Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Small Town Horror.

I enjoy Mr. Malfi's books and thanks to NetGalley have been enjoying them for the past few years.

Small Town Horror is reminiscent of a more famous book called IT, where a group of close knit friends battle an unspeakable horror.

In Small Town Horror, five friends gather together on the anniversary of a crime only they know about. But you know what they say about secrets.

They always come back to haunt you.

Andrew Larimer is a successful attorney, husband, and soon to be dad, who is called back to his small seaside town of Kingsport, when an old friend, Dale, is suspected of murdering his wife.

As Andrew reconnects with his old friends, Eric is now the deputy sheriff; his first love Tig is a single mom, and Meach has descended further into booze and drugs to dull the guilt of their shared past, Andrew will realize their past is about to catch up with them, whether they like it or not.

The narrative isn't scary, but the vibe is unsettling, creepy, and downright gross, such as Andrew's childhood home and the state Meach is in.

The pacing is slow at first since readers need exposition; how are Andrew's friends dealing with their shared trauma, and how each is coping. Not very well.

As the tension increases among the friends and the anniversary of the terrible night that changed them all draws near, new revelations come to light, including a few twists, one which I guessed.

I liked the ending, though it's not happy, it was realistic and the only way it could have ended for the friends.

Andrew, Eric, Dale, Trig and Meach are five childhood friends who grew up in the coastal town of Kingsport, Maryland. Andrew is now a lawyer in New York and essentially never returns home, but he receives a late night call which sends him back to his hometown.

The friends have a secret and they have been keeping it for twenty years. Now it’s time to face the horrors of their past.

This was pretty good, better than I was expecting. A bit Stephen King-lite, with a lot of focus on how youth created the men (and woman, Tig is a woman) of today. Andrew’s father’s house may have been the most horrifying part…ick! A very nice reveal. So, recommended for horror fans.

Haunted by the past, five childhood friends will learn that actions have consequences. You can leave your past behind, but does it ever really leave you? Dark Secrets and curses come into play in this horrifically dark and brilliant tale set in a small town.


Andrew Larimer is a married man with a pregnant wife. He has worries about the pregnancy and the upcoming birth but finds there are other things he should be worried about as well. When he receives a phone call from a childhood friend, he knows he must return to his hometown. To his father's home that his wife doesn't know he still owns. To meet with childhood friends, to face the past, to face each other and the secret they share.

I loved the atmosphere in this book. From the small-town feel, the cliff overlooking the ocean, the flooded basement, etc. It provides a something-isn't-quite-right vibe to the book. I also loved the eerie and creepy vibe that flows throughout the book. Then there is the tension, dread, and mounting sense of danger. Small Town Horror played out like a movie in my mind. Small towns, you either know everyone or are related to them. How do you keep such a BIG secret? How do you deal with guilt? How does it haunt you?

This book is told via two timelines. The current day and the past. Through both, readers get a glimpse into the past and what the group of friends are dealing with in the present. I found this to be a very nice touch. Secrets and lies play a HUGE part of this book.

This book touched on many things - friendship, marriage, secrets, guilt, fear, growing up, love, and consequences.

Well written with twists, turns and several reveals. It was slow to start but once this book got going, there was no stopping it.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel takes a familiar premise, ratches the horrors up a couple of notches, adds some "wtf-just-happened" twists and delivers what is going to be one of the best horror books of the year.

This premise might sound like something you've read before: a group of five friends are involved in a fatal accident as teens and vow to never speak of it ever again. Twenty years later, as they all gather in their hometown near the anniversary of this tragic event, they must fight a supernatural curse if they want to survive.

Sounds like a common trope, right? Ha! This is Ronald Malfi we're talking about and I can assure you his writing is anything but common.

This novel is a maze of terror that leads us in a familiar comfortable direction until the course changes all of a sudden, leaving us in a dark unknown space trying to find our way home.

It's deliciously deceptive. Hitting all the beats of a small town horror book with some added gusto. But then...THEN...in the final part of the book, everything changes. Starting with a revelation that absolutely floored me. I knew then that what I thought I had read previously had just changed horrifically. There were going to be no happy ending and things just got a whole lot darker and twisted.

I was right but the hits just kept coming after that and had me glued to the pages as if a umbilical cord was attached to my eyes and the book.

This one is going to blow you away and I would dare say it's a game changer for what small town horror can be. I highly recommend it. Do not hesitate to read.