I must admit I had trouble finishing this book. If I had not committed to this informal review, I probably would not have finished it. For one thing, I had trouble categorizing the book. I have seen it listed in the horror genre, but it does not have the elements that are typical in horror novels, except that there is a lot of discussion about vampirism, but the author does not seem to take it seriously. The narrative focuses on the main character, Art Barbara, who is an extremely awkward teenager with a lot of angst. The opening pages of the novel are a lengthy discussion about his name which he declares is fictitious. It does not help that as the story progresses, it becomes obvious that Art Barbara is an unreliable narrator. A secondary character, Mercy Brown, provides a critique of Art's novel/memoir as if she is conversing with him. After a chapter or two, this running exchange becomes tedious. I admit that I am probably too old to appreciate the many generation X and millennial references. I was never a fan of punk rock. There are some humorous scenes in the narrative, but at times it feels as if the writer is trying too hard. I did feel moments of sympathy for the protagonist, who transitions from being an extremely awkward teenager into a college dropout, turned failed musician with back problems, sleep apnea, and an addiction to prescription pain pills. Fans of this author's style of writing will probably enjoy reading this novel, but for a lot of readers, it will probably be bizarre and confusing.

Paul Tremblay is always the first name to come to mind when someone asks for a horror author recommendation. He bares resemblances to Stephen King in his writing, so its no wonder the horror master himself has recommended multiple Tremblay books. The Pallbearers Club is a tale of toxic friendship and maybe even a vampire, or maybe not. In 1988, Art starts the Pallbearers Club which introduces him to Mercy. They're in eachother's lives for a time. It's now decades later and Art is writing his memoir trying to make sense of that time he was friends with Mercy. And Mercy thinks Art's novel is creative fiction and not what actually happened. Such a fun, original vampire novel. A truly excellent addition to Tremblay's works.

This was super interesting. I can’t say I’ve read much like this before - I haven’t: it’s a story within a story, and I loved it. If thats your thing I say pick this up. It’s definitely unique in writing and thats why I loved it so much!

The story is written as a memoir of Art Barbara with written notes from Mercy. The physical book would be better than audio so you can see the comments. I loved reading Mercy's snarky remarks in the margins.

The memoir is told from two seemingly unreliable characters. Which one is telling the truth or are they both? This is a different take on vampires than I have seen before which made it quite interesting. It's a well written mystery with a little horror added in.

While I appreciate Paul Tremblay as being one of the top creators of ambiguous horror, this left me disappointed. Art (Paul?) For the vast majority of this book feels like the incel "nice guy" and all his conspiracy about Mercy being the vampire of yore, seemed like him putting her on a pedestal and being angry that she wasn't wowed by his charms. I enjoyed the style of writing, I loved all the notes that were added in by Mercy. I just hated the main character, and was just kind of disappointed by the ending. I don't know what I was hoping for this novel, but it just felt like I was reading an angsty teenager's diary and there was no change from his 17/18 year old self to his 40+ year old self. I was hoping for more, Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song are some of my favorite books, so I think I was expecting more.

Yikes! What a waste. Still waiting for that Tremblay book that really knocks me out, but this certainly wasn't it. In fact, this might be the worst book of his I've read yet. Starts out well enough, but the main character is such a self-absorbed, self-obsessed loser, that it's almost impossible to sympathize with him. It's almost as though our author was writing a book about what might have happened to him if he hadn't gone to college and become a high school math instructor. In this alternate universe, Art Barbara becomes a largely failed musician and comic book store employee who has an on-again, off-again friendship with the seemingly-ageless Mercy Brown. I was seriously leaning towards a one-star review here until I read the last few pages of Mercy's "notations" on the manuscript (seriously, these sections written in red, fake italics, were almost impossible to read without getting a headache). I could have given up and maybe should have, but felt like I had to see it through...

A vampire novel with a 1980s John Hughes-esque spin. Think <u>Let the Right One In</u> meets The Breakfast Club. The premise to this started out so strong. I loved the 80s music and pop culture references. The characters of "Art" and "Mercy" and the founding of the Pallbearer's Club were all very interesting. But then, a little past the halfway mark, the momentum of the story started to peter out and my interest waned. As "Mercy" often quips, "Art" has the tendency to just ramble on endlessly without saying very much...and indeed that's exactly how Tremblay writes pages at a time. Overall this was a fun, creepy read (and not nearly as world-shake/infuriating as <u>Cabin at the End of the World</u>). I just wish that maybe the pacing of this had kept on throughout the entire course of the story, rather than my interest in the characters waning so much that I was starting to skim entire overly descriptive and word paragraphs (much like this sentence) to arrive at the somewhat predictable conclusion....

Wow this book was something. It wasn’t what I was expecting but it was definitely an experience and I’m glad I read it.

To start, I have a complicated relationship with Paul Tremblay’s books (ditto Grady Hendrix’s work, these two authors are in a remarkably similar wheelhouse really). I LOVED Head Full of Ghosts and was beyond creeped out and entertained by it. But nothing he’s written since has been as good as that first title I read of his. Survivors Song was a little meh if I’m honest and Growing Things I couldn’t really get in to despite loving short story collections. Admittedly those are the only books of his I have read / tried to read so maybe I should give the others a chance.

This book, in its best parts, felt as good as Head Full of Ghosts. Tremblay writes excellent characters and expresses the supernatural (if there is anything supernatural, it’s largely up to you to decide) beautifully and believably because it is seemingly so grounded in reality. This book delivered massively in terms of readability, atmosphere, and several truly scary passages. The pacing was a bit hit or miss at times and overall I wish there had been more interactions between Art and Mercy (where the writing really shines) and less descriptions of his (Art’s) ill-fated musical career. However, the format of the book added a lot to the story and was wonderfully executed. The author also had some remarkably poignant things to say about grief, loss, and the fundamental nature of memoirs (novels).

This book was not what I expected. I liked the cultural references to the Eighties, but the rest of the story was often confusing. I guess the story will appear the a specific audience, and I am not part it.

I was really interested in this book after reading the premise of the story. It seemed to have a little bit of everything with suspense, thriller, paranormal aspects. Unfortunately, it was kind of boring. It took forever for things to happen and by that point, I wasn't really interested in the characters.

got this read from scene of the crime I like Paul Tremblay. He’s really a good writer.
This book is a mix of horror and relevant music - punk. Which I like.
Written with irony and classic Tremblay fans will read this one and enjoy a different Tremblay. I did!

I had the physical copy as well as ebook. I know those who got the ebook had a hard time with the download, I was one among them. So my review is based on the physical arc I got from a swap.

Let’s just say I got rid of the book as soon as I was done. Endless rambling between the 2 main characters and constant figuring out if one of them is a vampire. When I was done with the book, I wish I was killed by a vampire. 😵

Why can’t I just DNF books? Ugh, what’s wrong with me?!😂

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Pallbearers Club is a super unique psychological thriller...unlike any I've ever read. I enjoyed Tremblay's twisted sense of humor. I also enjoyed getting to know Art and Mercy on a more personal level since we follow them from 1988-2017. Their friendship is compelling and both are found to be untrustworthy.
Since I really enjoy how thriller books start off calm and then panic sets in towards the end, it was perfect how Tremblay increases the horror and I as expected, I was unable to put this book down!

Now to add Tremblay's other books to my TBR! Highly recommend to thriller and horror lovers!

This author is one of those that is just a fantastic writer. Everything I have read by him has sucked me in and kept me thinking long after I closed the book. This one was a bit of a slow start for me but it was still awesome

I didn't get a chance to finish this one so cannot give it a fully fleshed out review. Looking forward to it though.

The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay is a psychological thriller about a friendship that began at a funeral home. Art Barbara started the Pallbearers Club and made a new friend. She loved to take Polaroid pictures, and she knew a lot about creepy New England folklore. Art ends up writing The Pallbearers Club: A Memoir, his friend finds it after he's done writing it, and she adds her own notes to his story. This book was pretty weird. The writing itself was very well-done, but the story did not hold my interest at all. Thanks to Net Galley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I went into this book mostly blind on purpose. I knew I wanted to read it as soon as an author I adore and one who has great taste in books, Wendy Heard, started raving about this book. I love the cover and the commentary from “Mercy”. In fact I just adored “Mercy” in general. This is a weird little memoir, scratch that, novel that I finished in one sitting. It was so good I even looked past my dislike of unreliable narrators and confusing endings. I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this and recommending it to some horror readers I know!

I was hoping this book would be a little scarier than it was, but in the end I still enjoyed it. The format, an annotated manuscript, makes the story a battle of two unreliable narrators that was fun to watch. The writing style of the main narrator is a little irritating, too many nouns verbed and music digressions that some but definitely not all will enjoy. Ultimately I thought this book had a really creative take on vampirism I hadn't come across before that made it compelling.

The verbiage and the way things were worded in this book were just straight-up too much for me to handle, even with the cute asides in the margins. Additionally this book just doesn't work well in an ebook format.

A great horror novel that will have broad appeal It captures the 80's vibe so well.. A very clever use of unreliable narrator(s) that plays with memory, fiction, and memoir.