I'll tell you, I really wasn't sure where this story was going when I first started. I also wasn't sure if Janet was sane or not. I really enjoyed her inner monologue. Langan has a way with words that causes me to highlight multiple sentences as I read. Short and sweet and wishing there were more! I recommend this to all horror fans.
Thank you to Netgalley and RDS Publishing for the chance to read and review early! I look forward to more books by Sarah Langan.

Because of the cover, title, and overall premise, I expected a campy horror story. I’ve read Sarah Langan’s work before, and I know that isn’t her typical style, but I thought she’d changed course. I wasn’t entirely mistaken. There was a darkly humorous starting point to Pam Kowolski Is a Monster, but this novella ventured into deeply disturbing territory quickly, with a sheer veil of sadness draped over all of its violence. Despite the horror of it all, there was a beautiful unraveling that took place as Langan examined trauma and memory, the haunting agony and angst of young, fragile friendships, and the way our understanding of the past can change as we mature.

The character growth of the embittered narrator was remarkable. It’s hard to believe this novella only hit 120 pages, as so much happened throughout this deranged journey. While I initially thought Janet’s caustic attitude proved that she was the true monster of the story, I eventually began to believe she might be right about Pam Kowokski. This story completely messed with my head, but it also surprised me and challenged my thinking.

Pam Kowolski Is a Monster made a tremendous impression upon me, and I’d like to reread it soon. Processing it with what has now been revealed, I can see it through a newly cleansed lens. Sarah Langan possesses great insight into human behavior, and I love the way she weaves that into her impactful stories.

I am immensely grateful to Raw Dog Screaming Press and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes you just want to read a book that is pure fun, and if you’re in the mood for a quick read that really packs a punch, then allow me to introduce you to PAM KOWOLSKI IS A MONSTER! forthcoming from Sarah Langan and Raw Dog Screaming Press. KOWOLSKI is a fast-paced novella, but don’t mistake its small page count for a small story, because if anyone knows how to wallop you in only about 120-odd pages, it’s Sarah Langan—and she does not disappoint in this totally unhinged, absurdly delightful ripper of a novella. It’s a middle finger to social media influencer culture that pulls in the televangelist / telepsychic heydey of the 90s in a pulpy, poppy, glorious mess with a narrator so petty and so human that she’s simultaneously completely horrible and totally relatable, making you question your own grudges and memories. This one is a ride that pushes you up, up, up to the veeeery top of the rollercoaster, then lets go so abruptly that your pulse hangs in your throat you while you enjoy the fall.

Will feature on my personal blog and in my BookTrib Chill Quill May edition.

Pam Kowalski Is A Monster by Sarah Langan, Jane Chow thought she would be a famous journalist writing exposes that out the fraudsters and bad actors of the world but instead she lives with a stoner who has a bad cough works at a job she cannot stand in one day while scrolling through social media sees the person she blames for it all… Pam Kowalski. To make matters worse Pam’s life is awesome she’s the world’s psychic sweetheart and people just cannot get enough of her and she claims that she’s going to let the world see what she sees and this is all more than Janet Chow can take. she calls her old online newspaper and offers an expose on Pam Kowalski and claims she can get an interview. They can’t say yes fast enough. as far as Janet can remember Pam Kowalski made fun of her and her dead mom in the anger she feels for her fuels her but is everything she remembers actually what happened? Due to Janet’s trauma there’s a lot she forgot in life and while investigating Pam certain things are going to jog her memory and in the end the person to blame, may not be Pam at all. this was such an awesome read I loved Janet’s whole negative personality and I totally got what the author was putting down and it was so enjoyable. I did think it would end differently but still enjoyed all of it the beginning the middle and the end it is a short fast read but all so entertaining. I have loved every book I’ve read by this author this one is definitely included and can’t wait to read more from her.#NetGalley,#RDSPublishing, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #saraLangan, #PamKowalskiIsAMonster,

A short novella with unhinged,fast paced narration, a mix of psych-thriller, mystery and supernatural elements. An enjoyable read, would probably only take you 2 hours max to finish. Super engaging, you wouldn't want to take your eyes off the book.

I'll post a review on Goodreads/fable/insta by June I promise

This novella certainly packed a punch. I identified with Janet in so many ways and felt extreme sympathy for her this was an excellent story.

I loved this book!

The story follows Janet (an unsuccessful journalist) who blames Pam (a famous psychic she knew in high school) for her life not going to plan. As she aims to expose Pam as a fake via a new article, things get weird... like really weird.

Set in the near future, this book is similar to our world today but more bleak and technologically advanced in a totally realistic and scary way. This setting made the book feel like a Black Mirror episode and I got those vibes throughout.

I won't spoil the plot too much but this book genuinely creeped me out (and I read a lot of horror). The atmosphere was so creepy and, at times, depressing and felt totally believable. I was genuinely gripped and didn't want to put this book down (to the extent I actually wanted my bus to be late so I had more reading time). I needed to find out what really happened between Pam and Janet.

Overall, if you're a fan of Black Mirror, feeling creeped out or just weird and wonderful horror, Pam Kowolski is a Monster! is definitely for you!

Thank you NetGalley and RDS Press for this Advanced Reading Copy

This was one sassy novella. I wanted to like this more than I did. I think the writing style is what irked me the most. It’s written in this snarky and detached way which made for an awkward reading experience. I don’t mind unlikable characters so that is what saved this book for me. It’s over the top and campy so you will be entertained. Not a bad story but it’s not very memorable either.

A short and concise but touching horror novella. I was unsure about the writing style in the beginning and thought it did too much telling, not showing, but I believe that was part of the building of plot and I got along with the style better as it went on. The slow revealing of the plot works well when dealing with a narrator who is suffering from memory loss. Themes of childhood trauma in a world that is dystopian and on the nose with its late capitalism elements. How the real horror is the effects of capitalism and how it affects us and how we cope with it, is probably not the most important part of this book, but was what I personally enjoyed the most about it.

Never could I have predicted where this story was going to end up. Glad I hung around with Janet for the ride. Wish the ending was a little longer but ultimately a fun spooky ride

So incredibly weird, and kind of sad, but also funny and thoughtful while mostly just bizarre…. This is a novella and the length feels totally satisfying because so much crazy stuff happens it feels like a full novel. Set in a slightly dystopian/future-y reality that’s preeeettty close to life now, but a bit bleaker, about a self-absorbed, lonely weirdo messing up her life and kind of blaming a girl she went to high school with for all her problems, and then that all just goes off the rails. Thus was fun and strange and totally worth just suspending all expectations, just jump in!

Well that was a cluster fuck of a book. I really wish this was longer so the story could really develop and I could actually care for the characters

4.5
Wow, I was lucky enough to get the arc from netgalley, so thank you.
I loved this book, the only thing I didn't like was it was a little slow in some areas but I wanted more, I would have read a 500 page book about these characters, I just loved the horror side but also on a deeper level, the main character finding herself and remembering her childhood.

Pam Kowolski Is A Monster! by Sarah Langan is a novella about a woman dead set on taking down her famous psychic former classmate. After realizing Pam Kowolski is a successful psychic, our narrator Janet decides to take her down in revenge for a past moment in high school when Pam made her miserable.

Langan's future isn't necessarily one I would want to live in, but it's easy to see how we could go from where we are now to where everyone is in Pam Kowolski.

This is a near future novella that follows an unreliable narrator. I don't often love the unreliable narrator trope but in Pam Kowolski this is incredibly well done. The novella really covers how faulty our own memories can be and how a memory can take on it's own life over time until what really happened and what a person remembers are two entirely different things. In particular, this novella focuses on the way that trauma can shape memory and what lengths a person might go to in order to bury traumatic and painful moments.

The characters in this novella were unlikable in a likable way, and the growth from the start to the finish for our unreliable narrator felt very realistic as she put in effort to uncover the truth about Pam Kowolski and the incident in high school that led her to hate her so thoroughly.

This is a great and quick read for all horror fans and I'd highly recommend you check it out.

Thanks to Sarah Langan for writing this, RDS Publishing and Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending it my way, and NetGalley for being the vehicle with which I received this ARC.

Lots to digest in this short story! Set in the early 2030s, there's a feeling of dread and ennui that lingers throughout the entire story, perhaps due to the fact that our future currently feels largely ambiguous. I'm not sure how to feel about this story, but I enjoyed the journey of reading it. Would recommend!

Buckle up, horror freaks, because Sarah Langan’s Pam Kowolski Is a Monster! is a wild-ass novella that’ll leave you questioning your own damn memories while laughing at the absurdity of it all. At a lean 120 pages, this little beast packs more punch than a spiked piña colada at a high school reunion. Langan, a seasoned pro at unsettling the shit out of her readers, delivers a surreal, creepy, and unexpectedly poignant tale full of psychological horror and dark comedy. Let’s dive into this unhinged gem, dissect its guts, and figure out why it’s both a bloody delight and a bit of a frustrating tease.

Sarah Langan’s no newbie to the horror game. With a resume boasting novels like The Keeper and The Missing, she’s carved out a niche for stories that creep under your skin, blending domestic unease with cosmic terror. A three-time Bram Stoker Award winner, Langan’s got a knack for making the mundane feel like a goddamn nightmare. Her background in environmental science and public policy sneaks into her work, grounding her horror in real-world anxieties—think crumbling ecosystems or societal decay, but with a side of existential dread. In Pam Kowolski, she leans hard into psychological horror, proving she can still fuck with your head in novella form. This isn’t her first rodeo, and it shows.

Meet Janet Chow, a washed-up journalist in her forties who’s about as successful as a one-star Yelp review. Once a high school hotshot with dreams of Pulitzer glory, she’s now slumming it in a dead-end warehouse job, surrounded by ignored emails and a roommate she’d rather see in a ditch. Janet’s life is a shitshow, and she’s got one person to blame: Pam Kowolski, her high school nemesis who supposedly screwed her over with some vague, cruel act Janet can’t quite pin down. Fast-forward to 2031, and Pam’s no longer a nobody—she’s Madame Pamela, a TikTok-famous psychic raking in millions by predicting the end of the world. Naturally, Janet smells a scam and a chance to revive her career by exposing Pam as a fraud.

What starts as a petty revenge plot spirals into a fever dream of repressed memories, nosebleeds, suicides, and a world that’s maybe, just maybe, unraveling at the seams. As Janet digs into their shared past, interviewing old teachers and classmates, she realizes her grudge might be built on shaky ground. Pam’s doomsday visions start feeling too real, and reality itself gets wobbly. Is Pam a monster, or is Janet’s own fucked-up head the real villain? By the time Pam’s hyped-up “Big Reveal” livestream looms, you’re not sure if you’re rooting for Janet to take her down or just hoping they both survive whatever cosmic shitstorm’s coming.

Langan’s novella is a masterclass in unpacking trauma, memory, and the lies we tell ourselves to keep going. Janet’s an unreliable narrator par excellence, her recollections of high school warped by years of resentment and self-loathing. The story’s central question—are things as we remember them?—hits like a brick to the face. Memory here is a slippery bastard, a funhouse mirror that distorts truth until you’re not sure what’s real. Langan uses Janet’s obsession with Pam to explore how trauma can rewrite our past, turning us into our own worst enemies.

Symbolism’s thick on the ground. Pam’s psychic empire, with its apocalyptic promises, feels like a middle finger to a world obsessed with influencers and instant gratification. The “Big Reveal” is a twisted stand-in for our collective doomscrolling, where we’re all waiting for the next big catastrophe to drop. Nosebleeds and suicides pepper the story, visceral reminders of a reality that’s cracking under pressure. Even the near-future setting—2031, with its AI creepiness and societal decay—screams “we’re fucked” without ever preaching. Langan’s too smart for that shit. The contrast between Janet’s bitter cynicism and Pam’s glossy success symbolizes the gap between who we are and who we wish we’d become—a gut-punch for anyone who’s ever felt like life kicked them in the teeth.

If there’s a takeaway from Pam Kowolski, it’s that monsters aren’t always who you think. Janet’s hell-bent on painting Pam as the villain, but the deeper she digs, the more she’s forced to face her own flaws. Langan’s not here to coddle you with clear heroes and villains; she’s saying we’re all capable of being dicks, especially when we’re hurting. The novella’s heart lies in its plea for empathy—maybe Pam’s not a fraud, maybe Janet’s not a failure, maybe we’re all just fumbling through trauma’s aftermath.

There’s also a sly jab at our obsession with fame and truth. Pam’s psychic schtick thrives because people want to believe, even if it’s bullshit. In a world drowning in misinformation and viral stunts, Langan’s asking: what’s real, and does it even matter when we’re all so desperate for meaning? It’s heavy stuff, but she wraps it in enough snark and gore to keep it from feeling like a lecture.

Langan’s prose is a goddamn delight—crisp, conversational, and dripping with attitude. She writes like your coolest, most cynical friend who’s seen some shit but still cracks jokes. Janet’s voice is sardonic as hell, peppered with millennial snark that makes her both infuriating and relatable. Lines like “her best accomplishment? knowing exactly how long she can ignore an email before people think she died” had me cackling. Langan’s got a gift for blending humor with horror, so one minute you’re laughing at Janet’s petty grudges, and the next you’re wincing at a gruesome suicide.

The pacing’s relentless, barreling toward the climax like a runaway train. At 120 pages, there’s no fat to trim—every scene earns its keep. Langan’s descriptions are vivid without being overwrought; she paints a near-future world that’s unsettlingly plausible, with just enough techy weirdness to keep it spooky. The surreal elements—think reality-bending visions and psychic fuckery—are handled with a light touch, letting the horror sneak up on you. It’s not jump-scare cheap; it’s the kind of dread that lingers like a bad hangover.

This novella’s got balls. Janet’s a brilliantly flawed protagonist—petty, bitter, and so human it hurts. You want to shake her, but you also get why she’s such a mess. Langan nails the unreliable narrator trope, making Janet’s unraveling memories the story’s beating heart. The horror’s layered, blending psychological torment with cosmic stakes, so it works whether you’re here for the creeps or the feels. The dark humor’s a standout, cutting through the bleakness like a machete. And that cover art? Chef’s kiss—love that Lichtenstein shit.

The world-building’s another win. Langan sketches a near-future dystopia that’s chilling because it’s so damn believable—AI, social decay, an embrace of magic over science, and a society hooked on spectacle. Pam’s psychic empire feels like a natural extension of our influencer-obsessed culture, and the “Big Reveal” hype nails our morbid fascination with disaster. It’s smart without being smug, a rare feat.

Alright, let’s not blow smoke up Langan’s ass. The biggest gripe? That ending.

Holy abrupt, Batman—it’s like the story trips over its own feet and faceplants. After all the buildup, the “Big Reveal” and its fallout feel rushed, leaving too many questions dangling like loose threads on a cheap sweater. What’s Pam’s deal? Is the world actually ending? Why the hell are there so many nosebleeds? A few extra pages—hell, even 30—could’ve tied things up without spoon-feeding us. As it stands, the non-ending feels like a cop-out, especially when the rest of the novella’s so tight.

Some readers might also find Janet too much of a prickly bitch to root for. She’s judgmental, selfish, and not exactly charming, which can make the first half a slog if you don’t vibe with her voice. The horror, while effective, doesn’t always land as hard as it could—Langan teases some truly fucked-up shit (suicides, reality cracks), but she doesn’t always linger long enough to make it stick. It’s like she’s afraid to go full Event Horizon when we’re begging for it.

Pam Kowolski is a Monster! is a batshit fun novella that’ll have you laughing, cringing, and double-checking your own grudges. Sarah Langan’s at the top of her game, delivering a story that’s as funny as it is unsettling, with a protagonist who’s equal parts infuriating and heartbreaking. It’s a quick read that punches above its weight, tackling big themes—trauma, memory, the lies we live by—while keeping you hooked with snark and scares. The near-future setting and psychic shenanigans are creepy as hell.

But that ending? Fuck me, it’s a letdown. I’m not opposed to ambiguity, but in this case, the abruptness robs the story of the boom it deserves, leaving you with more “huh?” than “holy shit.” Still, this is a must-read for horror fans who love their scares with a side of wit and don’t mind filling in some blanks. If you dig unreliable narrators, surreal vibes, and a world that’s maybe two tweets away from apocalypse, grab this bad boy. Just don’t expect all the answers—or a clean getaway. It’s a wild, weird trip that’s almost excellent but stumbles at the finish line. Pour yourself a piña colada and dive in, you masochist.

Janet Chow, once a high school overachiever, is now a washed-up journalist with nothing to her name but a pile of ignored emails and a grudge that just won’t die. Pam Kowolski.

Thank you Netgally for the gifted copy

I am rating this book a 4.75/5. I WANTED MORE.

I was absolutely obsessed with the story. I laughed, was in shocked and also felt bad for some of the characters. I will now be wary of people drinking Piña Colada.

Congratulations Sarah on your book, I will definitely read more of your books!

This one took a few beats to warm up for me, but when it did, I definitely enjoyed the ride! The main character felt full and real to me, and this really is a one-character novel (novella?) as Janet comes to terms with a horrific event from her childhood. I love a good character, and her foil -- the viral TikTok psychic was brilliant. I'm struggling a little why this wasn't a solid homerun for me, and I think it's because once the author showed us she was going to GO there (the nosebleeds and suicides), I wanted her to sit in the horror a little longer and fill it out a little more so that we were held in place by it, much like how people couldn't stop watching the suicide videos. As it was, I felt like this slight novel slipped by too quickly and instead of ending with a huge BOOM of a resolution, it petered out before I was really all the way IN it. (Much like this review - sorry! This was a hard one to pin down for me!). In summary: I solidly LIKED it, but I didn't LOVE it as much as I think I could have and wanted to if the main character had been more firmly trapped in the horror of what was happening around her and then DID something to change it (or at least her place in it).

This was clever and haunting, and I absolutely could not finish it. I made it to 80% and I was too afraid to finish it (I am in fact a big coward). I think this was a very cool book and if you're down to be afraid, this is the book for you!