Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

​Tale as old as time (or at least, it is with fans) of a group of young kids facing something/someone evil back in the day and coming back as adults to revisit it/sort unfinished business decades later. So ok, maybe Malfi doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, but he spins it oh so nicely.
I’m a fan of his work, have been for a long time. So much so I don’t even read plot summaries before going for his latest books. This one didn’t disappoint either. Technically, had I read the plot summary beforehand, I would have loved it for having magic, magicians and circus in it alone. As is, it was just an awesome bonus, a perfect cherry atop of this nightmare cake.
A small West Virginia town, once industrial and since then abandoned and hopeless. A quarter of misfit toys of kids. And a Magician that lives in the woods and wants to teach them some tricks.
Oh what fun…until the Magician demands something back. Turns out the cost or real magic might be too high to pay.
Fast forward a couple of decades. The kids are now in their thirties and no longer in touch, but then come together like the intervening years were but a dream, for it looks like their old friend The Magician might be back. There’s been a recent sighting of him and he looks just the same. Can it be a mistake? Or is there something more sinister at play here?
Meanwhile, there’s a man, a terrible man, whose life path is set to a collision course with the group of friends. Once upon a time, his life too was irrevocably change by an encounter with The Magician. Only the lessons he learned were of an entirely different kind.
Poky, disturbing, atmospheric, character-driven and oh so well-written, this book is definitely a winner and would please any genre fan out there. Yes, it is ever so slightly overwritten and repetitive at times, yes, I didn't personally love any of the characters, and yes, I’m still not entirely sure how much I loved the last few chapters, but for the overall quality of narrative and engagement, this is still pretty freaking awesome.
The way Malfi draws you in, the way he tiptoes the thin line between natural and supernatural, alternating between real and imaginary nightmares…delicious.
Oodles of fun reading this. Definitely recommended. Thanks Netgalley.