The Separation by Ronald Malfi

The Separation is the first Delirium’s new line of novellas.

In an effort to help an old friend through the breakup of his marriage, psychotherapist Marcus Llewellyn arrives in Germany to find up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie Pronovella in a state of such deep depression, he takes his old friend on as a client. But soon Marcus’s faith in his own abilities to help Charlie comes into question when Charlie’s behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is Charlie suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work?

In my review of Malfi’s Snow I said, “Malfi is relentless with the horror and action”. The Separation takes the opposite approach to its horror. Malfi weaves subtly disturbing images together with grace and elegance. It really is amazing to see an author create horror in these two extremes. Malfi plants the seed of terror and slowly brings it to full bloom- resulting in a fantastic final page.

The Separation is another testament to Malfi’s talent as a storyteller and writer. He is a genre author that deserves to be appreciated on a mainstream level. Do yourself a favor and pick up The Separation and become formally introduced to your new favorite author.

This entry was posted in Novellas, Reviews and tagged , by Pat Dreadful. Bookmark the permalink.

About Pat Dreadful

Father of three. Impregnator of one. Pat lives in the backwoods of Pennsylvania where he splits his time between moonshining and moonlighting. He used to be the sole proprietor of a funky little site called Grade Z Horror but jumped at the chance to work with Meli and Colum. He was raised on King and Crichton but quickly found true salvation in the works of Ketchum and Laymon. When not selling plasma to afford those highly sought after Jeff Strand limited editions, Pat can be found sitting on his back porch with a pipe full of Perique and the sounds of summer coming through a beat up transistor radio. Simply put, he is a true ramblin’ boy of pleasure. The books that have shaped Pat’s warped lil’ ol’ mind have included Dweller by Jeff Strand, It by Stephen King, Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon, The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon and The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. Pat is always on the lookout for a good coming-of-age yarn so shoot your suggestions to PatDreadful@gmail.com You can also follow his unsavory exploits over at theblackwoodsbible.wordpress.com

Say something, dammit!