Spin a Black Yarn
Novellas
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Malerman (Bird Box) returns with a chilling volume of five horror novellas crafted with a perfect mix of intrigue, disgust, tension, and, of course, fear. Echoing such horror greats as Shirley Jackson, the opening tale follows a brother and sister from childhood to old age as the brother tries to make sense of his sister's eponymous claim that "Half the House Is Haunted." Malerman's narratives succeed through not revealing too much—there's no excessive gore, no jump scares or cheap tricks. Instead, he allows pressure to slowly build and refuses to let it break even when the stories conclude. This technique shines in "Argyle," in which a man on his deathbed confesses to his wife and children that his whole life has been spent just barely restraining himself from committing brutal murders. It's a classically engrossing horror story with a shocking twist. "Egorov" is presented as a true account in translation from the Russian of a murder and its unlikely consequences, while both "Doug and Judy Buy the House Cleaner" and "The Jupiter Drop" tend more toward sci-fi while still delivering plenty of scares. This is everything one wants out of a horror collection.
