The Night Parade ~ By Ronald Malfi – 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Thrillers

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 26th, 2016

Synopsis: 

First the birds disappear.

Then the insects took over.

Then the madness began…

They call it Wanderer’s Folly–a disease of delusions, of daydreams and nightmares. A plague threatening to wipe out the human race. 

After two years of creeping decay, David Arlen woke up one morning thinking that the worst was over. By midnight, he’s bleeding and terrified, his wife his wife is dead, and he’s on the run in a stolen car with his eight-year-old daughter, who may be the key to a cure.

Ellie is a special girl. Deep. Insightful. And she knows David is lying to her. Lying about her mother. Lying about what they’re running from. And lying about what he sees when he takes his eyes off the road…

After reading last year’s creeptastic Little Girls and now The Night Parade, I’ve decided that Ronald Malfi is now one of my favorite authors when it comes to the genres of horror, suspense and thrillers. From the synopsis you might think this is going to be just another typical plague tale. They seem to be quite popular right now. But in Malfi’s talented hands, this is a gripping, and unnerving ride that I wound up finishing in one sitting which is really saying something as it’s just under 400 pages! Once I started reading there was just no way I was going to be able to put this down until I found out what happened to David and Ellie. As the story begins, David and his eight-year-old daughter are on the run in a stolen car. They’re headed somewhere but it’s not immediately evident where or even why. Malfi drops hints, but he doesn’t actually come right out and say what’s going on. Instead he slowly and teasingly puts together the full story alternating between the past and the present. The sheer anticipation of what is to come makes this a fast-paced but anxiety-inducing ride. There’s also many other devices the author ingeniously uses that not only helps move the plot forward, but ups the creep factor exponentially. Things like a sinister ice cream truck (Trust me.This is scary!) people eerily wearing paper plate masks, and a larger than normal spider eating a mouse. Ugh. And then of course there’s the actual virus that’s running rampant, bringing on hallucinations and delusionsions before killing it’s victims in a horrifying and gruesome way. But, at the same time all this horror is unfolding, this story also is one about a very special little girl who wants to save people and her devoted dad who will do absolutely anything to protect her. While they butt heads quite often, their relationship will melt your heart. There was one thing that did get on my nerves a bit concerning Ellie’s fascination/obsession with a nest of birds eggs that she carries around with her everywhere. Obviously it’s partly a metaphor and it’s sort of explained near the end, but I found it a little distracting at times. Still, this is just a minor complaint. The ending is a cliffhanger of sorts, but I’m assuming there is going to be a sequel, because otherwise I’d be extremely cross at Ronald Malfi. So, I could keep raving about this book, but I don’t want to accidentally give away any spoilers. Honestly, if you’re a fan of stellar authors such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Joe Hill, you should really give The Night Parade a try. I can just about guarantee you won’t be disappointed!