Book Review: Inspection by Josh Malerman

Inspection by Josh Malerman

Hardcover, 400 pages

Published March 2019 by Del Rey Books

Some horror fiction fits into neatly defined subgenres, and Inspection is one I find hard to pin down although there are some novels this put me in the same frame of mind. Very different in how they twist and turn, but this novel feels like it fits in with Sarah Pinborough's Death House or MR Carey's Girl With All the Gifts. It is basically coming of Age horror that is set in a dystopic like isolation, all three feature weird schools. In Death House the children are being isolated from global disease, in Girl with all the Gifts the threat the mystery gives way to a pretty typical but well done classic post-apocalypse event. One of my favorite things about Inspection is that Malerman doesn't answer every mystery. Know that going in and you'll be a happier reader for it.

I personally had no idea what the book was about, going in totally cold and spoiler free. I suggest that is the best way to go but if you need more let me tell you about it. Inspection is a dark novel about a group of boys being raised in isolation from the world. They are being raised in a Tower deep in the Michigan woods kept from the world in a school run by D.A.D. (what that stands for is one of the mysteries I don't think we got an answer on. The idea is if they are out of the world away from distractions then they can be trained to be genius level students.

One of those sides effects is that they know nothing of the outside world, and there is a lot of focus on the idea that they have no idea that girls or women exist. The boys, called Alphabet Boys don't even get names only Letters. The narrative early on goes back and forth for our main POV between J and D.A.D whose real name is Richard. J begins to see signs that his world view is based on lies. This is something D.A.D has worried about as the boys finally start to grow into young adults.

With his first release since the Netflix phenomenon and the meme that BirdBox became Inspection is a curious book for Josh Malerman. I really like that he is doing bold things and tell challenging stories. With novels like this one and Unbury Carol Malerman is coming up with original ideas that are not cookie cutter or generic horror. This novel has that strange dark vibe that is pure Malerman.

Half-way into the novel, there is a twist I felt I should have seen coming. The narrative is well down despite some serious challenges for the author. With the majority of the characters having only letters for names, it is hard to keep some of the boys straight. Malerman does as good a job as possible. The structure of the story and the prose are great.

I am not sure every single moment worked for me but that comes down to things about the concept I couldn't quite get with. At it's heart, I didn't understand the motivation of the scientists behind the experiment at the heart of the novel. Besides that, I just rolled with it. I was very invested by the final act. I can recommend this book, I liked it just not sure it will be on the year end list. Great novel overall, Malerman proves again the hype is real.