Book Review: Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Titan Books | Tantor Audio (July 18, 2023)

Length: 384 pages | 9 hrs and 59 mins

Author Information: Website

Well, of course I had to read Small Town Horror. I love Ronald Malfi and will read anything he writes, especially since so many of his books take place in my backyard. Plus, the fact that his style has been compared to Stephen King certainly doesn’t hurt.

Indeed, there’s something quite reminiscent of It in the way this story begins. Five friends reunite in their hometown on Maryland’s eastern shore after one of them suffers what appears to be a mental break. One night, Andrew Larimer, a young up-and-coming lawyer from Manhattan, receives a call from a childhood friend named Dale, who sounds erratic and distraught on the phone, begging Andrew to come home. Despite his misgivings, our protagonist travels to the small seaside village of Kingsport where he grew up, telling his pregnant wife Rebecca that he’s leaving on a work-related trip. Lately, he has been having strange nightmares, which he has been chalking up to soon-to-be-dad jitters, but a part of him wonders if Dale’s anxiety is connected to his own. For you see, many years ago, when they were just teenagers, Andrew, Dale, and their friends Eric, Tig, and Meach were involved in some terrible business.

However, when Andrew arrives in Kingsport, he discovers the reason for Dale’s distress. His wife Cynthia is missing, and their friend Eric, who is now the town’s sheriff, has been trying to investigate the case while maintaining an image of impartiality. Being a lawyer, Andrew had been ostensibly brought in to help—but to do what? Is he here to find out what happened to Cynthia, or to make sure the truth of what happened twenty years ago never came to light? With the anniversary of that fateful night soon approaching, Andrew begins his work at the home of his late father, which has sat abandoned since his death—or so Andrew thought. He finds his old friend Meach, deep in the throes of alcohol and drug addiction, who may have been squatting in the house, judging by the rundown condition and stench. The whole place feels haunted, like the rest of Kingsport. That includes the Wharf Rat, the bar which Andrew’s old flame Tig still owns and runs. With their lives in disarray, it seems none of the five friends have been able to escape the heavy memory of what they’ve done.

Malfi’s talent for atmosphere is on full display here. The setting of Kingsport is the perfect backdrop for the novel’s eerie undertones, and even the people there seem trapped in time and unable to escape the downtrodden spirit and slow decay which permeates the town. The story unfolds across two timelines—one set in the present and one in the past which is conveyed via flashbacks. Despite witnessing the evolution of our characters over time as we flip back and forth, the town itself remains conspicuously unchanging.

Still, on that note, I think perhaps the flashback sections and POV transitions could have been executed with a bit more finesse; these sometimes felt too abrupt and poorly timed, causing confusion and a dragging pace around the middle of the book. The greater mystery here—which goes beyond Andrew’s nightmares, or Dale’s missing wife—is the question: Are the five friends all cursed because of the part they played in the events of that fateful night, or is the weight of their guilt simply too much to bear?

As with his previous works like Come With Me and Black Mouth (which was actually referenced), Small Town Horror contains an element of the supernatural, just enough to provide a bit of uncertainty. Aptly titled, the novel highlights the crucial role that small-town dynamics play in the premise and plot. Secrets, superstitions, and hauntings feel intriguingly plausible in such a place where the lines between reality and the paranormal are blurred, allowing readers to also grapple with their own interpretations of the chilling conclusion, which was mind-blowingly twisted and yet oh so satisfying and appropriate.