Synopsis:
In the aftermath of a terrible storm, the town of Stillwater, Maryland tries to recover what it has lost. From flooded roads and houses, to ruined businesses—the residents of the town begin to clean up and return to normal.
In the midst of the clear up, people begin to see things. Matthew Crawly spies his father in the woodlands above the Narrows, but that cannot be possible; Maggie Quedentock nearly hits a child with her car, only to find an empty road lying before her; and in the middle of it all, Sergeant Ben Journell is thrust into an impossible investigation. Animals are being slaughtered, their brains systematically removed from their bodies. Something is happening to the town of Stillwater…something dark and ancient and evil has its grip on everyone.
The saying goes, still waters run deep, but no one in Stillwater is prepared for just how deep they run, and no one can possibly be ready for what they might find when they reach the bottom of the gray waters of the Narrows.
Review:
Anyone who picks up a Ronald Malfi novel should be prepared to read with the lights dimmed and sleep (fitfully) with the door locked. Having already steamed through “Bone White,” and the aptly named “Small Town Horror,” my eyebags are heavy, and my expectations of “The Narrows,” were high. I remain un-disappointed by this author. Malfi’s brand of horror isn’t simply the stuff that goes bump in the night, but a borderline physically demanding masterclass in slow-burn dread and paranoia that will make readers sweat buckets. Packed with mystery, misfortune and menace, no writer can make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up like Ronald Malfi can. With this 2012 release now on bookstore shelves once again, it’s finally time to succumb to the murky waters of “The Narrows.”
The floodwaters recede from the small town of Stillwater Maryland, and the bloated corpse of a missing boy is found. An unsolved mystery that Officer Ben Journell is already up to his neck in, things get far far worse for the town’s tiny police department. From the spates of mutilated cattle, to the disappearance of another local boy, to the bizarre entity that caused Maggie Quedentock to total her car… well suffice to say that something is not quite right in the quiet town of Stillwater.
Yes folks, just to recap, we have disappeared kids, debrained cows and a hell of an insurance claim, all connected by one strange thread. The thread in question, as Anna puts it in her sensational review is a “Not-vampire.” A creature that seems bespoke to Stillwater’s weathered and washed-out atmosphere, this is far from your brooding, velvet-cloaked coffin-dweller, or sultry, immortal blood-sucker. Malfi’s take on vampirism is more primal, more… organic, and, I would argue, infinitely more unsettling. A reimagining in which our vampyr feed, not just on blood, but the very life force of a place and its people, the anti-capitalism, blood-sucking metaphor is certainly one that is present and certainly one that has been explored before. However, with scenes more reminiscent of “Crota,” by Owl Goingback than “Carmilla,” or “I Am Legend,” it’s safe to say that in “The Narrows,” Malfi gives the sub-genre new bite.
Beyond the eerie creature feature “The Narrows,” excels in how it immerses readers in Stillwater’s atmosphere. In “Small Town Horror,” the town of “Kingsport,” is written almost as its own character, and whilst that impression isn’t quite as strong with “Stillwater,” it is there. Malfi writes up a storm, depicting a town (and indeed a population) that’s both decaying and alive (almost liminal). Malfi’s writing feels like wading through murky waters grim, disorienting, and full of hidden dangers. Crucially though, amidst the unadulterated horror, he delivers moments that are heartbreakingly human. The cast of characters is expansive, yet the plethora of townsfolk are painted with such nuance that even characters in the periphery feel realised. I am big on horror with heart, and it seems that “The Narrows,” is a good example of it.
This is demonstrated most obviously through the character of Wendy Crawly, local waitress, and mother to one of the missing children. Her character, and that of her daughter Brandy, elevate “The Narrows,” from a good horror story, to a great one, that explores the guilt and tentative grief of having a missing relative… particularly when that is a child. I think the best parallel one can draw is to that of Joyce Byers in “Stranger Things.” Malfi doesn’t shy away from the impact the missing kids have on the town, from the full-blown search parties in the woods, to just how achingly quiet family dinners become. There’s a collective mourning, not just for the kids but for the sense of safety they once took for granted. Whilst lives are often put in jeopardy by the regular and ferocious storms, and by just how dangerous and unpredictable the narrows can be, this is a different, targeted, new kind of horror. Ultimately we’re reminded that what’s scariest, is losing what we try to protect.
In “The Narrows,” Malfi reels the reader in with the ease of a great fisherman (or indeed a master baiter) leaving us floundering and gasping for breath. We know from experience that a small-town horror novel, with an iconic take on the vampire goes down a treat- and a real treat this one is. Whilst it’s obvious that Malfi has grown and evolved as an author in the past 12 years, “The Narrows,” remains horror done right.
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