Spin a Black Yarn: Five Short Novels by Josh Malerman

Five harrowing novellas of horror and speculative fiction from the singular mind of the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box, featuring the World Fantasy Award finalist “Half the House Is Haunted”

AN ESQUIRE AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Josh Malerman is a master weaver of stories—and in this spine-chilling collection he spins five twisted tales from the shadows of the human soul:

A sister insists to her little brother that “Half the House Is Haunted” by a strange presence. But is it the house that’s haunted—or their childhoods?

In “Argyle,” a dying man confesses to homicides he never committed, and he reveals long-kept secrets far more sinister than murder.

A tourist takes the ultimate trip to outer space in “The Jupiter Drop,” but the real journey is into his own dark past.

In “Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer™,” a trendy married couple buys the latest home gadget only to find themselves trapped by their possessions, their history . . . and each other.

And in “Egorov,” a wealthy old cretin murders a young man, not knowing the victim was a triplet. The two surviving brothers stage a savage faux-haunting—playing the ghost of their slain brother—with the aim of driving the old murderer mad.

Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman is a hard one to review... The stories are dark, with themes that center around trauma, guilt, regret, revenge, pride, and greed. And the characters are more than just flawed - they are damaged.

I didn't dislike the book, but only two of the stories truly left an impression.

“Argyle” was disturbing (in a fun way) that still has me wondering how many Shawn Hasbros there are in the world, living with the constant struggle to deny their true nature.

“Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer™” felt like being on a rollercoaster, going back and forth, trying to decide if the characters deserved redemption. I'm still not sure.

These two stories alone still make the book a worthwhile read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine / Del Ray for the opportunity to review this advanced reader copy of the book.

Josh Malerman is always a hit or miss for me, I either LOVE his books or I feel just ok with them. This collection was a perfect example of this because I loved a little more than half of them and felt just ok about the rest. Malerman does a great job at writing stories that give you chills because you just KNOW there's more going on than what you're actually seeing. My absolute favorite story in this collection is about a man on a trip to Jupiter and it made me wish Malerman wrote more sci-fi! The rating is an average of my individual ratings of each story (which is great because the lowest I rated one was 3 stars and it was only because I didn't like the plot of the story). As always, I will read anything Malerman writes and will continue to do so because he writes some of my favorite horror!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review.

Argyle is the only story i actually liked, other than that i feel like everything else fell flat & i was often bored

this review sum up my thoughts perfectly
so does this one

disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration.

Josh Malerman seems to be a very hit-or-miss author for me! I first read Bird Box by him and absolutely loved it. I also really enjoyed A House at the Bottom of a Lake, which is a very divisive book with a goodreads average of 3.21. So this collection of novellas brings my average rating of his books from 3.83 (not bad) to 3.38 (not great). (PS I'm keeping track of my author averages for an upcoming project... not sure when it's coming but keep an eye out!)

The order of the novellas in the book actually matches my enjoyment of them. The first, Half the House Is Haunted, was probably a solid 4 stars from me. The writing style and presentation was unique in this one so it took me a bit to adjust but the tension was excellent. I felt like it didn't quite stick the landing, but still a good read! Argyle presents a unique take on the serial killer, probably also a 3.5 or 4, and is worth a read as well. Some of it fell flat for me, but overall it was an interesting read. The Jupiter drop was also somewhat unique, probably 3 stars. I don't have much to say about it; it was interesting, but I found it ultimately unmemorable.

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer(TM) was a major flop for me. Maybe 2.5 stars? Parts of it were really good! But it didn't quite tie itself together and the ending was pretty anticlimactic. Egorov is the longest novella in the book, and it certainly feels like it. I started off kind of bored, got really interested, and then ended up just skimming to get to the end. Probably a 2.5 as well? I felt like a lot could have been left out or shortened as it lost my attention a lot. The concept is verrryy good though.

I had originally rated this 2 stars, but writing the review made me realize there were stories I liked! Egorov just took me so long to read and bogged me down so much that I had forgotten. I'm going to up it to a 3 (so Malerman's average rating from me is now a 3.63) because there were certainly aspects that I liked. This currently has a 3.65 (with only 334 ratings) on goodreads, which feels accurate to me. I definitely see this being a divisive collection, especially since I feel the quality varies a lot within it. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this, but wouldn't suggest bumping it to the top of your list either. I'll definitely be picking up more by Malerman though because I know I enjoy some of his writing!