Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas

Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas

Josh Malerman

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

A MAN IN SLICES: A young man wants to prove to his long-distance girlfriend that they have "legendary love," better than Vincent van Gogh, so he sends her more body parts than just his ear in the mail. KAMP: A man so horrified of encountering a ghost that he sets up a series of "ghost traps" all over his apartment, desperate to catch one before it can sneak up on him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUNTER! Big game hunter Neal Nash leaves his own meat-themed birthday bash to go hunting for Goblin's hallowed (and protected) Great Owl. But the North Woods are unkind at night. PRESTO: In the pages of Presto magazine, a young boy reads that his favorite magician, Roman Emperor, is coming to town. Problem is, Pete doesn't know that Emperor's magic is real, and his latest trick involves audience participation... a little boy volunteer. A MIX-UP AT THE ZOO: Dirk Rogers works at both the Goblin Slaughterhouse and the Goblin Zoo, but the workload is really getting to him. Will he be able to separate the two jobs on the night he finally breaks down, or will the slaughterhouse and the zoo overlap in his cracked, dark mind? THE HEDGES: A young girl finally reaches the end of Goblin's biggest tourist attraction, The Hedges. But what she finds there sparks a mad chase between the owner of the Hedges and the Goblin Police, through the streets of the rainy city and into the terrible North Woods. The author of Bird Box and Black Mad Wheel welcomes you to Goblin. May your night there be wet with rain, breathless with adventure, and filled with fright.


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  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    **I was provided with an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

    Actual rating: 3.5

    Josh Malerman returns with his newest novel, Goblin. The novel is composed of six intertwining stories of characters that all live in the city of Goblin, a city with a rich and twisted history full of secrets. Each story layers on the previous to reveal more and more of the strange happenings of Goblin and the ghosts that haunt the residents.

    This is my first experience with Josh Malerman, as I missed all the hype for his previous works. As for Goblin, I was able to see that Josh Malerman's writing style is very clean and developed with mindfulness. I very much enjoyed the crafting of Goblin and the stories that built the city and its inhabitants.

    Unfortunately, the book as a whole did suffer from its formatting for me. While cleverly intertwined, I simply don't tend to build as much investment in short stories. I liked certain main characters over others and, as a result, was more interested in some story lines over others. This is definitely a personal preference issue rather than any fault of the author.

    I am absolutely interested in exploring Josh Malerman's backlist and am glad to have had the opportunity to read this work early.

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