I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a fan of Ronald Malfi’s work. I have read several of his writings that have come out from the fine publishing house of Darkfuse over the past few years and some of his works published elsewhere. His story lines are original and he excels in both novel (The Narrows and Cradle Lake) as well as novella (After the Fade, The Mourning House, and my personal favorite Borealis) forms. His characters are well drawn and compelling and even if he writes a “traditional” vampire novel like The Narrows, he puts a special twist that make it all his own.

A Shrill Keening is a straight forward Lovecraft Mythos tale. While I enjoyed reading it and found the prose smooth and the characters compelling I kept waiting for that Malfi spin on the tale that would take it out of the mold and it just didn’t happen for me. It didn’t have the eerie originality of Borealis or the “spin you on your head” plot twist of After the Fade that changes everything. I was expecting to be blown away because that is what usually happens with Malfi, especially with novellas, but this one reads more like a straight-forward and well done Lovecraft tale without the game changer that I am used to from Malfi, so it only got 4 stars from me.
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A deliciously bite-sized bit portion of Lovecraft. That's how I'd describe A Shrill Keening. It's fairly easy to see that Malfi borrows bits and pieces from some of Lovecraft's works, but he does with a style all his own. This novella may be short, but it still managed to sink its fangs into me until the end. I'll say this, Malfi doesn't skimp on the tension.

Carl Thompson spends his days in a mental institution, with no concrete memories of what happened to put him there. His conflicted mind fascinated me. Imagine believing that your waking moments were fiction. That maybe, just maybe, everything you dreamt was in fact your actual life. What impressed me most was how easy it was to believe in Carl's ideas. At no point in time did I have to suspend disbelief to feel how he was feeling. His "reality" was so well written that I was just a part of it, and I didn't mind one bit.

Which brings me to the ending. It fit perfectly, and yet I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit rushed. I had spent so much time with Carl, I was so invested in everything he was, and suddenly the story was over. I would have read for many more pages if I'd been able to. I wished for more. I definitely enjoyed A Shrill Keening. If you're a Lovecraft fan, or simply a reader who loves a quick and tension filled story, give this novella a place on your reading list. ( )

Upon finishing A Shrill Keening, I'm left with one word flashing in my mind like a neon pub sign: Unremarkable. The story doesn't seem to have a purpose, and simply meanders about, tossing one idea after another at you before ending on a banal note. A Shrill Keening is not tense, not scary in the slightest, and feels derivative of far greater works. I suppose I might have read far too many crazy-person-may-or-may-not-be-crazy stories to have been blown away by this one. Perhaps I'm just tired of the premise. I've also had my fill of Lovecraft tributes. Far too many out there, and this is yet another tale snatched from that ever-growing pile.

The writing is fluid, though, and Ronald Malfi is obviously a talented author, but this uber short novella feels disjointed and unfinished. In fact, had I actually paid for this release instead of receiving an ARC from NetGalley, I would have been a tad bit upset. Might have even requested a refund. I was bored. Maddeningly so. Even a monstrous, world-killing entity rising from the depths is soporific. What should have been a harrowing scene comes off as lackluster, and left me feeling narcotized.

So why three stars? Well, a great deal of this review is subjective. If you like your stories set in an nuthouse, you'll probably enjoy this one. If you dig Lovecraftian tales, yeah, you'll more than likely find this one worth your time. Moreover, if you enjoy wondering whether your main character is sane or a middle finger short of a flipped bird, you might get your socks rocked off. But A Shrill Keening did not cream my coffee, and left me without a desire to read more from this author.

In summation: A well-written tale that isn't much else. Full of tired Lovecraftian tropes such as tentacled monsters and an insane protagonist, A Shrill Keening disappointed this reader, but you could very well enjoy it. Recommended to anyone who hasn't read it all before. ( )

A Shrill Keening opens with a first person narrator telling us about the books in his hospital room, and expanding from there to tell us about the hospital’s library and librarian. It is only when he notes that the list of requested books he hands to the librarian is written in crayon that the reader realizes the nature of the hospital: it is a mental institution. But the reader must also wonder: why is a mental institution catering to a patient’s request for books by and about H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe?

The nature of the narrator’s malady becomes evident when he states that he does not know which part of his life is real and which part he is dreaming. His therapist attempts — poorly — to convince him that his particular form of solipsism, in which he imagines that the therapist blinks out of existence as soon as they part; but the narrator continues to suspect that his dreams, in which he patrols a barren seashore are actually his life. Yet he remembers his life before he was institutionalized, right up to the time he bludgeoned his girlfriend to death.

Still, that seashore bordering an evacuated town is so detailed. And his interaction one night with another man, who refers to the narrator as the Watcher, is equally detailed, right down to the shiny silver key he hands him. That key is, ultimately, the key to the collision of his dual realities. Now the references to Lovecraft make sense, because it becomes clear to anyone who is the least familiar with that man’s work that the narrator is watching for Cthulhu to rise from R’lyeh.

True to its Lovecraftian inspiration, Ronald Malfi’s novella is full of atmosphere. His descriptions are detailed and creepy. The sense of doom Malfi communicates is almost tangible, as is the narrator’s confusion. But though the writing is very fine, the plot is lacking. It’s a problem common to Lovecraft pastiches: by definition, no one can describe what happens after the old gods arrive, and so the stories are limited to descriptions of doom and madness.

As far as pastiches go, however, this is a good one. And it’s a good introduction to Malfi’s writing, which moves along at a brisk pace even while lingering over descriptions of eldritch phenomena. Here, for instance, is a description of a bird that makes it seem especially sinister:

"As I look around, I am startled to see an impossibly large bird perched on a lamppost gazing out across the parking lot at me. It’s a buzzard or a vulture — is there a difference? — and it looks about as large as a dishwasher. As I stare at it, the thing cranks open its massive wings, the feathers inky black and piebald with cobwebs, and unleashes a cry that sounds disconcertingly like the wail of a pained infant."

That is a description of a perfectly normal, if unpleasant, bird; but Malfi’s description is such that it seems a thing of horror.

Writing like this persuades me to seek out Malfi’s novels. I’m curious to see what he can do when he is not bound by the strictures of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Originally published at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/horrible-monday-a-shrill-keening-by-ron... ( )

Review copy

Carl Thompson is institutionalized for the murder of his girlfriend. Problem is, he doesn't remember committing the crime, even though he called 911. He doesn't remember anything from just before her murder until after be wakes up in the hospital.

Carl's struck up a friendship with the facility's librarian and has been reading H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as books on the interpretation of dreams, meanings behind nightmares, and hypnotism.

Days are spent in therapy, with Dr. Lugando, but his nights find him on a boardwalk by the shore. It's like he's living two realities simultaneously. What he discovers in the alternate reality is where things get very strange and turn a little Lovecraftian.

All in all, I found A Shrill Keening to be an interesting exploration of the mind of someone who's gone mad, even if we never learn more about what caused him to go crazy in the first place.

A Shrill Keening is the latest from Darkfuse in their ongoing novella series and is available for the Kindle at Amazon.com. Plus, if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you can read this one at no additional charge

I will point out that A Shrill Keening is not for everyone, but if you like stories that are a bit "out there," I can certainly recommend this quick read. ( )