection like a glove. However, Malfi is on such a rich creative run one can fully understand why he did not wish to revisit a novella which had been published twice before. But if you have never previously come across it definitely check it out after reading this as it’s a beauty. The four stories are standalone pieces and although there is a minor crossover of names here and there they could be read in any order. One of the blurbs notes that “the written word has never had sharper teeth…” and that nicely sums up what these unpredictable and fantastical 450-pages hold, a collection which has no weak links and one in which readers will undoubtedly argue over which is their favourite. Ultimately though it was exceedingly difficult to separate them (and there is no point) as the quality was exceptionally high, with a quote the blurb “books can be deadly” the common denominator. The collection opens in style with The Skin of Her Teeth, featuring a cursed novel which eventually drives people to their deaths. Gloria Grossman is a book agent whose client Davis McElroy has been commissioned to write the film script of an extraordinarily successful horror novel and she begins to get jumpy when nothing is heard from McElroy and she decides to head out to his remote writing retreat. She discovers a dishevelled mess, rambling incoherently about how the book he is scripting is dangerous and that he has it nailed down in a box. Things get stranger and stranger until the meeting between McElroy and the original novelist John Fish when events begin to go really haywire. This was a sly opening section to the collection, where Dollar signs are never far away with Gloria keen to protect her investment. Cursed books are nothing new, but it is nice to bring the trusty trope kicking and screaming into the world of the 21st Century The second instalment The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride is an entirely different beast from its predecessor in which two lowlife gangsters are hired to transport what they are told is a book in a locked briefcase to a remote destination. They are given extremely specific instructions on exactly where to go (and it’s not the quickest or most sensible route) but the most important rule to follow is whatever goes down; do not open the briefcase! We’ve all seen Joe Dante’s Gremlins and so these dumb rules are there are to be broken. The story is built around the fact that the brothers Danny and Tommy Drake are not getting on and loose cannon Tommy is desperate to see what is in the briefcase. What follows is one of the weirdest and wackiest road trips I have come across in a while as the pair head into very dark otherworldly territory. This story was blessed with a couple of very unsettling scenes, when the brothers are being seemingly stalked and another when they stop off in a deserted town and things just do not add up. The banter between the long-suffering Danny and his idiot brother Tommy was great fun, but remember, whatever happens do not open the briefcase! Yeah, right. This Book Belongs to Olo was a cool play on the creepy kid tale mashed up with The Babadook. From the strange opening you will realise a treat lies ahead; a kid arrives at the local park wearing unfashionable clothes and an out-of-season Halloween mask and invites everybody there to his birthday party the following week. The locals recognise him as the odd kid who lives in the big house on the hill and mercilessly rib him, but many of them decide to go to his party anyway as they think he is rich. We quickly realise that this lonely child is incredibly bright but lacks social skills and is neglected by his author mother and stepfather whilst being looked after by his childminder. The build-up leads the reader to the party and the rather strange pop-up book which Olo has created and features some very cool scenes from within the book. Olo will quickly put your teeth on edge in a tale which smoothly blends police procedural, childhood bullying, loneliness, and neglect before heading into dark fantasy and the unsettling contents of his wonderfully sinister and deadly book. The final entry The Story was probably my favourite and had the most scope to be developed into a full novel, it also finished a tad prematurely, but I’m probably only saying that because I thought it was great. It was just beginning to truly motor when it abruptly concluded! If you are in your forties or fifties you might remember the Fighting Fantasy adventure books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone which started with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain back in 1982 and spawned a host of sequels. There were also extremely basic text driven adventures on the early home computers, with very limited vocabulary, around the same time. The Story is built around an online version of one of these choose-your-own adventure game which spirals into an uncanny reality where the players have to make genuine life or death choices. It all starts intriguingly slowly though and you will have great fun joining the dots; the police ask Grady to identify the body of an old friend and work colleague, Taryn, who he had not seen for several months. The podcaster and journalist, who specialised in the unexplained, left unanswered questions into why she committed suicide and Grady begins to investigate. This was an outstanding web of lies to get sucked into and beautifully structured with The Story seemingly out of reach to Grady. Until it wasn’t. Ronald Malfi is a terrific horror novelist and his edge is just as sharp at novella length fiction also, even if the collection lacked genuine scares it was beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read. Should you not have come across his shorter fiction previously I also highly recommend his short story collection We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone. Tony Jones Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi Four brand-new horror novellas from “a modern-day Algernon Blackwood” all about books, stories, manuscripts – the written word has never had sharper teeth… BOOKS CAN BE DEADLY From the bestselling author of Come with Me, four standalone horror novellas set in a shared universe! In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths. A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride. In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book. A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story. Full of creepy, page-turning suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King and Joe Hill.  THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEW WEBSITESComments are closed.
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