by Ronald Malfi
My first forray into Malfi, outside of a short story or two, and what an excellent choice to start with. Carl is a patient locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the murder of his wife which he has no recollection of doing. At night, he starts dreaming of leaving for the hospital to wander on an oc...
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.I am a fan of Ronald Malfi’s work. I have read several of his writings that have come out from the fine publishing house of Darkfuse over the past few years and some of his works published elsewhere. His story li...
A deliciously bite-sized bit portion of Lovecraft. That's how I'd describe A Shrill Keening. It's fairly easy to see that Malfi borrows bits and pieces from some of Lovecraft's works, but he does with a style all his own. This novella may be short, but it still managed to sink its fangs into me unti...
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Carl is now confined to a psychiatric unit, he can’t remember the incident that caused his incarceration and is sure that he had nothing to do with the death of his girlfriend, Meritt. His days are spent at...
"A Shrill Keening" is an atmospheric, Lovecraftian novella.Carl Thompson is stuck between two "realities". In one reality, he is a mental patient convicted of murdering his girlfriend, a crime he cannot remember. In the other, he is serving an important role in a Lovecraftian horror tale of the end ...
I really enjoyed the pacing of this one and was absorbed with Malfi’s character study of insanity and alternate realities. It is pretty quick, so covers a lot of ground in a relatively short period of time. Carl has been institutionalized for a crime that he has no memory of committing. He seems to ...
Upon finishing A Shrill Keening, I'm left with one word flashing in my mind like a neon pub sign: Unremarkable. The story doesn't seem to have a purpose, and simply meanders about, tossing one idea after another at you before ending on a banal note. A Shrill Keening is not tense, not scary in the sl...
4.5 stars rounded up to 5! I read this one in a single sitting, partly because it's a novella and partly because Malfi can captivate the reader that well! There is a lot going on in this novella but Malfi writes so well, I never felt lost or had trouble keeping track of what was going on. Throughou...
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