Little Girls by Ronald Malfi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first introduction to this author and I won't stop here, BUT

I'm caught in a quandary. The technicalities for this book are FINE. It is readable and perfectly standard for a modern horror, but it suffers from a slight problem.

What is it? *you ask, biting your nails*

It's boring. 4/5ths of the novel suffers from a regrettable cont-C/cont-P with WAY too many thrillers today. Just leave a few precise details to the mad-libs genre to chance, throw a family into a new, probably temporary house, have the middle-aged female's mental health decline as she prefers to be blind to everything going on around her, and let her fail to solve her many problems.

That's the core. Of course, I've been reading way too many novels that CC this, but wait! It gets better! Her husband will always have a fidelity problem. Check. There's something wrong with the kid. Check. Family history is totally F***ED. Check. No one believes her. Check. Bonus round! Sexual abuse. Check!

So we must ask ourselves, does this sound like something you've read before?

I'll give you ten points if you've read 5 in the last 5 years. I'll give you 100 points if you've read 15 in the last 5 years. I'll give you a 1000 (!!!) points if you've read 50 JUST LIKE THIS in the last 5 years.

Do you know why I can give you so many points?

I'VE ALREADY EARNED THEM. I'm more than happy to give them away!

Please, give me something new. I don't need another clueless mentally ill housewife thriller.


Yes, dear reader, this is what sour grapes taste like. If you're not a rabid reader, you may never have to experience this. Books like this might remain perfectly kosher.

And that's why I'll only give you 5 points.


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