This is only the second novel I have read by Ronald Mali and I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced reader audio copy of this book from Net Galley and Tantor Audio. Getting back into my roots, reviewing books, I was very excited to have been approved for this and started it right away.
The first book I read by Malfi was his previous one, Small Town Horror, which also happens to be the last post I did. Feel free to check out that review here, it was an amazing book. Needless to say I was very excited to know there was a new book on the horizon.
Senseless will be released in the US and UK on April 15, 2025 and follows three seemingly unrelated characters: Detective Bill Renney, Maureen Park, and Toby Kamden. The book opens with a murder scene of a woman mutilated that mirrors a cold case from the year before in the same general location. Renney is the detective that catches the case that sets the tone for the overall story.
Our next character, Maureen Park, who is an aspiring author with one book published to mediocre success. She is marrying into a Hollywood lifestyle and her soon to be husband Greg, is a high paid attorney for Hollywood. Ms. Park’s story has it’s own set of terrifying issues that involve her soon to be Step son Landon.
Our final friend we are following is Toby Kamden. He is an unusual type. Referred to as a “Renfield” by a woman he is obsessing over, and refers to himself as a Human Fly. Toby’s story is unsettling and slightly confusing at times, or maybe strange is a better word.
One of the things I love about Malfi’s writing is his character development. This book feels like it could be 3 stand alone stories and they would all totally work. Malfi finds a way to bring each story together in one of the most surprising ways possible. I read a lot of Crime novels and I usually have the ending pegged a fourth of the way in, but this book surprised me and I loved it.
The cover of this book has a quote from author Gabino Igleseas, “Malfi is Horror’s Faulkner”. Having read the same books by both Malfi and Faulkner, I’m not qualified to agree or disagree, but I will say Small Town Horror was fantastic and creepy and everything i wanted in a horror novel. Senseless does have a vampire element in Toby’s story line, with references to Stoker’s Dracula, but I feel this book is more of a crime story similar to Dashiell Hammett or Michael Connelly.
That being said, I still highly recommend this book. I read this in 3 days which is fast for me. Yes it was an audio book but I couldn’t stop listening and each narrator made their characters their own. If I wasn’t already hooked with Small Town Horror I’d say Senseless only strengthened my fandom for Malfi. I give it 🥃🥃🥃🥃1/2. For GoodReads it will be listed at 4 glasses since they don’t do half. The only thing that kept this from a full 5 glasses review is the fact I had expected horror and felt this didn’t really fall in the genre for me. Stellar read though and I can’t wait to read more of Malfi’s catalogue.
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