Pearl

I received a free eARC of Pearl by Josh Malerman from Del Ray via NetGalley. I was very excited to read this book, originally published in a limited release under the title ON THIS, THE DAY OF THE PIG, in its new wide release. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this title as much as I hoped to. In Pearl, the title character (a pig) has telepathic abilities and influences people to do things. Terrible things. I struggled to connect with the premise. While the book did contain some interesting and unsettling scenes, fundamentally I just don't find pigs to be that scary and had trouble buying into a pig that “sat on its ass” (a FREQUENT description of Pearl's abnormal behavior) as a creepy villain or monster. Frankly if I had not received this book as an eARC I might have DNF'd it. I'm kind of glad I didn't because I do think the book picked up a bit as it went, but I think this is far from Malerman's best. ⭐️⭐️