That's the premise of Josh Malerman's new horror novel, DAPHNE, and she's the blue raven. Plus, therDon't think about a blue raven.
Bet you just did.
That's the premise of Josh Malerman's new horror novel, DAPHNE, and she's the blue raven. Plus, there's this added knife twist: If you think about Daphne, you die.
Daphne was a real person who once lived in the small town of Samhattan. Her life was shrouded in mystery, her death was shrouded in mystery, and for some reason it's all news to the townspeople, despite that it happened only decades ago. In fact, nobody seems to care about this particular urban legend until teenage girls start dying, one by one.
Then there's high school basketball star, Kit Lamb. Kit, with her step-by-step anxiety in full self-awareness mode. Kit and her friends have this little habit of treating the basketball rim like a magic 8-ball. When she takes a jump shot, a layup, a free-throw, whatever, she often asks a question just before. Ball goes in, it's a "yes," ball misses, "no." Kit's poor little brain with its likely OCD and certainly anxiety diagnoses, can't stop thinking about...guess who? And she has the audacity to ask the rim about it. The answer is like an inciting incident that sets the whole book off on a quick sprint.
I loved this book. I might be biased as I deal quite intimately with anxiety. And while OCD was never mentioned, I identified so much with Kit's intrusive thoughts and the tendency toward overthinking (a nice word for "obsessing") about stuff that you don't necessarily want to think about. Malerman did a supreme job of opening a window into the anxiety-full brain and showing readers what it's like to be us for a hot minute.
Aside from that component, the story itself hit the mark for me. I appreciated the traditional horror story with a fresh twist...a villain/antagonist that didn't feel too familiar, yet, riffed on the urban legend stuff that to me is all "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and Bloody Mary in the bathroom at summer camp with friends. I never tire of that shit. Does anyone?
DAPHNE is, on one level, a basic urban legend horror story. But on another level, it's a coming-of-age novel about what to do with your goddamn mind when it's wheeling out of control. With DAPHNE, Malerman carved out a whole demographic and said, "Here, folks. This story is for you." And it's for neurodivergent brains and outsider brains and any brains that struggle to stay on the straight path. Extra credit for the entire world of strong female protagonists. Come for the awesome urban legend and horror story, stay for the characters I swear you'll feel on a deep level.
Bravo, Josh! Do it again.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this free ARC. My opinions are absolutely my own....more
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