Book Review: Daphne by Josh Malerman

 

 

Daphne by Josh Malerman 

262 pages, Hardcover 

Published:August, 2022 by Del Rey

 

If there is one name that gets associated with horror it is Stephen King which is something early in his career he wouldn’t have minded. As the years moved forward King’s relationship to horror became complicated,  With a few Shawshank’s and Tom Gordan’s and the King equals horror got a little muddy. His last also didn’t help disavow from Horror royalty thing. The future of horror was Clive Barker and then for a generation it was Brian Keene. I enjoy Brian Keene the writer almost as much as Brian Keene the person. Truth be told I like Keene Lost level pulp stuff as much or more than his horror.  We got Maberry, Pinborough,  and Lebbon all experimenting with different genres. Stephen Graham Jones and Paul Trembly are so literary, incredible but…

When I closed the book on Malerman’s Daphne I started to think Josh Malerman might be the pure horror royalty at this point. I admit I was wrong about Josh Malerman in the early days. Bird Box was so good and even before the movie that was lightning in a bottle success. I thought there is no way this dude he repeats it. As a band dude, I thought all the young bands who poured all their heart and hunger into their first album never raged again. I thought there is no way he repeats the power of Birdbox.

The thing is Josh Malerman proves me wrong book after book. His novel play with the genre, horror western in Unbury Carol, surrealism in Inspection, and takes big swings like the cursed pig in Pearl. Just a few examples but every release is pure horror, and he seems very comfortable with that. His books sell and more importantly, they work for most readers.  

I mean you have the right to be annoyed because the dude is handsome, plays guitar, plays basketball, and writes amazingly. I would hate the guy if he wasn’t also a sweet and genuine dude. Damn it Malerman. You did it again. He hasn’t written a bad book. Not one. My least favorite is still a good book.

Daphne was a book that I was skeptical about it at first. He hinted at the plot as he was working on it when we hung around a zoom after recording a podcast interview. He had the spark in his eyes, by the end of the conversation I thought. He is going to pull it off.

Like his novel Pearl, it is a concept that if it was explained the wrong way would sound silly. Before I get into the details of the story and how genius much of the writing is. Yes if you are a horror reader you should read this book. Malerman pushes a concept and is inventive with how he treats the character and the horror elements. I would say this novel is a wonderful hybrid of a basketball story with the feel of the first Nightmare on Elm Street.

I wondered if the book would work for the non-sports fan. It was a trick Stephen Graham Jones another lover of basketball pulled off in his masterpiece The Only Good Indians. I peeped some of the reviews for this book and found one by fellow San Diegan and Horrible Imaginings Film Fest founder Miguel Rodriguez noted non-sports fan said Malerman got him invested.

I had to check because I am a hooper. I grew up in Indiana, I play basketball three times a week here in San Diego, yesterday I played a game that we finished after it started raining on us. So I was in the bag for the genius of a horror novel with the inciting incident based on the age old adage of hoop – the ball don’t lie. You see in basketball if you call a foul that players think is a BS call and the free throw is missed you’ll always hear hoopers say “Ball don’t lie.”
 
 The novel starts with Kit Lamb at the free-throw line, game on the line. She is about to take the free throw that will give them the state championship.

“Even as she lifts the ball, elbow in, left hand supporting, even as it seems like nothing could chop her focus, and nothing has yet, not in this game, not even when she made the and-one that lead to this moment, a question for the rim:
 

Will Daphne kill me?”

It is a game that Kit and her teammates play. Ask a question before you shoot the basketball the rime doesn’t lie. The ball goes in the hoop it is a yes. Just as Kit hits the shot that gives her team the lead with seconds to go she becomes a hero and target at the same time. They won the game, they were underdogs, but the rim doesn’t lie. Daphne the urban legend of the 7-foot-tall young woman who haunts their hometown is going to get her now. There is no stopping her.

The seed is planted not just in Kit, but her teammates that Daphne whose body would have made her a force in their chosen sport was looming over them. First as a topic, but a threat when they start to die one by one. Malerman shows he knows perfectly how to unfold the story that he meant to lovingly pay tribute to the sport and ties it to the game.

Starting at that moment works for any reader, but in a small Venn Diagram of people like me who understand both horror and basketball, this moment is genius. There is no more nerve-wracking moment for a hooper than looking at that rim with the game on the line and having to sink a shot. Kit who has survived Anxiety at that moment unlocking the ghost of Daphne. Well, it is genius.
 

The Rim said Daphne is real.

Making the team a girl's team was also a bold move. A smart move. Young boys playing basketball are a cocky bunch, the ladies play fundamental basketball and are more likely to struggle with the anxiety the story needed. Not to say that is always the case but that is one reason I think this was a good call. Also as a teacher, who is around young kids, I feel like Malerman writes good teenage characters. There is a funny part when Kit is freaked out by pictures of the band KISS – who of course young kids would not know anything about. A good detail. The young ladies are hoopers so that is easy in for the author but Malerman handles their fears and internal lives pretty solidly. 

One of the things that separate this novel is how it tackles anxiety. There is a journal entry of Kit’s talking about the time she called 911 on herself during a panic attack. It is written with such authority it is impossible to not believe it is personal. It is so powerfully written that the chapter alone elevates the book, not just because of how well it is written, but for how powerful it feels.  It deepens the characters.  A reminder that no matter how perfect someone’s life might look.  Everyone struggles. Powerful stuff and wanted to hug the book if that makes sense.

Kennedy Lichtenstein is a character that has a short but powerful scene, the Daphne super fans and Gloria the cop who is investigating the murders are minor but fully realized characters. 250 pages are short for a novel but Malerman makes all these elements gel.

A horror master at the top of his form. Daphne is a far better novel than the concept would lead you to believe, much the way I felt when I read Malerman’s Peral. This shouldn’t work but it does. Why? Because Malerman is that good. Not everybody could pull off this book, the amazing fact is Only Malerman could.