BOOK REVIEW | PEARL | JOSH MALERMAN

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie Josh Malerman comes the legend of a strange new monster unlike any other in horror.

Go to the farm just outside of town and you'll hear it.

A voice. Inside your head.

Or is it?

Come to me... 

A voice that makes you want to pick up that axe over in the corner of the barn.

And swing it.

And kill.

Feed us. Feed us now.

It is the voice of Pearl.

Sing for me. Sing for your precious Pearl... 

Pearl (originally released as On this, the day of the pig, as a limited release from Cemetery Dance) tells the tale of Jeff and Pearl.

When Jeff visits his grandfather’s farm in the village of Chowder, he is confronted by an otherworldly voice. The voice instructs him to pick up an axe and behead a pig. Much to the horror of everyone around, Jeff carries out the act in front of his family. Naturally, everyone is shocked by this act, and think that something has gone terribly awry with Jeff. This is compounded by the fact that when he is asked why he did it, he explains that Pearl made him do it. Except that Pearl is a pig!

As we move through the story, we learn that Pearl is in fact capable of the feats that Jeff explained and that he is in fact a pig with psychic powers. However, in addition to this, he is also a pig with a grudge.

Now, this book is utter and complete lunacy that at times had me laughing out loud, wondering in disbelief that someone had written a horror book about a maniacal, psychic pig and then trying to work out how this was going to end.

Mixing Animal farm, with a Carrie - esque story borders somewhere on the absolute inane, but for some reason Malerman manages to pull it off. I don’t know how, but he does. Mainly due to the skill in his writing and also due to the fact that the story never takes itself too seriously, except when it does. Yes, there are messages about the treatment of animals and how wonderous the creatures that generally end up on our plate actually are, but ultimately it’s Malerman going full throttle and letting go.

And let go he does. There’s gore aplenty in this story dashed with moments of comedic lunacy.

. Characterwise, there were some issues, particularly the Bill and Ted type stoners who go to the farm to check out the story of the boy who beheaded a pig, and the Boss Hog figure. However, they appear to be caricatures and at times can be a little bit hilarious.

Ultimately, this book was good. I am not sure how it stands up against other Malerman books and how much of a departure it is from his other works. However, on the strength of this I will be checking them out.