Review: Must Read Haunting Psychological Adventure
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2013
Last weekend I read The Mourning House  by Ronald Malifi (published by Delirium Books, an imprint of DarkFuse). Since then I've been savoring it, even kicking around the idea of re-reading it, because I know it will be even better a second time.  It's taken me a week to find the right words for my review. It's THAT good. It's more than good. This long fiction novella is phenomenal!!It's really no wonder that it made the preliminary ballot for the 2012 Bram Stoker Award (announced Jan 2013 by HWA). Even though it didn't recently make the final five voting list as a nominee, it certainly deserves to be honored for its hauntingly poetic prose.  The Mourning House is literary excellence.  Ronald Malfi is by far one of the best writers across most major categories.In regards to his December 2012 release of The Mourning House, in no way did I feel that I was left wanting more or that I had even read a novella. It was so superbly structured from character development, to plot, to twists, to emotional connection, to allegory that I felt I had absorbed an entire full-length novel in one sitting. Time evaporated as I read it and I remained awake the entire night brooding over it.His nuances within the text that came from the protagonist's mind, or maybe it was our own mind?....or the house's banter....I'm not sure, but it's been playing nonsense in my head since.  It's wriggled into my brain with its lingering madness. Its subtle haunting seeps into my thoughts. Now, I'm sure I'll read it again. And I urge you to read it, and then again.When you read The Mourning House, and I recommend you do, think beyond just the highest plane of the story and the plot of the protagonist. Think about if there are any lessons for life Malfi is referring to. Any allegorical levels. Any emotional dance it tips taps within your head. I promise afterwards you'll not return the same.Malfi's mainstream-style of dark, suspenseful, and eerie fiction will appeal to anybody whose a lover of fine fiction. With novels under his pen to boast about, such as the Gold IPPY awarded and Bram Stoker nominated Floating Staircase, this kudos adorned author is one of the best in the field and The Mourning House is no exception to a long list of must-read works. It's horror, but to make the distinction, it's the haunting kind reminiscent for me of eerie Twilight Zone episodes or even Alfred Hitchcock. It's psychological writing in its best form, with an antiquated feel.Malfi recently re-released The Fall of Never this week with Samhain Publishing/Horror and will re-release Cradle Lake with Medallion Press in June. He's releasing December Park in March of 2014 with Medallion Press. I really can't wait to read everything and anything I can get my hands on by Ronald Malfi.