Book Review: Inspection by Josh Malerman
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 1.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Del Rey (March 19, 2019)
Length: 384 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
While Inspection is only my second Josh Malerman, I’ve read enough and heard enough to know it is a crapshoot every time you pick up one of his books. With this author, you just never know what you’re going to get—an inevitable consequence of his creativity and unpredictable writing style. And unfortunately, this time I took a risk, but it didn’t pan out.
In a word, Inspection is strange. At the heart of this tale is a mad scientist couple seeking to raise a group of children to be the best that they can be, and in order to create these little geniuses, they have developed an experimental program called Parenthood and set up shop in the middle of the wilderness. As infants, twenty-six boys and twenty-six girls, each named for a letter of the alphabet, were placed in their respective facilities, separated by sex. Overseen by Richard, also known as D.A.D. to his charges, the Alphabet Boys have no idea that the girls exist—or any female, for that matter. Likewise, the Letter Girls who are tended by Marilyn, nicknamed M.O.M., are completely unaware of the existence of men or the outside world. Small differences in their education aside, both groups are raised without knowledge of the opposite sex, or any form of religion.
However, as the children gradually approach puberty, what happens when they start questioning their guardians and become more curious about the world around them? In the boys’ tower, 12-year-old J wants to be obedient and please his D.A.D., knowing that bad behavior gets children sent away to the “Corner” where they are never seen again. But at the same time, he can’t help but look out at the trees and imagine something more beyond. Meanwhile, in the girls’ tower, similar suspicions are starting to arise in K, whose boldness and intelligence has always led her to seek out answers. As expected, her quest for the truth eventually leads her to discover her male counterpart J, but it’s when their two storylines converge that things finally start to get interesting.
Still, as you can probably gather from the novel’s description alone, it’s complicated. To Malerman’s credit, his imagination knows no limits, and his ability to come up with these incredible ideas and push the boundaries of horror is what makes for fantastic reading for fans of the genre. I certainly don’t dispute the originality of Inspection, and I think that its premise makes for an intriguing thought experiment.
But that’s just it: this whole book is a singular great concept that sadly never materializes into anything I would call a coherent or engaging story. And yes, while I did say that things got interesting eventually, by the time it actually happens it was much too late. To call this book a slow-burn would be much too generous—it’s really more of a no-burn. If you were able to stay focused for the entire first half of the novel, then kudos to you. Unfortunately, I was unable to say the same, finding J’s depthless and rambling sections especially challenging to slog through. Only the occasional breaks provided by the perspective of Warren Bratt, an author hired to write all the “educational” books the Alphabet Boys read, kept me motivated enough to continue.
Also, calling this one a horror would be a bit of a stretch. It lacked the suspense and intensity I was expecting, which in turn fed into the slowness of the pacing. On another level, it put a distance between the reader and the characters, which made it even more difficult to get into the story. Things looked up once we were introduced to K’s perspective, possibly because I felt Malerman gave her a more compelling personality, but again, this improvement felt inadequate, coming in much too late in the game. The bloodbath of the ending was almost laughable in its absurdity and desperation, mainly because by that point, I just couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.
Honestly, I don’t know what could have made the book better. Its innovativeness and originality notwithstanding, the premise alone kind of dooms the story, I think. Some ideas are just better on paper than in execution, and I believe Inspection is a prime example. While this probably won’t prevent me from trying more of Josh Malerman’s books because I will always be drawn to unique stories, I’m sad to say I was sorely disappointed by this one.
The BiblioSanctum 
Well, that sounds like a horrific bad horror
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Haha, yeah, not quite the kind of horrific I was looking for 😀
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I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you :/. First book we haven’t agreed on, i believe.
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There might have been others, but yeah, I just saw your review on Goodreads and looks like we’re extreme opposites on this one, haha 😀
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Haha. There has to be at least one I guess 😀
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I didn’t care for it either! sigh….
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Looks like we’re not the only ones! But there were others who loved it too, it just seems like the opinion is so divided on this book!
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I’ve seen the whole range of ratings for this book, even a five star review. But I get bored easily with books that can’t hold my attention so I cannot see myself enjoying this either.
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Yeah, they’re all over the place for this one, seems like you either love it or hate it!
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Shame, sounds like an intriguing germ of an idea.
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For sure, the ideas were great. Just a shame there was no story 😦
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I had a very similar reaction to this one. Seemed the whole first part of the book was trying to establish tone/ mood, and I kept thinking, yep I get it!
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Yes! I just wanted it to hurry it up!
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I completely agree with yer assessment “that its premise makes for an intriguing thought experiment.” I have now read three of his works and all of them have had unusual writing and ideas which I have enjoyed but have had implausibility issues with plot, character, setting, etc. I find things to like in each of them and enjoy thinking about them as I read but I don’t think I could recommend his books to anyone. They are just not good novels in terms of execution. But in terms of weird ideas, they can be fun. I do think I will be reading more of his works for the thought experiments because I enjoy discussing them with the first mate. Lovely review. I certainly agree with yer perspective. Arrrrr!
x The Captain
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I’ve only read Unbury Carole before this one. I had mixed feelings about that one too, but nothing like this. I actually ended up liking that book quite a bit, despite a rocky beginning. This one though, it was just a complete disaster.
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wow it’s rare for you when it’s complicated like that but I can understand
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Yup! I rarely give anything lower than a 2!
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Sometimes ‘unique’ does not also mean ‘successful’, and despite what sounds like an intriguing premise, I could clearly feel your frustration with both story and characterization… Better luck next time? 🙂
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Yup, and sometimes a good idea does not a good story make! It seemed like this one was all concept and no plot, so unfortunate!
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It’s so frustrating when a really interesting concept doesn’t work well
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And I had such high expectations for this one too. Oh well, hope my next book will be better!
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Hmm. It does sound like an interesting premise, but I’m not sure it’s interesting enough that I want to read a whole book about it haha. Especially if it’s slow moving. This is good to know. I can probably safely pass on this one!
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Right, maybe a short story, and at the most, a novella. But slogging through this nearly 400 pager was too much!
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Dang Mogsy!!! But he seems to ba a volatile author where you can get the best or the worst… Thank you for your review and sorry it was not his best!
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Haha, it’s always a risk with Malerman, but at least you know he’ll have creative ideas!
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This is such a fantastic review. I’m sorry this one didn’t work out at all, but you were really diplomatic about it. 🙂
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Haha, I try my best to be nice even when I’m tearing it apart 😛
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Well that really is a shame. I was really enjoying your write up of the concept – it sounds so intriguing and then it all went to hell in a handcart. Can’t win them all.
Lynn 😀
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Haha, hell in a handcart. Pretty much!
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“But that’s just it: this whole book is a singular great concept that sadly never materializes into anything I would call a coherent or engaging story. And yes, while I did say that things got interesting eventually, by the time it actually happens it was much too late. To call this book a slow-burn would be much too generous—it’s really more of a no-burn.” That sums up my thoughts about this one exactly… This one could have been so much darker and more interesting… I almost wish it was a novella so it could be toned back a bit.
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I think it would have worked SO much better as a novella. Or even a short story. But having to slog through 400 pages of this was torture. The “story” basically took forever to get anywhere. There was barely any plot!
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The concept is intriguing but I don’t think it’s for me…
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Yeah, I was sucked in by the book’s description. Can’t believe how disappointing it turned out to be.
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this will be a library one for me. I like Malerman’s off the rails imagination, but it doesnt’ look like this one is worth purchasing. oh well.
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Agreed 100%! I love his unique ideas, but at the same time, you can’t throw together a good story out of just ideas. There has to be some semblance of a plot too.
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Darn it! It sounds such an interesting idea … 😦
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It really was! Just such a shame no good story materialized out of it.
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It does sound too complicated for my soft brain! Nice review!
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