WellWorthARead reviewed Goblin by Josh Malerman
Review of 'Goblin' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
These six novellas are all connected by the theme of a weird and creepy little town called Goblin. Other than the strange place with a dark history they don't share much else. I had high expectations from the start because I do love home town horror. In Goblin it rains all the time and people are buried standing up. The police force is referenced in a way that made me wonder whether the officers are human, or even alive. I will leave it to you to determine what they are when they play a more prominent role in the last story. Aside from what is listed above there is also a bonus story told in two parts. It begins as a welcome and ends in an epilogue at the end of the book.
My favorite story was Presto which is about a boy who is obsessed with magic, and his …
These six novellas are all connected by the theme of a weird and creepy little town called Goblin. Other than the strange place with a dark history they don't share much else. I had high expectations from the start because I do love home town horror. In Goblin it rains all the time and people are buried standing up. The police force is referenced in a way that made me wonder whether the officers are human, or even alive. I will leave it to you to determine what they are when they play a more prominent role in the last story. Aside from what is listed above there is also a bonus story told in two parts. It begins as a welcome and ends in an epilogue at the end of the book.
My favorite story was Presto which is about a boy who is obsessed with magic, and his favorite magician who comes to perform a midnight show in Goblin. I found it deliciously dark and creepy, and although I was interested in Peter I was mostly enjoying the back story of the magician who started out as a failure before making a pact that gave him real magic instead of tricks. This story was a 5 star read for me.
My least favorite was A Mix Up at the Zoo. It had long passages of dream scenes and the ending was too obvious from the start. I don't care for dream sequences and they always seem over used. It may just be me but when I see pages of italics and I know it's not happening but a dream of what's happening I get the urge to skim. This was a 2 star read for me.
A Man In Slices was a 4 star read for me. It was mainly about a strained childhood friendship, and letting the guilt one feels when wanting to cut ties with someone hold you hostage when you are the only friend they have. If anything this story will convince you to make a clean break before it's too late.
The other three stories landed somewhere in the middle for me and if they were separate novellas I would give them 3 stars each.
I was really enjoying the welcome part of the book and I was so into this story! I was dying to know what this delivery was about. When I finally got to the epilogue where this story continues I was hoping it was somehow going to tie everything together but it mostly stayed in it's own lane.
All in all it was a decent collection that I would rate 3.25 out of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy for review.
