The Hive - by Ronald Malfi (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An epic, otherworldly horror novel in the vein of Black River Orchard and American Elsewhere about a wave of collective obsession and paranoia taking over an American suburb. From the Bram Stoker award-nominated and bestselling author of Come with Me.

The residents of Mariner's Cove are changing...

In the aftermath of a violent storm, a collective obsession is rapidly developing among the people of this quaint suburban neighborhood. Random, everyday items left scattered upon the lawns, the streets, and the shoreline all seem to call out to them. There is an item for almost everyone, and each item has a certain hold over the person who finds it--a hold that soon turns into unwavering infatuation. They hide their items from each other, obsess over them, and they will do anything--anything--to protect them.

The collective hum of bees' wings...

A young boy finds himself the possessor of a strange and inexplicable power. Is the arrival of this power linked to the increasingly odd and dangerous behavior of the residents of Mariner's Cove? Has he been granted this power in order to thwart whatever is about to happen in this small, bayside community, or is there a more sinister purpose?

All hail the Dragon...

All eyes are on him now.

The residents of Mariner's Cove are watching.

They move as one, like a solitary organism, and will do anything to succeed in their single-minded purpose.

They will not be stopped.

Review Quotes

"This is one of his very best: a story that pulls readers deeply in with a consuming dread that becomes almost unbearable. Truly a magnificent work of horror fiction." -Booklist

This might be Malfi's finest work to date, as his list of future genre classics continues to grow.--Bloody Flicks

That high-pitched, dual-toned, dizzying ringing in my brain has only just subsided. I am thoroughly rattled, thoroughly nostalgic- and thoroughly impressed. Big books for the win--FanFiAddict

The Hive is a puzzle box, slowburn nightmare of a community gone weird whose endless disquieting horror keeps you in a frozen state of lingering unease all the way to its apocalyptic finale. More proof that Malfi is a modern-day horror master--Grimdark Magazine

Malfi tells a story of slow burning, otherworldly influence that parallels not only the animal kingdom, but our own possessive drives.--Horror Lounge

Throughout the 750+ pages, Malfi crafts a tense, growing sense of dread that is both an undercurrent that might be connecting these characters and a dark cloud that shadows all of them as well... Bottom line, another superb novel from Ronald Malfi... Highly recommended. --SFFWorld

PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR

Ronald Malfi is one of horror's modern masters, full stop. The expansive tapestry that he has created over the course of so many books displays a bruised and bleeding Americana, cut from Staub's cloth and stitched together in King's yarns, but wholly his own. His writing is so good, it's a crime. In fact, it should be considered... Malfiasance.--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

From small-town nightmares to the fragility of memory, Malfi's work is as unsettling as it is unforgettable. One of horror's modern masters.--Lindy Ryan, author of Bless Your Heart and Dollface

Malfi writes like Springsteen sings -- full-throated, open-hearted and with the keenest eye for the moments of horror and joy that make up the broken American dream. The Hive is surely his most epic anthem yet.--Neil McRobert, author of Good Boy

One of horror's living legends, Malfi is my go-to for nail-biting pacing, chills that come at you just when your defenses are down, and characters that stay with you long after turning the last page.--Jennifer Thorne, bestselling author of Diavola

I say this as the greatest compliment: Ronald Malfi can turn any setting into a character-- a dark, haunting, gothic, gritty character with a secret underbelly of hidden horror.--Delilah S. Dawson

Ronald Malfi is the rock star novelist ... or the novelist rock star ... and he's superb at both. His writing is profound and beguiling, and he's one of those writers that makes it all look so damn easy. He's an accomplished stylist and storyteller, and he's rapidly become one of our best. Rock on, Malfi!--Tim Lebbon, author of Secret Lives of the Dead

Writing of a rotted, haunted landscape where lovers become diseased and unknown to each other, where friendships eventually spoil and sour, where darkness curls toward every possible inch of remaining light, Ronald Malfi exists in a superior class of authors--a true visionary with unmatched literary powers, capable of possessing and infecting even the most assured of readers.--Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Senseless is a haunting, bloody noir epic that sent me back to Matheson and other old kings of the genre. A slick, fascinating saga I couldn't inhale fast enough. --Sam Rebelein, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Edenville & The Poorly Made and Other Things

Ronald Malfi's Senseless is a stunning, yet grim, puzzle box to solve. Each twist and turn of captivating prose draws us closer to a mesmerizing conclusion. An absolutely exquisite horror thriller.--Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Vanishing Daughters

In this gripping LA noir, Malfi triangulates a city rife with monsters of every kind to highlight a chilling truth: it's often the subtlest evils that have the most horrific impact.--Jennifer Thorne, bestselling author of Diavola

Sensational! A spellbinding dive into the devil's playground that is Los Angeles, where everybody is simultaneously hunter and hunted. Ronald Malfi is the real deal--you don't read this book, you live it.--Josh Winning, author of Burn the Negative and Heads Will Roll

To read Ronald Malfi is to find yourself in your favorite bar, drink in hand, music you love coming out of the speakers, the comforting babble of the crowd around you. An intriguing stranger sidles up to you and begins to tell you a story. Before you know it, all those other noises fall away and you're enrapt. You barely even notice the glint of the blade as it slides into your gut. Malfi is just that bewitching, just that sneaky, just that brutal, just that good at what he does.--Nat Cassidy, author of Mary and When the Wolf Comes Home

A brutal Rubik's Cube of a book covered in blood... This vamped out, sun-bleached mobius strip is a masterclass in horror noir.--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

A stark look at a haunted world, filled with ghosts of once-people.--Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth and All the Hearts You Eat

A neon-lit pilgrimage to the worst parts of LA and the filthiest parts of the human soul, this intricate braid of horror, thriller, and procedural slowly tightens like a snare, holding you captive, forcing you to watch as the knife parts flesh. Brutal, clever, surprising, and as dark as the desert on a moonless night.--Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestseller, and author of Bloom and Guillotine

The perfect beach read...except it's not the beach, it's the unforgiving desert, sand grits in your teeth, unspeakable things are approaching, and no one will save you. That lulling horror is the beauty of a Ronald Malfi novel, and Senseless delivers even more of the thoughtfully blood-soaked ingenuity he might as well get a patent on. Malfi layers noir, things that go bump in the night, serial killers, and buried secrets in an expertly crafted feast you'll devour.--Michael Wehunt, author of THE OCTOBER FILM HAUNT and GREENER PASTURES

A crackling procedural dipped in psychedelics, Senseless drags you along on a thrill ride through Los Angeles's neon-lit underworld, where nothing is what it seems. Weaving merciless storytelling with prose that's equal parts luminous and queasy, Ronald Malfi's got you trapped--and he never lets up. By the end, you'll find yourself as transfigured as this book's perfectly realized characters.--Andy Marino, author of The Swarm and It Rides a Pale Horse

If stories about LA are like visits to a theme park, Ronald Malfi's Senseless is the wildest dark ride you've ever dreamed of, whirling and shrieking at Tinseltown's throbbing neon-veined heart. A consummate storyteller, Malfi is a master of shadowy noir, nerve-wracking suspense and balls-out horror, drawing the reader deep into a winding web of terror from which there is no escape. Senseless may be his best work yet--a breathlessly compulsive thriller that twists and turns on itself and tightens like the knot of a noose. Don't miss it!--David Demchuk, author of The Butcher's Daughter and RED X

In this thought-provoking new thriller, Ronald Malfi burrows into the human heart and carves out its darkest beats. Set against the background of Hollywood's magic and L.A.'s worst streets, Senseless is a gripping meditation on the nature of violence and the origin of evil. You'll want to read it again and again--but you might be too scared to.--Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl in the Creek and The Deer Kings

The City of Angels is some of the most well-trod literary territory there is, but Malfi stakes out dark regions all his own in a tale that slithers like a rattler and bites like one, too. From the high desert to the desperate cracked downtown streets, from Glendale to the valley and beyond, heat, grit, and pain roil off every page, ones you'll be turning at a desperate pace from the opening body to curtain's final bow.--Brian Asman, author of Good Dogs and Man, F*ck This House (And Other Disasters)

Senseless is a novel that demands to be read with the lights on, but even then, you'll feel the shadows pressing in around you. It's a dark, unnerving descent into the heart of human and inhuman monstrosity, and Malfi's voice ensures every whisper, every heartbeat, echoes long after the final line.--Shane Hawk, co-editor of the internationally bestselling Never Whistle at Night

Senseless is a blistering, twist-filled rollercoaster of a novel, ripe with visceral horror and complex characters who will have you questioning their motives along with their hold on reality. You'll feel the heat from the California desert and the hum of the city streets in this noir-touched supernatural thriller. I couldn't put it down!--Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport

With Senseless, Malfi has created a warped, psychological thriller novel and painted it black with horror, creating something totally unique. Senseless combines all the chills of a crime-driven story about a serial killer with the dark, knife-twisting terrors of furious madness; the compulsion of a murder mystery with the distorted reality of the supernatural. I've never read anything quite like it.--Philip Fracassi, author of Boys In the Valley

A layered ride of jaw-dropping twists. With Senseless, Malfi once again leaves his reader off-kilter, unnerved, and begging for more.--Lindy Ryan, author of Bless Your Heart and Cold Snap

This is a story that leaves little room for humanity, solidifying Malfi as one of the best writers of dark fiction of our time.--FanFiAddict

Malfi never repeats himself: each book is something entirely new. On the other hand, when it comes to his characters, he's wonderfully consistent: he writes about people who feel abundantly real, who have complex motivations, who struggle to reconcile the good and evil that live inside them. Is this his best book? Considering the depth and high quality of his backlist, that's impossible to say. But it sure is good. -Booklist

"Malfi is horror's Faulkner, and Small Town Horror might be his best novel yet. Stylish, dark, and with a haunting, salty atmosphere, this is a superb novel about how the ghosts of the past always dance with those of the present." Gabino Iglesias, Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson award-winning author of The Devil Takes You Home

"This is bedrock American horror fiction, sure to be a classic. Malfi deftly draws you down into the darkness of a group of friends in a small town (natch) who find themselves literally haunted by the secrets and mistakes of their shared past." Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers

Ronald Malfi is a talented storyteller known for the quality of his writing and the way he brings an element of elegance to the genre, and Small Town Horror--relentlessly creepy, unapologetically dark, and surprisingly heartfelt--might just be his best novel yet--Locus Magazine

"An eerie and deeply unsettling horror epic with faint shadows of Peter Straub and Robert R. McCammon flickering at the periphery . . . Small Town Horror is the kind of masterful and deftly written horror fiction that makes me fall in love with the genre all over again." Eric LaRocca, Bram Stoker Award finalist, and author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"This isn't only Malfi's masterpiece, it's a heroic swing at the Great American Novel, and will be nakedly terrifying to anyone who's been a kid--and to anyone who's grown up with regret. This is heavyweight horror, a total knockout." Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestseller and author of Whalefall

"Stunningly good, with echoes of King, Bradbury, Straub, and McCammon, but somehow purely Malfi. Full of malevolence and dread, and peopled by truly compelling characters, the book locks in Malfi's place as one of the best writers in the genre."
Christopher Golden, 'New York Times' bestselling author of 'Road of BONES' and 'Ararat'

"'Black Mouth' is good magic about dark magic: a powerful meeting between adulthood and childhood, the people we pretend to be and the people we have to be. Smart, character-driven horror."
Andrew Pyper, author of 'The Residence' and 'The Demonologist'

"Malfi has established himself as one of the all-time great horror writers, and 'Black Mouth' shows him working at the peak of his dark powers. Equally terrifying and heartbreaking, 'Black Mouth' is a book filled with terror, ghosts, and murder, but also hauntings of the heart, and the soul. Riveting, bloody, and cosmic, this novel will tear you apart in all the best ways."
Philip Fracassi, author of 'Beneath a Pale Sky'

Malfi is a modern-day Algernon Blackwood... I'm gonna be talking about this book for years
JOSH MALERMAN, author of Bird Box

Part mystery, part ghost story, Come with Me chimes with rare beauty and page-turning brilliance. I surrendered to it completely.
Rio Youers, author of Lola on Fire

Shines as both a nightmare journey of shadows and secrets, and a poignant testimony to love and loss. I read it in a single day because I had no other choice: it's that damn good.
Richard Chizmar, author of Gwendy's Button Box

About the Author

Ronald Malfi is a bestselling, award-winning author of dark fiction. He is the recipient of two IPPY Awards, the Beverly Hills Book Award, the Vincent Preis Horror Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award for Popular Fiction, the William G. Wilson Award, and is a Bram Stoker Award nominee. Most recognized for his haunting, literary style and memorable characters, Malfi's work has gained acceptance among readers of all genres.