Synopsis:
Spin a Black Yarn contains 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”
BRAM STOKER AWARD FINALIST • 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.
My Edition:
Net Galley ARC
My Thoughts:
Novella collections can be tough – the stories aren’t short enough to fly through, but not typically long enough for chapter breaks. It’s like this weird middle ground where you get almost enough exposition to fully engage, but not quite. For me, Spin a Black Yarn managed to skirt those problems for the most part. I actually found each piece to be about the right length for me to get into the story and still have it resolve successfully.
I loved Half the House is Haunted – a haunted house story told from the extremely unreliable POV of a small child is always great fun, and Malerman did a bang-up job with this one. It was really creepy, and makes you think about the ways our own traumas and fears shape the person we become.
Argyle was also really interesting, and again, thought-provoking. The story is about a man who did nothing, but wanted very badly to do very bad things. Why he thought he should confess his darkest thoughts to his family on his deathbed is beyond me, but…way to ensure your passing causes some deep and lasting trauma, my dude.
Doug and Judy Buy a House Washer was not my favorite in this collection. Not because it wasn’t a well-crafted story (it definitely was), but because I just wanted to punch Doug and Judy’s stupid faces through their stupid walls. They are the most infuriatingly upwardly-mobile fuckfaces you could possibly imagine. Everything needs to be monetized. They’re like the logical conclusion of the worst kind of professional social media influencers – just soulless corporate shills with more regard for payout than honesty. I mean, seeing them get theirs was pretty satisfying though, so maybe I don’t dislike this one at all – just the intentionally hateable characters.
The Jupiter Drop had interesting haunted-space vibes. It felt a little out of place with the rest of the collection at first, but deeper reading quickly bore out that it fits perfectly in that it focuses heavily on inner reflection. This guy has some dark stuff to work through, and what better way to do it than while hurtling quickly through a gas giant in a clear box with nobody but your own inner demons to keep you company? Right?
And finally, Egorov. This clever little story reminded me a bit of a noir film. Twin brothers Barat and Pavel try to hunt down the killer of their triplet Mikhail. I mean, triplet murder revenge arc? Come on – that’s good stuff right there. They use their identical-ness (identicality?) to enact a plot so deliciously gothic in nature that it’ll knock your socks off. This feels like Poe could have written it. If Poe knew anything about Russian immigrant neighborhoods (maybe he did – I realize now I have no way of knowing that).
Rating:
Overall, this is a super solid collection. I still feel like novella collections feel awkward and disjointed, but Spin a Black Yarn did a pretty good job of making me forget that. And the stories are all really good.
Spin a Black Yarn
By Josh Malerman
Del Rey
ISBN: 9780593237861
Published: August 15, 2023
Paperback, E-book, Audio
387 Pages
