Invisible friends are a very tricky phenomenon to get right in horror fiction and in reality characters from films spring more readily to mind than the printed page. Many of my favourites are from non-horror novels, ranging from Fight Club to the obscure Aussie novel Pobby and Dingan (Ben Rice) and freaky kid’s dark fantasy The Imaginary (AF Harrold). Last year Stephen Chbosky’s 700 pager Imaginary Friend brought the subject to the international bestseller charts, but in a brief 247 pages William Friend’s startling debut totally blows the bloated excesses of Imaginary Friend out of the water. Not a word is wasted in this tight novel which will have you turning the pages at speed whilst you forget to draw breath.

I need to get the weakest feature of this book out of the way straight away: the title. I hate it. Black Mamba sounds like a cross between an eighties action movie and a Quentin Tarantino character (which it is in Kill Bill). It fails to sell itself as the exceptionally clever psychological horror novel it truly is. The blurb name-checks it against The Babadook (which if fair enough) but The Babadook has an ominous ring to it which Black Mamba fails to conjure, probably because it is so strongly connected to a snake. Considering the unsettling presence the Black Mamba creates in the household of Alfie and his family it could have done with a better name, as even though we are crossing mediums it was every bit as good as The Babadook.

This was one of these books which could be equally enjoyed by both thriller and horror fans and does not rely upon cheap thrills, violence of exorcist style head-spinning for its many unsettling moments. The action is all very realistic, subtle and character driven, for example, there was one excruciating scene where the social services appear at the family home after an incident at school which was so painful I was hanging on every word as the tension between the characters heightened. One of the truly outstanding features of Black Mamba was its sneaky use of ambiguity in the relation to the invisible friend, if your book is under 250-pages and the writer is as skilled as William Friend the reader is pulled by the nose before repetition sets in. Often such endings can be disappointing, but this is not the case with Black Mamba, which maintains its level of unease to the final pages. You will probably read the final paragraph more than once (I certainly did).

Imaginary friends aside, at the heart of Black Mamba lies an incredibly convincing cross-generational family drama, which at the outset seems like a normal unit trying to recover from a terrible personal tragedy. However, as the slow burning and deeply shadowed events move on this intricate story goes much deeper as we find out more about Hart House and the startling events which preceded the family living there. The manner in which little tip-bits regarding the family are dropped into the plot are beautifully handled and help creative an unnerving atmosphere and the reader is never quite sure whether they are being fed the truth.

How can two twin little girls messing around with an invisible friend called ‘Black Mamba’ be so unsettling? It’s hard to explain, but once you start reading Black Mamba you will know exactly what I mean. The novel starts nine months after their mother Pippa died in a freak accident and the family is struggling to cope. Grief, undiagnosed trauma and pain oozes from the pages as Alfie cannot cope with losing Pippa, the love of his life. In the opening pages the twins wake Alfie and tell him there is a man standing at the bottom of their bed. ‘Black Mamba’ has made his first appearance and to say much more about the plot in this deeply psychological novel would spoil the surprise.

This stunning literary suburban chiller is seen from two points of view, Alfie and Pippa’s twin sister Julia who is a psychotherapist struggling with her own demons after their devastating loss. Julia also has a tricky relationship with her mother who plays a key role in the plot, especially in her slightly off-kilter religious beliefs which lurk in the background. Much of the success of the novel revolves around the relationship between Alfie and Julia and how they handle the appearance of Black Mamba, especially since they are both suffering from a combination of grief and trauma. Although the novel is not seen from the point of view of the girls, the story does not throw any cheap shots by portraying them as evil devil children and is all the better for it because they are so believable.

It would have been easy to deliver a loud bombastic ending, instead a beautifully observed family drama, where all the participants are frazzled, plays out with revelations being dropped here and there. Both Alfie and Julia were sympathetic characters and the dream sequences were particularly striking with even the sudden movement of a shadow being played out with great skill. I loved Black Mamba and recommend it very highly, interestingly one of the genuine gold standards of novels with invisible friends was Thomas Tryon’s The Other, which also had twins. Coincidence? I wonder….

Black Mamba was a quick and easy read with an intriguing and creepy premise.

However I lost interest as the story progressed.

And as for ending...well, I have to be honest, I have no clue what actually happened. There were numerous info-dumps in the last 10% of the story and an ending that was perhaps intended to be ambiguous just felt messy and unclear to me.

The grieving aspect of the book is very well written and sensitive to the struggles Alfie has looking after his twin girls following the death of their mother. The introduction, in the middle of the night, to Black Mamba- the man who is not always a man but is in their room or in their heads is both creepy and tense and as the story unfolds it becomes more and more sinister.
The involvement of the girls aunt, their mothers twin, starts as family, morphs to therapist and ends somewhere else completely!
Overall an intriguing read although a little confusing in places and with a slower middle section that perhaps spoils the flow a little bit.

Black Mamba by William Friend is billed as a horror story, which is why I was intrigued. I don’t read a lot of true horror but the premise of twins that see mysterious figures is always going to draw me in. I love stories that feature twins as lead characters (I even did a whole post on the theme) and the twins in question here are seven-year-old Cassia and Sylvie.

The twins live with their father, Alfie, in London in the rather grand, Hart House. The house itself has a bit of a chequered history, which also comes into play in this story. The twins are grieving the tragic death of their mother, Pippa (who was herself a twin and died in the house they still live in) and start talking to an imaginary friend they call, Black Mamba.

Black Mamba is a man who can take any form of animal he chooses (yes, his namesake snake is one of those terrifying forms) and only the twins can see him.

What Black Mamba does so well is set the scene and play with our perception. Is there an intruder or other-worldly spirit the girls can see, or is it their active imaginations, perhaps as a reaction to their grief? The twins aunt, Julia is a child psychologist and reassures Alfie that it’s normal for children to have imaginary friends.

However, when Alfie starts to experience strange things too – how can he keep putting it all down to his daughter’s imagination?

While Black Mamba definitely had its creepy moments, I would put it more in the psychological thriller category than horror. Overall though, it was engrossing and so readable, I whizzed through it and enjoyed where it took me.

Really enjoyed the real world elements of this creepy tale but my interest waned when the supernatural/ambiguous sections were introduced. I can imagine that they might have contributed to the eerie-ness of it all for some folks but I wasn’t a fan 🤷🏻‍♀️

Friend writes a cold, claustrophobic atmosphere for Black Mamba. The weight of grief upon the small family alongside their guarded behaviour toward eachother gives the characters a gloomy outlook. I sympathised with Alfie's feelings of isolation as a widowed parent, being unable to share openly for fear of his in-law's disapproval, a common theme I'm sure many would recognise in their own family units.

My first real need for information came not from the intrigue of Black Mamba but Alfie's wife Pippa. Friend quickly layers up on secrets that held my curiosity. How did she die? Why does sister Julia recognise the twins story? What's 'happening again'? Why did Pippa hate her mother?

I also despised the mother in law, as I'm sure was intended, but I also found I didn't care for the twin girls. As is often the case with fictional twins we are presented with one caring quiet, child and one demanding, controlling child. There's something creepy about twins speaking in unison and communicating differently with eachother, the control one can exert over the other with only a look.

Alternating between the perspectives of Alfie and Julia we watch as a fly upon the wall in the present day and learn of Julia's childhood with Pippa all in the very same house.

Nothing is ever fully explained in Black Mamba, if you like a neat ending this won't be for you. There were several aspects I wanted Friend to expand upon, hints of interesting developments that never really matured. I enjoyed the read but was irritated by the ambiguity. An average read for this average reader.

"Black Mamba" by William Friend is a psychological supernatural thriller that goes all out. All through the book the author balances the narrative very finely so that you are unsure if Black Mamba is a figment of the twins' imaginations or something evil left behind in the house. I'm still undecided on what I "believe" but it was an excellent read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4709027836

Enjoyed this one. Creepy and atmospheric horror with just the right amount of ambiguity about whether there's actually anything supernatural going on. Kept me turning the pages.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I am still hiding under the covers after finishing 'Black Mamba' by William Friend last night as the slow creeping nightmare of the story left me with a distinctly unnerved feeling as this is a chilling, disturbing and utterly original story.
'Black Mamba' is firstly, the tale of a grieving family, as Alfie, and his twin daughters struggle to come to terms with the sudden death of Pippa, his wife and the mother to the twins. Several months after Pippa's death, the twins wake Alfie to tell him about a man appearing in their bedroom at night and this revelation is quickly followed by the arrival of their new imaginary friend; called Black Mamba this creature can take multiple forms and use becomes an insidious presence in their lives.
Told from the dual perspectives of Alfie and Julia (Pippa's twin) we learn about the relationships of the family over the years and how their religious beliefs (superstitions) have played a role in the creation of the haunted house. Black Mamba seems to haunt both the past and present of the family, making it almost impossible for them to grieve and continue with their lives.
For Alfie and Julia, they must confront the past in order to defeat the monster that is Black Mamba, though whether this monster is supernatural, psychological or a combination of both is only revealed at the end.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc ebook in exchange for an honest review!
I was hooked from the word go, I mean who doesn’t love the haunting imagery of walking to find twin children standing at the foot of a your bed?! I was loving this book up until 3/4 of the way through and it ran out of steam for me a bit and I found the ending never really explained what the book was about which I found really frustrating…I wanted to know more about Julie’s childhood and what happened, and wanted more about the twins’ mum. I busted wanted more really! I found it lacked a conclusion. The majority of the book I loved though, very atmospheric and creepy!

This is a cracking, creepy story about twin girls and their father who are grieving the death of the girls' mother. Naturally life is hard for the little family but things become even more difficult when the girls (Cassia and Sylvie) start talking about a strange man in their bedroom at night that only they can see. They even give the entity a name 'Black Mamba', and begin to claim that 'he' can change into different animal forms. Is it just an imaginary friend that the girls have conjured up as a way of coping with their mother's death or could it be something more sinister? After all, the family home does have a rather disturbing history...

Not exactly a horror novel, but this book is certainly unnerving at times and the ending is fantastic. Highly recommended.

This was an enjoyable book but the creep factor did not play well against the characters. There were times were there should have been scare or peaks of horror that felt laid bare to the crux of the story.

Not entirely sure what I make of this novel overall. I enjoyed the eerie atmosphere that this book easily accomplished and I enjoyed the characters. This book was also a very quick read, therefore engaging. I found that a lot of the time I was left a little unsure as to what was happening, was it real? was it paranormal? and I’m not sure what I make of the bath ending. If I were to give this book a rating I think it would sit comfortably at a 3.5

4.5⭐️

It looks like a debut. It is described as a horror novel.

Alfie is left to raise his twin daughters ( Sylvie and Cassia) after the death of their mother Pippa. The girls go to him in the night claiming that there’s a man in their room.
It’s gripping from the very beginning.

The narrators are Alfie and Julia ( Pippas’s twin sister) who is a psychotherapist. It is interesting how events are revealed as the story unfolds.

I am not a horror reader, but this only felt like a toe dip into the world of horror, and for the most part felt ‘believable’ if you can go with spirits. We are introduced into the world of a family embedded with the trauma of loss and unusual beliefs with Julia for the main grounding the beliefs of the twins. It also reinforces family myths and legends and the lengths children will go to for love and acceptance.

For the main I found the plot well grounded with a hint towards the supernatural, this increased as the book progressed, but I could still relate except for one small exception.
When Julia relived memories with the kids it felt a bit clunky, otherwise the writing is excellent and flows well.
There was an element that wasn’t a dream which I found a bit weird, I can cope with weird in a dream sequence. It made sense right at the very end.

I found Alfie a likeable and relatable character, I was invested in the outcome of the twins, I wasn’t sure about Julia and her motives, and grandma was bluntly a fruit loop, although we can see at the end why that was the case.

I really enjoyed it, and recommend it if you want to dip your toe gently into the horror genre. It has a good creepy vibe throughout.

Categorised as 'Horror' or 'Suburban Chiller', not a genre I usually read but I was curious.

Alfie is the recently widowed single parent to seven old twins, Slyvie and Cassia. His wife and the twins' mother Pippa died suddenly following 'an accident' that we learn more about as the story unfolds. Pippa was a twin also, twin sister to Julia, a Family Counsellor.

The story is told through the perspectives of Alfie and Julia, which works really well, the grieving parent, and the grieving twin sister / concerned Aunt.

Alfie is clearly struggling to cope with grief and everyday life, and that's before Black Mamba makes an appearance.

The twins complain of a visitor in the night, a man keeps coming into their room. Is he an intruder? Their hyperactive imaginations? Or a children's excuse to jump into Daddy's bed and give him a cuddle?

As we know, children (and twins) in fiction can be very creepy, and they do a great job with the chilling hints and reveals, making Alfie and the reader question what is really going on.

As the twins become more enthralled with Black Mamba, they reveal he is a shapeshifter, that can appear as a snake, or various other animals.

The atmosphere and the setting up is spot on. I found it worked with more of a creepy psychological gothic feel rather than horror. There are some convincingly cold chilling moments and reveals throughout.

I was engrossed for most of book, though I found the pacing a little constant. I would have liked more peaks and scares, and more build up in tension to a finale. Not a genre I know much about, but I think it was good for what it is.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atlantic Books

Black Mamba by William Friend is an intensely haunting book; pun intended.

It seems like a haunted house story but the haunting transcends that. The characters are also haunted by their pasts, bereavements, longing, and flawed family relationships.

Black Mamba is a mysterious entity. The reader is taken on a twisty path of deciding what is true. Do we believe twin girls whose lives are dominated by his presence? Do we trust their widowed father? Can we rely on their aunt, twin sister of the deceased?

A creepy plot which is beautifully written. I read the book in one sitting.

While I expected that ending, I have questions! I feel that's the point.

Released 2nd June in UK.

Well this was wonderful - slow burning and deeply shadowed. Twin girls conjure up an imaginary friend -Black Mamba - after the death of their mother. It is an unerving and gothicky book, unsettling you gently and with confidence, like a snake's ever tightening coils. Loved it.

A gripping read….. it’s a suburban chiller of grief, ghosts and sublimated sexual desire. Highly recommended. A perfectly paced and beautifully observed story... I really did race through it.

Black Mamba follows a father, Alfie, and his twin daughters in the aftermath of their mother's tragic passing. One day, the girls start talking about their new invisible friend, Black Mamba; a man that can transform himself into various animals and is only visible to the girls. Though seemingly innocent at first, Back Mamba's presence starts to draw stranger behaviour from the twins, beginning to drive a wedge between Alfie and his daughters. As things fall apart, their aunt Julia, twin of their deceased mother, is called upon to help the family. But, in doing so, she must confront the long-hidden demons from her and her sister's own past.

Black Mamba is, in essence, a haunted house story. But it also examines how the people that inhabit this house are themselves haunted; by loss, by grief, by longing, by jealousy. The emotions that the characters go through felt very real to me, something that Friend taps into extremely well. That sense of reality... that this could happen.

I think my biggest praise has to be Friend's writing style. His language was beautiful without being overly-flowery; he seems to have chosen the perfect words and reading through this story was effortless. Everything felt delicate, well-crafted, classic, as if I were holding a fine little china trinket in my hand rather than a story. I could picture the character's world and identify with their struggles. Even their more mundane thoughts rang true.

I would read this novel mostly on my commute to and from work though, as it started to grip me more, I began reading it before bed. I have to admit that, upon turning out the light, some of the imagery actually stuck with me. As a lover of horror, it takes a lot to get under my skin; but the sense of unease, of wrongness, in Black Mamba is permeating and there are some genuine scares. I would recommend this to anyone that has an interest in classic ghost stories.

Something that might rub some people up the wrong way, however, is the ending. While I had no problem with it at all, and actually enjoyed a lot of the ambiguity, I think some could feel a little cheated. If you are not a fan of ambiguous endings, be aware that you could be left wanting more. A lot of threads are left untied. However, I would say that the sum of the book is still worth investing in, even if you were to be let down by the lack of resolution.

Overall, a gorgeous, intricate story. To me, this reads as a new classic. Whilst the general idea behind it may not be original, in practice, Friend has crafted something that feels very much its own. Now I can only wait excitedly for whatever he has in store for us next.

"Black Mamba" was a creepy horror with some great character-driven family plot too. I'd have loved a little more of the family /house / church history and a little less dream-like sequences, and perhaps a more bombastic final battle scene. But the ending was neat and raised some fun questions.