This is quite possibly the most atmospheric book I've ever read! The town of Goblin is pretty much a character in itself which is quite the feat. This is a sinister, creepy read that is perfect for rainy days to match the mood of the town of Goblin. Each story was suspenseful, well told, and pretty terrifying. Each story leaves you with a sense of wonder, foreboding, and that nail biting craving for more terror. If you are looking for hope and happiness, you won't find much in this town! But you will find a brilliant set of stories all connected by this creepy town and more. I couldn't get enough and sing really high praises for this book.

I’m a Josh Malerman fan. I, like most of the horror community, adored Bird Box. I enjoyed Malorie, but wanted just a few more scares. And thought Unbury Carol just barley missed becoming one of my favorites. Josh also just seems like a really cool and good guy. He loves horror and produces some of the more unique takes in the genre.



Goblin was something I was very excited for. A Castle Rock-esque (which it kinda sorta is) rainy midwestern town where freaky stuff happens? Sign me up. I wasn’t phased that the book was billed as essentially a short story collection wrapped in a “creepy place” narrative. I was all for it. 



Sadly, while a couple of the stories, specifically “A Man in Slices” and “Happy Birthday, Hunter!" hit the mark, the other 4 missed their mark for me. That isn’t to say they’re bad stories, far from it! But, personally, I just wanted more horror out of the town than Malerman was able to conjure.

I feel like I’m grading Malerman on a curve because of what he is capable of, and that may be so. It is very likely most casual horror readers will enjoy the stories and if Goblin opens to the gates for more folks reading horror, I’m all for it.

Despite my lukewarmness of the prose, Goblin has one of the cooler covers in recent horror literature, so it will find a place on my bookshelf regardless.

I was provided an early copy of Goblin from Del Ray Books and Netgalley in exchange for my fair and honest review. Thank you to Del Ray Books, Josh Malerman, and NetGalley.

This book started off creepy and awesome and then it kind of tapered off. I was hoping this would be one that was so scary but it let me down.

Goblin is a great collection of stories about a really unique town called Goblin. Each of the six stories in this collection had me pulled in. They were creepy and I liked how they all flowed together

Welcome to Goblin, a town with epic rainfall, creepy northern woods, and they bury their dead standing up. Included in this novel is six messed up novellas, all occurring in the quirky town of Goblin. my favorite two were A Man in Slices and The Hedges..

A Man in Slices is about lifelong friends, Charles and Richard. Charles has always been a bit of an oddball, but Richard felt compelled to stick by him. That is until Charles meets the love of his life, Andi. Unfortunately, Andi is even more messed up than Charles. She says that "the greatest symbol of true love is self-sacrifice" and requests that Charles cuts off and sends her one of his toes. Charles, who isn't as crazy as he always seemed, instead decides to break into the morgue to "borrow" a toe from a corpse. But she keeps asking and he keeps going back for more and more...

The Hedges is about one of Goblin's pre-eminent citizens, Wayne Sherman. When his wife died several years before, he began building a hedge maze next to his home that became a destination in Goblin with a secret at the end. Allegedly unsolvable, no one had ever made it to the middle until 8-year-old Margot figures it out and runs to the creepy Goblin police. Wayne takes off, eventually landing in the north woods to hide the secret so no one would ever find it. But the Goblin police are closing in...

Interesting collection by Malerman, but I REALLY wanted to know why the people were buried standing up in the cemetery. WHY, DAMMIT, WHY??????

Overall, I felt kinda meh about this book. Not necessarily bad, but not particularly memorable either. Giving it 2.5/5 Stars.

It should come as no surprise that this book is amazing! Creepy and keeping you on the edge of your seat, Malerman provides short stories/novellas about people and the town of Goblin. Through each story, the reader gets to know the bizarre ongoings of the town. Each of the stories could be built into a full novel of its own, and I'm kinda hoping that happens because I want to know so much more about Goblin.

5/5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Our full podcast review and interview with Josh Malerman can be found by listening to Genre Junkies podcast. Available on most podcast platforms.

Josh Malerman is one of our favorite authors to review on our show. His perspective on horror, and fear is always unique and refreshing. We challenge any lover of the strange and spooky to not fall in love with Goblin. Malerman has created a rich, dense city of intriguing characters that feels both satisfying, and yet leaves room for expansion.

Goblin is 6 novelettes that blend into one book. None of these pieces felt like “filler”. Each one is different than the last and takes you into unexpected little nightmares. But as always with Malerman, you never sacrifice empathy and development for the sake of scares. We would love to return to this fair city anytime.

A bit uneven, but overall very good. I could have used a more fleshed-out conclusion and thicker connections between the stories, but they were excellent stand-alones. I wanted more at the end, and I hope the author has more to come!

A collection of stories about a rainy town called Goblin from the writer of Bird Box. It was an interesting premise, exploring different aspects of an unusual town filled with unusual people. The different narratives had little connections and details woven throughout that the stories shared, creating a web of intrigue around the town. This wasn't a title I felt strongly about, one way or the other, but not all books need to inspire passionate feelings.

Goblin by Josh Malerman is a collection of short stories which are all connected by being set in the town of Goblin. Malerman is quite a story teller and I enjoyed my time in Goblin. Malerman truly brings the characters and the very town itself to life. I literally read the book in one sitting! I highly recommend it!

Goblin by Josh Malerman is a collection of 6 novellas all featured in the town of Goblin. The town of Goblin is a little different with police that look and sound the same, the dead are buried standing up, and a witch live in the forbidden North woods. The stories are interesting and barely intertwined for it being in the same town. The most interesting things the police, the dead buried standing up, and the witch, are barely explored. The book focuses on the history of the town which is just okay but not nearly as interesting as the other things I had mentioned. The novellas are okay, there was only one really good one, one really predictable and the rest fall into the good category. I wanted the stories to come together more. The writing does some clever things but the pacing, and focus on the history of the town will try the patience of the reader. This is my 3 Josh Malerman book, I loved Bird Box and A House at the Bottom of the Lake, and I had the same problem with Inspection that I did with Goblin, pacing and focusing on the wrong things that make the story interesting. I think Malerman is still great at thinking outside of the box and creating good story ideas, the execution of those ideas doesn't always land for me. Thanks to Netgally and Del Rey publishing for giving me this ARC. Goblin is published on May 18th 2021.

The Plots and Rankings:
The Prelude: which is a story a bout a man from another town having to deliver a package to Goblin, with a very specific instructions, if you hear any noise don't stop, if you fail to deliver at the exact time destroy package. The driver doesn't follow all the orders, a good introduction to a creepy town of Goblin 4 out of 5

Man in Slices is about a guys creepy best friend, who gets a creepy girlfriend who wants him to show love like Vincent Van Gough, by cutting off body parts. Friendship is put to its limits. The story was okay but the twist ending was really rushed, I gave this story 4 out of 5 stars.

Kamp is a story of a man that fears a haunting so bad he knows it will kill him. His whole family has been haunted, and he's the last one left. I liked the bits about the history of Goblin the town. The story itself was not all that interesting and I knew how it was going to end. I did like the art work, that seems right out of Tales from the Crypt. I rate Kamp 2 out of 5 stars.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUNTER! was a good story about a hunter's birthday party. The greatest Hunter in Goblin wants to hunt what hasn't been hunted before a great owl, who lives in the forest that is forbidden. The ending was a great one filled with irony. the history of the owls and how they came to Goblin was interesting. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Presto is about a magician that can do the impossible, move object with his mind. is it a trick or something more. I liked this story the most so far. really interesting backstory and intriguing present day story. The ending twist was pretty good. This story had the best flow and was always interesting. I rated it 5 out of 5

A Mix-up at the Zoo is exactly like the title a lonely man works at the Zoo which he loves and at a slaughter house, you can't blame him if he gets mix -up from time to time. This story had the most potential, but the pace was sometimes to slow. The dreams which were interesting overstayed there welcome and lasted too long. The ending you see coming, but it was good. I rated it 4 out of 5

Te Hedges is about a big hedge maze that can not be beat, only until a young 8 year old solves what is at the center of the maze, and is horrified by her findings. She confronts the maze maker this heads to the police. I liked parts of this story a lot, the thing the little girl was horrified at was pretty lame, which was a bummer, because I was all about this story until that point. This story has the best pacing but really failed to deliver on the mystery. I rated The Hedges 4 out of 5.

What I Liked: Presto is my favorite story hands down it has a mystery that leads to the hype, and has a killer ending as well. The Hedges made you feel every dizzying turn in the maze with the little girl until she reaches the center. The Mix Up at the Zoo was probably the scariest because you see it coming, and you fear for what is going to happen when the mix up happens. The Idea for the Man in Slices is my favorite, that story had the most potential. Happy Birthday Hunter had the better ending, it wasn't flashy but I thought it worked on a psychological level.

What I Disliked: I wanted to see a lot more connectivity in stories. I thought the town could have been a lot creepier. I fell like the police and the buried standing up are the most interesting things and they are not explored at all. the pacing could have been better in a lot of these stories.

Recommendation: I'm barely going to recommend this collection, Presto is the highlight, read that story before you give up. I've seen real mixed reviews and mine is pretty mixed as well, there's good and there's bad i this collection I feel the good out weighs the bad. If you don't like the novellas you do have to admit that the stories are really clever. I rated Goblin by Josh Malerman 3 out of 5. I struggled on the rating more of a 3.5 than a 3, when I am so torn I rate it lower on Goodreads then higher on Amazon splitting the difference. I will continue to read Josh Malerman and will read Malorie the sequel to Bird Box next.

Creepy town policemen. Graveyards where all the clients are buried standing up. Rain nearly all day every day. This is the town of Goblin and why anyone would want to live there is beyond me.

This is a collection of novellas which all take place in the town of Goblin, except the opening piece where the driver is on his way to Goblin. Some of these tales overlap each other, but combined they come together to paint a picture of Goblin and its often awful history. I've listed the stories I liked the most but to be honest, I liked all of them

PRESTO tells the story of an up and coming magician and what he has to do to make a name for himself in the field of prestidigitation.

A MIX UP AT THE ZOO broke my damn heart. I've had dark days where I go about my business on autopilot. I've never done anything like this though.

THE HEDGES spoke to me because I was attracted to the young girl who was supremely confident at first, but slowly became uncomfortable and afraid.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER spoke to me in a different way. In a way that made me want to hurt these characters physically. I really wanted to punch a couple of them right in their ugly faces. In this story a lot of Goblin's history is related and some of its secrets revealed.

Not all of secrets though! What is up with the creepy cops, Mr. Malerman? Why are these people, (Goblinites?), buried standing up? Do you have any intentions of making this right with your readers? Because I think you need to rectify this, stat! (Please.)

I deducted half a star because I thought these important questions would be answered. Sue me. ;)

*Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC of this fabulous book in exchange for my honest feedback. In case you couldn't tell, I loved it!*

A very imaginative, intertwining collection of macabre stories about the fictional town of Goblin, Michigan. The opening certainly sets the stage, when a driver is tasked with delivering an enormously heavy, mysterious crate to an address in Goblin that includes some strange, detailed instructions that just guarantee something awful is going to happen. It doesn't help that Goblin has more than it's fair share of rain, just adding to the gloom and doom that surrounds every page.

Like many others, I read Bird Box by Josh Malerman and was drawn in right away with this world he created so I was excited to be approved for this ARC. I’ll start off by saying that I don’t normally enjoy novellas because if they’re good, they end too quickly and I want more. The first story in this book drew me in right away and I wanted to know what the heck was in that container. The second story was a bit far fetched but still had me wanting to keep going to see how it ended. The stories after the first two were just…not good. They were a bit all over the place and hard to picture.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in extraordinary my honest review.

So full disclosure, I am not very much into horror, but I needed to read this book based off of the cover alone (the new cover, not the old one). Goblin is told in 6 novellas and by the end the stories come together and the reader understands the town of Goblin. For me, this book started out super strong. I loved the prologue and the first story, “A Man in Slices”. I started to get bored during the other stories though, but at the epilogue, seeing everything came together made the middle not as boring anymore. I thought the writing was good, and all the stories definitely had a creepy element. I would recommend if you are into that sort of thing!

It's sort of incredible to think that Josh Malerman has officially pulled off every format of horror novel that one could possibly do, flawlessly. This book kept me up for three nights, trembling but unable to put it down.

Goblin by Josh Malerman is a beautiful terrorizing story broken into 6 parts about a small town with a lot of history. Malerman does a good job of explaining that the past of Goblin is just as thrilling and important as its present. Rarely do these 6 stories slow down as Malerman takes you through tales of ghosts, magic, animals , and other unnerving creatures. This book does what Malerman does best which is taking something that should be normal and twisting it until it leaves you unsettled and terrified. Each one of these short stories left me both satisfied and wanting more. At times I couldn’t wait for them to end because I was disturbed by what could possibly happen next but at the same time I craved more about these characters and the town.
What a thrilling piece of work Malerman has created, this book could easily go down as a classic short story collection. The last of the short stories, the one about the hedges is the perfect send off to this collection, each paragraph is filled with such suspense and terror as he brings elements of the other stories together to make the ending stick just that much harder.
This book is a must have for all horror readers.

love anything that Josh Malerman writes. This book is no exception.
I was mesmerized by the creepy town of goblin. The sample audio hooked me.
The first story about a strange delivery with demanding instructions . A package to be delivered to a very strange dark forboding town.
Thank you Netgally for providing an advanced copy of this book.
I liked it so much I bought the audiobook when it came out.

May 18, 2021
Malerman has written a series of messed up stories here. Fans of his that are used to the big in your face surprises will not be disappointed. The prologue was even entertaining!