Synopsis:
Twenty haunting stories from the Bram Stoker Award nominated, and bestselling author of Come With Me.
A man leaves rehab and tries to make a new life for himself, only to find the past closing in on him. A married couple on holiday have a bizarre encounter with a shiver of sharks. And, on Halloween night, a young boy learns the truth of the world from the strange and unsettling Mr Trueheart.
From London to Baltimore and many places in between, these stories claw through reality to find the horror deep within.
In Ronald Malfi’s debut short story collection, the shadows in the dark are ever moving, ever hungry, and the darkness that lurks beneath the surface is never too far away…
Review:
I am at present limbering my wrists and bracing my brain to read “The Hive,” Malfi’s looming epic which thudded onto my doormat last month, and will be devoured posthaste. In the run up to something of such brobdingnagian proportions though I found myself with a real hankering to read some Malfi in miniature. We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone,” originally published in 2011 is made up of 20 little clusters of horror, depravity and suspense- it worked for me. Considering Malfi is one of my favourite authors I’ve read a pitiful amount of his short fiction, and this collection was a nice array of stories- whilst still unwaveringly mean. Here Malfi is sharp and economical in his exploration of love and relationships, hunger, fear, guilt, religion, poverty, illness, psychology, conspiracy and a whole host of other themes- it’s a heavy hitter. I must extend my thanks to the Abominable Book Club for including this collection in their January box (alongside a bunch of other cool stuff) which they provided to me for free as a representative.
If I am to be honest, and honesty is of course, crucial in all of these reviews, in terms of personal favourites, I did find this collection to be a rather top-heavy one. Now that’s of course, my reading experience, and perhaps completely irrelevant to you, but I really did feel there was a little front-loading going on. That said, “We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone,” remains a strong collection by any reasonable metric- the following were my favourites.
Malfi announces his intentions early and without mercy by opening with “The Dinner Party.” Written in the second person, this indulgently vile little slice of domestic horror follows an overwhelmed housewife, three months post-partum, preparing to host her husband Michael’s boss Tony, and his wife Eliza, whilst tending to a newborn. This story has a delicious, fatty, wicked streak the marbles through it- a similar gleeful nastiness to some of Roald Dahl’s shorter, darker fiction. It was a wholly enjoyable descent into madness and is most certainly a strong contender for my favourite of the lot.
“The Jumping Sharks of Dyer Island,” begins all sandy and sun-kissed, and ends with a mean pair of gnashers. We follow a pair of holiday-makers, Jay and Janet Conroy, whom, on their getaway, meet a rather eccentric fellow called Tommy McCurry. Janet seems taken by him, and they find themselves on his- rather unconventional tour the next day. I seem to like short stories that withhold their final revelation, deliver a gut-punch that whilst inevitable feels unexpected still, a last minute, unspeakably nasty truth. This fits the bill. Lean, vicious and expertly paced, this one had me all smug, before promptly knocking the wind clean out of me. I was rather set against shark cages anyway, but my appreciation of dry land is certainly renewed.
No story left a bitter taste in my mouth quite like “Under The Tutelage of Mr. Trueheart,” did. It follows a young boy called Warren who has befriended Mr. Trueheart, although that’s not his real name. The old man has plenty of stories to tell, as well as an unsettling revelation, and subsequently, a plan to execute this Halloween. A very unsettling, quietly poisonous commentary upon conspiracy and manipulation, my stomach was truly turned by this one.
“Couples Seeking Couples,” has a similar, faintly rancid atmosphere to it, although its dark humour can’t be denied- this one feels like it should be an episode of Inside No. 9. It follows the Pagewaters who are having dinner with the Capshaws, and who knows what will happen after that. The story is dense, dripping with the strangest most intense yet reluctant tension consistent throughout, and for a little bit beyond. Mark Capshaw is the worst dude ever, and I know about 5 of him, but aside from that there is no overt horror. In fact, whilst completely mundane, I would argue it to be the strangest- icky.
The last I’ll tell you about is “Painstation,” which is really very grim indeed- it’s unsettling and uncomfortable, and I think certainly for fans of Malfi’s own “Senseless,” or Patrick C. Harrison’s “100% Match,” of which I am both. It follows a man whose obsession with his co-worker does not quite work out the way he planned. Plainly, it’s vicious and nasty, and I have no objection to that.
A nifty collection with some genuine bangers rattling around inside of it, “We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone,” is certainly one to have on your bookshelf. Concentrated doses of cruelty, discomfort, and sorrow, deliberate, malicious, and written as well as one would expect, whilst I have no doubt Malfi can handle 1000 pages, “We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone,” goes to show he is equally capable of making you just as uneasy in 10.
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