Title: Mr. Cables

Author: Ronald Malfi

Release date: Nov 6, 2020

Engrossing.

Thoroughly, thoroughly engrossing.

Absolutely captivating.

Shamefully, this was my first experience reading Mr. Malfi. Crazy right? I have a number of his books sitting in my TBR, and when JournalStone announced this, I immediately snagged the Kindle version. But then, like a decent chunk of my books, it languished for a few weeks. Until I saw Jeremy Hepler post or tweet that he’d really enjoyed this book and I slapped myself.

So, last night, I was just going to read 25%. I have four other books on the go, all fantastic reads, so I was just going to read 25% and then finish off The Messy Man by Chris Sorensen.

But then this friggin’ book was so friggin’ enthralling, I read it in one sitting.

What I liked: NYT Bestselling Author Wil Paventeau is at a book signing when an older lady comes up to him, tells him his book is the scariest she’s ever read and then flops down a tattered hardcover of ‘Mr. Cables.’ The book has his name on it, his author photo and an almost accurate bio, but the only problem is – he never wrote it.

From there, Malfi delivers a full-force creep attack of something peering in the window, pages that read differently for different readers and the growing sense that the ‘meta-ness’ of the book is all too real. That Paventeau himself is/is not the same author who wrote the book.

I couldn’t stop reading this. Whether the book gripped its talons into my brain like our Mr. Cables did for the readers, or Malfi just writes with such a a casual inviting prose, I just couldn’t bring my self to close the Kindle.

This was superb. Think Stephen King familiarity of writing. Growing dread on each and every page. And an utterly fantastic ending.

What I didn’t like: I’d call it a minor thing, because I really, really did love this book, but there’s a few moments where we kind of need to suspend belief to believe Parenteau forgot some truly key moments in his life. Moments that I’m not sure most people would forget. Places and people. It’s minor but that may put some folks off.

Why you should buy this: There’s a handful of books for me lately that were so engrossing I simply couldn’t put them down. ‘The Ritual’ by Nevill. ‘Night Train’ by Quantick. ‘All Hail the House Gods’ by Stone. ‘Armageddon House’ by Griffin. ‘The Killing Circle’ by Pyper. This easily slots into that array of books that zoomed by and I had to question whether I even breathed.

My introduction to Malfi may have come far later than it should’ve, but holy hell, what a gem this was and I’m beyond excited to dive into this.

Color me a fan.

5/5

JournalStone direct link;

https://journalstone.com/bookstore/mr-cables/

Amazon link: