2.5 Stars ~

This one has been hard for me to rate, as I am conflicted.
There were some fantastic parts and some parts that I was dragging myself to get through. There were chapters within chapters.. which seemed wild to me.

Honestly, the first 70% I was in snooze town. The description of this book did not resonate with what was happening in the book most of the time. It doesn't help that I am not a fan of clowns and 'magic' tricks that you see at carnivals and this book really revolves around a fucked up Magician, with lots of card tricks. There was some paranormal aspects thrown in. It was hard to follow at times.

The writing style though was great, I had myself laughing at times. The descriptions were just ridiculous at times, but it really worked.
The ending though.... That was not what I was expecting. Although I don't really know what I was expecting at all.

Props for the representation though:
-Clay is a black main character with Vitiligo
-It is suggested that Mia is part of the LGBTIQIA+community
-Dennis has some form of an intellectual disability, no specified, but the use of the R-word did make me cringe a few times, although it was used in context with the arsehole of a father, but still.
-Jamie, like his father, has some Alcohol Substance issues
-and there is a character with a cleft abnormality.

I do want to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review.
Although this may have not been my style, it very well could be yours.

This was my first time reading a Ronald Malfi book and the concept of this was really interesting to me. I do love stories about adults having to face off against the monsters from their youth, but unfortunately this book didn't really grab me. There were some moments that were kind of creepy, but I feel like it didn't really add anything new to the genre.

Jamie Warren left Sutton's Quay, West Virginia, as soon as he was old enough, unfortunately leaving his disabled brother, Dennis, behind. Jamie was running from a lot of things, but no matter where he goes or how much time passes, the memories of his traumatic childhood continue to haunt him.

When he receives a call that his Mother has passed, he has mixed feelings. In spite of Jamie's complicated relationship with his Mom, he knows he has to go back. The property will need to be dealt with. Dennis can't do it himself, so Black Mouth here he comes.

Upon returning to the family farmhouse, Jamie is shocked by the state of it. He can't believe that his brother and mother had been living in these conditions. Additionally, his brother has been picked up by the police. Dennis had been walking along the highway, clearly distressed. Sadly, that's how they're reunited.

While all this is happening, states away, Jamie's best friends from childhood, Mia and Clay, are also experiencing things that are drawing their attention back to Black Mouth; the name of the area on the outskirts of Sutton's Quay where they all grew up.

The trio are pulled back into each other's lives like moths to a flame, and like many close friends, once they're back together it's like no time has passed at all. Together with Dennis, the three begin to investigate a mysterious man who had a huge impact on their lives all those years ago; a man who lived in the woods and showed them magical and disturbing things.

Through past and present perspectives, the Reader is drawn into an exceptionally twisted story with horrors great and small. Everything about this was mesmerizing to me. The writing is lush, the imagery is distinct and the atmosphere is intense. Black Mouth took me for a ride and ultimately left me with tears in my eyes, wondering how long it would be before I read it again. It's that good.

I'm so glad I preordered a copy of this because I need it gracing my shelves. The story is incredibly detailed and I'm sure there are little things that I missed as I rushed towards the conclusion. It will be an absolute joy to revisit. There are so many aspects that I loved about this book, but first and foremost would be the phenomenal quality of the storytelling. It's delicious.

As a King Constant Reader, I couldn't help but notice things that reminded me of some of my favorite King works. I don't know anything about Ronald Malfi, but just for me, I liked having all these little reminders of King's work. I honestly don't know if any of it was intentional, like if it was a doffing of the cap, but I sort of hope it was. All the elements brought together was magic for my mind.

Without saying too much, it was in the details, like Dennis reminding me of Duddits, Mia's name, the carnival vibe, a group of outcast kids fighting evil, even some of the supernatural aspects reminding me of the Bill Hodges trilogy.

Please note, I am not saying this in a negative way. I hope I am explaining myself appropriately. I don't intend any shade toward Malfi by making these comparisons. I was beyond impressed by Come with Me, my favorite book of 2021, and over the moon excited about this one. I highly, highly, highly recommend this story for fans of coming of age horror novels. This is absolutely exceptional.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Titan Books and Tantor Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. This could potentially end up as my favorite book of 2022. It's certainly in the lead for now!

Black Mouth didn't work for me at all, unfortunately. It's mainly Malfi's writing style: I find his phrasing difficult to follow, and he uses words that don't seem quite right for what he's describing. It feels like a strain to read, and everything just feels a bit coated in filth -- he's always focusing on what's gross in a scene, whether it's a sore on someone's mouth, the fat on their arms, or a fly in sauce at a picnic. It's just not my kind of horror. I prefer spooky to icky.

I decided fairly early on to stop reading this one, but the plot was potentially interesting and there were hints at interesting family history for the protagonist. I think readers who enjoy Malfi's writing style will likely love this one. It's just not for me.

Because I quit this one in the first 50 pages, I will not post a review publicly.

I just finished reading Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi and here is what I thought about it.

2 decades was enough time for Jamie to forget the horrors of what happened when he was a child. Drinking and drugs didn’t help him escape the darkness that unfolded that summer.

No longer able to outrun his past, Jamie has to return to Black mouth to collect his brother after their mother passed away. As fate would have it, he wasn’t the only person to be returning to the place where it all happened, his 2 best friends from his teen years also have their own reasons for being drawn back to where it all started.

The 4 friends decide it is time to face the music of that summer and the deaths that happened because of their actions… The magician has reappeared and he hasn’t been idle…. He has been leading other kids down a dangerous path and it’s time for the friends to put an end to the monster once and for all……

Get ready to have the hairs on the back of your neck stay permanently erect. This book literally had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I was looking for the kind of horror read that built the kind of suspense that was almost too much to bear and this book nailed it.

The story centers around Jamie and his little brother Dennis and their friends Mia and Clay. One summer a man comes and teaches them magic tricks…. Something horrific happens and they don’t see each other again until one day the man shows back up again and they all realize they need to face what happened. The book shifts in time to fill in the blanks of what happened that summer back to the present and you get a little of others points of view just for clarity.

The book was really well paced and I loved the dynamic between Jamie and his brother. I also really enjoyed that the book didn’t give you an outright answer to the questions it asks.. I usually hate that but for this book, it worked so well.

I loved the eeriness of the town and the blanket of darkness that seemed to linger on every page. Really shock me out of my horror funk! This one was so brilliant and I cannot wait to see what else the author has to offer.

4.5 stars! You cannot go wrong with this book even if you tried.

Thank you to Netgalley and titan books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Titan Books for my gifted e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read Bone White and Come With Me by Ronald Malfi and have loved both books so Black Mouth was one of my anticipated releases this year. I was NOT disappointed. I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. It hooked from the very beginning and it was quite a rollercoaster of emotions!! I loved the four main characters despite all their flaws and loved reading their childhood and adult timelines.

I love Malfi’s style of writing. He has an amazing way of writing horror but also hits you with all the emotions. Black Mouth made me sob and I mean sob!! Tears were coming down and I couldn’t stop! I still get a bit emotional thinking about it. I have two disabled sons so it really hit me hard.

This book is perfect if you’re looking for a good summer horror/thriller book. Highly recommend.

Please look up trigger warnings if you need them because there are plenty.

TW: alcohol abuse, addiction, domestic abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, ableist, ableist slurs, homophobic slurs.

“Jamie Warren is home.”

Whenever I think about home, I think about the large birch tree that sits near my back garden. I watch it change every season, blooming before it sheds its leaves, the wind leaving them scattered across our garden – evidence of the passing of time.

In Jamie Warren’s back garden, he has a haunted farm house and a sunken, ashen pit aptly named ‘Black Mouth.’ We are not the same, and I guess I am thankful for that – thankful, that I wasn’t approached by a creepy, sloppily dressed old man in a dark forest either, and asked, do you want to see a magic trick? If that had happened, I would like to say that I'd run as fast as I could in the other direction, but Jamie Warren and his friends -- Mia and Clay -- stay around for the show, catapulting their already misshapen lives into a direction that none of them saw coming.

While Black Mouth is similar to both Stephen King’s ‘IT’ and Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘The Only Good Indians’, Ronald Malfi manages to conjure up a world that is entirely his own, using first person narration to develop Jamie Warren’s character as we’re let into his deepest and darkest thoughts. The plot is developed slowly, carefully – a malevolent horror that seems all too real.

It is a story, I think, about childhood trauma. About actions and consequences, and the inability to deal with said consequences when we’re released from childhood – into the big, bad world, where we’re left to our own devices.
Some, like Jamie, use liquid means to cope, where as some — as we later find out — spiral into a world of terror that seemed almost inevitable.

Thank you to Titan books for sending me a copy in exchange for a review and letting me be a part of the Instagram tour!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! I'd head great things about Ronald Malfi so jumped on the opportunity to request this when I saw it.

A group of friends return to their home town to face an evil from their childhood. This was a frightening and emotionally-charged coming of age story that really gets under your skin.

It's mentioned that fans of Stephen King's IT would enjoy this, and they are not wrong. Even though it's a familiar plot line and is exactly reminiscent of IT, and even reads similar to King's signature style, Black Mouth sets itself apart and the idea still works. This was a staggering introduction to Malfi's works and I LOVED IT.

There is excellent character development and real depth to each of their individual stories, and the introduction of new characters deeper into the novel doesn't impact the pacing - if anything it made me eager to discover who these people were and their roles in the overarching story.

Even the environment that Malfi creates is haunting; centring round the "Black Mouth" - a gaping wound in the earth caused by a mining disaster that is truly ominous and I don't blame the leads for being hesitant to return. There is a good balance to the horror elements and honestly with a villain who is a magician, that shit is creepy as hell.

TW: this has some truly gruesome and blood-curdling scenes (one involves violence against animals, which just might be a bit over the top). I was not expecting this level of graphic violence but because I am sick and twisted with a strong stomach, it was not bad enough to stop me reading.

Any fan of Stephen King will probably enjoy this. Excuse me while I make my way to adding more of Malfi's works to my TBR!

Well, my second book by this very talented author went down an absolute treat!

It grabs your attention from the start and keeps you enthralled until the end, I just love his writing style - it reminds me of early Stephen King.

'Black Mouth' is a very atmospheric read that I enjoyed every step of the way.

The characters were well-developed and likeable.

A must-read for horror fans!

ARC provided by Titan Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, Thanks!

In 1988, eleven year old Jamie Warren lives in Sutton's Quay West Virginia in the part of town known as Black Mouth, Black Mouth is the site of a collapsed mine that urban legend says is haunted by the ghosts of the long dead miners who were trapped in the mine. Jamie, along with his younger brother with special needs Dennis, is being raised in a household full of abuse and addiction. Jamie finds solace in his friendship with fellow Black Mouth kids, Mia and Clay. The group begins learning magic tricks from a mysterious vagrant that they call The Magician. The Magician says that he can teach them all some real magic, but of course there is a price to pay. Nearly twenty five years later, Jamie is called back to Black Mouth because of the death of his mother. He is very surprised when Mia shows up at his house to show Jamie's house to show him a picture she took of someone who looks eerily like The Magician. Is The Magician still up to his old tricks preying on more vulnerable young children?

Black Mouth was one of my most anticipated reads for 2022 and I am very grateful to NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read an e-ARC in exchange for my unbiased review. Ronald Malfi is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and Come With Me was in my top 10 books for 2021. Black Mouth continues to show that Malfi is a gifted story teller. His words immediately pull the reader in from the very first chapter, I was fully invested in the lives of this group of friends and I was pulling for them all to have a happy ever after. There have been comparisons between Black Mouth and King's IT. There are similarities in that there is a group of children who experienced a traumatic event together and then reunite as adults. Both books are also such good stories. There is definitely horror in here, but this book seriously gave me all the feels, but I will not put any spoilers and tell you what those feelings were. I highly recommend Black Mouth and Malfi in general to anyone who loves a good horror story.

This is the first book I’ve read by Ronald Malfi so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, however, I really enjoyed his writing style.

As others have said it does give off IT vibes which isn’t a bad thing!

The town of Black Mouth is believed to be cursed, not everyone is a believer but for Jamie Warren and friends a childhood full of abuse, a “magic man” and an unfortunate incident that ties them together it seems destined that they are cursed.

Years later the death of Jamie’s mom sees him return back home to Black Mouth, reconnect with the past and try and get answers with the help of his childhood friends.

The writing was atmospheric, the supernatural elements didn’t go overboard and it did a great interpretation of diving into mental health and alcoholism.

I did feel towards the end the chapters lost me slightly before bringing it back in for the conclusion.

Well written atmospheric creepy story set in a small town. All the words I like to describe a book!! I know some readers compared BLACK MOUTH to Stephen King’s books, but I think fans of Camilla Sten (The Lost Village) and C.J.Tudor will enjoy this book more. The supernatural quiver is very enjoyable, Malfi has written an amazing thriller!

Content warning - abuse of animals and humans, name calling.

Thank you Titan Books via Netgalley for the reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am never disappointed with a Ronald Malfi book and Black Mouth was just as terrifying and emotionally charged as the others.

Strong character development, a world that envelopes the reader in joy, despair, humor, mystery and everything else in between.

A coming of age story that spans across the characters lives, Jamie, Mia, Clay and Dennis grew up in Black Mouth, and are back to find the villain from their childhood, the Magician. Dennis is by far my favorite character. He is sweet, charming and a complete mystery. His defense mechanism of “hiding in his turtle shell” makes me want to laugh and cry.

This was an immersive read with many characters that had were nuanced and multi layered. No one character was exactly what they seemed. This might be a rare book that I read again and find something new I didn’t notice before.

I chose to read a free eARC of Black Mouth but that has in no way influenced my review.

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.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Black Mouth. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

This review will be posted on damppebbles.com on 19th July 2022.

Black mouth is the name of a town.There is a reason it is named so- a huge mine collapse happened years before which lead to death of many miners underground.There is so many horror stories around the tragedy and there after everyone called the town Black mouth and believed whoever born there is not normal.
Jamie warren never believed this ,even though his brother Dennis was born with special needs he never believed in the tale.When Jamie and his friends, Mia and Clay, were passing through the forest they met a magician, and started learning magic with him.The magician was very keen on teaching them the card tricks and the pure magic and some thing very bad happened that they never wanted to do anything with the town anymore.

At present Jamie is living away from town running away from a haunting trauma that happened in their childhood,Mia and Clay also don't want to be a part of the town But unfortunately they are brought together to the same town as a coincidence to fight their past.

My thoughts:

This is my first Ronald Malfi Book and I was not disappointed.I have heard very good things about his other book and wanted to try this when I saw it on Net galley.The Characters are very likeable and enjoyed the plot from the beginning.The horror elements and the plot was at a balance and things were believable.The book is not the type to scare you off but still it had all the creepy writings.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and the characters.I am glad I read this and will surely check out other book from him.Highly recommended If you love to read a horror book with solid plot.

Jamie and Dennis Warren grew up in a home on the outskirts of the fields leading to the abandoned mine the locals call "Black Mouth," where a tragedy far in the past has left a dark scar. Terrorized by a violent, drunken father, they found ways to cope. Many years have passed since Jamie moved away, but now he's been called back. His mother is dead, and Dennis, who is not capable of caring for himself, has been left alone. Except - Jamie doesn't want to go back.

Fighting his own battle with alcohol, he is horrified by the thought of facing the home where so many horrible things happened to him as a child, and the guilt of leaving Dennis behind. He can't leave Dennis there alone, so, in the words of Dennis himself, “Jamie Warren is home.” Not just Jamie, though. His childhood pals Clay and Mia turn up, and readers are led through the strange events that drove them all apart and away from Black Mouth, and the dark magician who haunts their memories.

Following trails through carnivals with purple hippos and broken dreams, and crossing paths with other's the magician has left in his wake, the four childhood companions are forced to face their deepest darkness and hope not to be swallowed whole.

Highly recommended.

First – huge thanks to Netgalley, Titan Books and Ronald for approving me for a digital ARC of this one!

I’m admittingly late to the Malfi game. I discovered his work through his novella ‘Mr. Cables,’ (which if you’ve not read you need to immediately) and then last years phenomenal ‘Come With Me,’ (which if you’ve not read you need to immediately). I’m stick shaking my head in disbelief that ‘Come With Me’ was nominated for a Stoker – and yes this is coming from the guy whose book was on the prelim ballot. I don’t understand the how’s or the why’s but I was in utter shock when my novel was there and his wasn’t.

Malfi is a sublime writer. People often talk about how Stephen King has a writing voice that immediately transports you into their writing, but I’ve found my favorite author (cough… cough… Andrew Pyper) and Malfi have two of the strongest writing voices out there. You instantly leap into their worlds and with Malfi, those are often times worlds you’ll wish you didn’t inhabit.

What I liked: The story follows a group of three friends and an older brother, who have an experience together in the area referred to as Black Mouth. Years later, they are beckoned back to their hometown and they’re forced to confront what happened, all those years ago.

Yes, this is an idea as old as time in dark fiction. Yes, other authors have done it and yes, King has a massive tome out there that has something like this, but the reality is, this is ALWAYS a plot that will survive and ALWAYS a plot that is engaging and has so, so, so much potential. And Malfi grabs that potential and runs with it.

The main character here, Jamie Warren, SUCKS. He’s a guy you’ll dislike and each reader will have to determine if they will root for him or not. BUT. It’s a key aspect to the story and Malfi handles him with nerves of steel. Jamie is a coward, an alcoholic and a selfish jerk. When his mother dies and he returns (after a phone call about his brother, who has significant cognitive issues), Malfi begins the wheel of Jamie attempting to flee. Of him not wanting to confront the horrors of life (whether real or supernatural) and, as so often is true, is only able to continue on with the help of his friends.

This is a key narrative throughout and I think the strongest aspect of the book. There’s a few moments in here that will punch you so hard in the gut.

What I did enjoy was how a moment we are led to believe will be the “climax” of the story occurs further in than expected, which elevated what happens after even more. It was as though we got an extended epilogue. I often wish books would tell us more about what happens after the big events and was really happy to discover that Malfi did just that here, making sure we get to see how the characters cope and live once the ‘big event’ has happened.

What I didn’t like: There’s a few bits that I wasn’t overly fond of. An incident with a dog seemed completely unnecessary. Yes, it was there in place to show derangement and how repulsive a specific character was, but I could think of other ways to handle that. And I wasn’t completely sold on the ‘over there’ vs ‘over here’ revelation near the ending. I’ll leave it at that to keep it as close to spoiler free as possible.

Why you should buy this: I preordered this as soon as it was announced, knowing how amazing Malfi is. We’re also in for a second treat this year as he has a collection of novellas arriving near the back end of 2022. This book takes the coming-of-age aspect and pairs it with some heavy topics (most notably alcoholism) and doesn’t pull any punches. Malfi writes like a man possessed throughout and is one of the few authors who will put the pedal to the floor – and still somehow find another gear.

Really great stuff from a master!

** This review is live at the following locations and will be added to Amazon Canada once published**
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4688764248
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3992842021
https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/2022/07/11/book-review-black-mouth-by-ronald-malfi/

Black Mouth is a dark, mysterious tale dealing with the consequences of traumatic childhood experiences and pervaded by supernatural elements.

I enjoyed the sense of dread permeating through the pages, the perfectly uninviting setting of the novel at times made me feel claustrophobic and out of breath. The characters, all dealing with the repercussion of their encounter with The Magician, were well developed and just that little bit unpleasant to match the unpleasantness of the setting and of the whole story.

The only criticism I can give is that towards the end the story split too much and went too much on a tangent that made me question what was the point of some previous threads. It was all picked up again at the very end but I thought it would have been good to know more about Wayne, not just recapped at the end.

Overall, a good psychological horror that I recommend, and I will definitely read the first book by this author too.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you NetGallery and the Titan Books for the arc of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I was sent this as an ARC free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review. When Jamie Warren was 11 years old, he along with his two best friends Clay and Mia met a strange homeless man in the woods by his house. This man claimed to be a magician and amazed the children with card tricks, sleight of hand and even some things that appeared to be pure magic. He promised to teach them true magic if they did something for him….something terrible. Decades later and far away from his childhood home, Jamie is still suffering from what happened those many years ago. Trying to forget about it all by sinking into alcoholism. It´s when his mother dies, that he is forced to return to the place he swore he would never return to in order to care for his mentally handicapped younger brother. His childhood friends Mia and Clay, each fighting their own demons, return as well…because Mia believes she has spotted the “Magician” who ruined their lives…and he hasn´t aged a day. Ronald Malfi has written a suspenseful and at times terrifying tale about how the past haunts us and can´t be so easily repressed. His writing is top notch and I had a hard time putting it down. However, I must warn curious readers…This novel contains scenes of disturbing animal cruelty, graphic child abuse and intense violence. Definitely not for the weak hearted.

I really enjoyed Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi. It had some creepy super natural storylines mixed with real life trauma. The mix of timelines from when the 4 main characters were younger and then as adults really helped develop the characters and give an understanding to how their different experiences of trauma shaped their memories.