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Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: April 6th, 2020
400 Pages
Synopsis:
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 earring the mail.
KAMP: A man so horrified of encountering a ghost that he sets up “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 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 Mad Black Wheel welcomes you to Goblin. May your night there be wet with rain, breathless with adventure, and filled with fright. (Goodreads)
Argh! I am so frustrated! I was a little disappointed in Malerman’s A House at the Bottom of the Lake, but really enjoyed Bird Box, and I was quite intrigued by the premise of Goblin, so I decided to give it a shot. The creepy prologue raised the hair on the back of my neck, so I started getting quite excited. Alas, that was the best part of the book. Going by each novella, they all start with interesting premises, but the endings are either confusing or anticlimactic. The characters were fairly decent, and I really loved Pete in Presto, but the little girl, Margot, in The Hedges, was absolutely dreadful. A couple of the stories tie into the backstory of the town, but the others sort of were thrown in there on their own. While I like how the epilogue wraps up what had begun in the prologue, there are plenty of unanswered questions at the end which has added to my frustration. This wasn’t a terrible read by any means, but neither was it a fulfilling one.
beetleypete said:
Hmm. Doesn’t sound like one for me, Kim. I like the idea of the shorter parts forming a whole, but if it didn’t work, best to give it a miss.
Best wishes, Pete.
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Back in the late 1990s, horror writer John Saul did a serial called the Blackstone Chronicles, which were based around cursed objects from an abandoned asylum in a small New England town. It was right about the same time Stephen King did Green Mile. I absolutely loved it and was expecting something similar.
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Halbarbera said:
I give it a view ASAP!
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I really liked it.
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fragglerocking said:
I’ll pass, a good idea but not a great outcome by the sound of it.
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
It’s definitely not the worst book I’ve ever read, but I was disappointed.
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fragglerocking said:
🙁
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Mae Clair said:
I just finished a book that I had to plod through to reach the end. It had a great premise but didn’t deliver. Sounds like this did the same.
Like Fraggle, I’ll pass on this one.
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Goblin was fairly quick, but I think you can safely give this a miss Mae.
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cheryloreglia said:
“they all start with interesting premises, but the endings are either confusing or anticlimactic” darn! Thanks for doing all the eye work Kim, C
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Some readers liked it a lot more than me Cheryl.
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Carla said:
Nice, honest review Kim. I don’t read horror, so wouldn’t have picked this on up, but definitely not now.
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Carla. This was definitely a disappointment.
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🇪🇺 Bee H. said:
Shame this isn’t as good as expected. 🤗🙋♀️🐝
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Bee. It could be just me.🤔
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🇪🇺 Bee H. said:
Reading is highly individual, I think. There have been books everybody was mad about and I simply found them boring. That’s the nature of the reading business, I think 🙋♀️🐝
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Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies said:
Oh, bummer. I just got an ARC… we’ll see how it goes!
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
You’ve got to let me know what you think!
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Katie K said:
I appreciate your honest review!
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By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thank you Katie.
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